Godhra

Godhra is a Municipality in Panchmahal district in Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Panchmahal district. Originally the name came from gou which means "cow" and dhara which has two meanings: one in Sanskrit which means "hold" or "land" and the other in Hindi which means "flow": It means the Land of the Cow. People of Godhra are very festive. Godhra is very well known for its Garba-Festival.Godhra is widely known in India and internationally for being the starting point of the 2002 Gujarat riots. Statewide religious riots between Hindus and Muslims began after the Godhra train burning incident near the Godhra railway station on 27 February 2002, where about 56 train passengers were burnt alive. It was in Godhra that Vallabhbhai Patel first met Gandhi in 1917 and was subsequently drawn into the Indian freedom struggle.HistoryThe word "Godhra" means the land of cows. As per local folklore, cows used to come here from Pavagadh for grazing. A bronze of Lord Rishabhanath of AD 975 found at Akota mentions Gohadra kula, i.e., the school of Jain monks at Gohadra. The historical name of Godhra is "Godhrahk", which was established by Parmar king named Dhudhul Mandalik in A.D. 1415. Five hundred years ago, the respectable Saint Shrimad Vallabhacharya in his morning ritual speech gave the example of his dream city. He explained how the city which was seen in dream by her daughter was handed over by a Muslim resident to a Hindu family.