Jakhau

Jakhau is a village in Gujarat, western India. Administratively, it is under Abdasa Taluka, Kutch District, of Gujarat. Jakhau is 17 km by road west-southwest of Naliya, the taluka headquarters. Jakhau Salt, the port of Jakhau, is situated a further 15 km westwards.HistoryThe village and port are named after the legendary Jakh Botera who were shipwrecked on the Kutch coast and came ashore at Jakhau. Variously described as tall and fair-complexioned with an advanced culture,(thats why locals names them Yakshas-demigods) their traditional number is seventy-two with at least one woman. Their origins are obscure-but one school of thought opines that they were zerthotrians_iraani or parsi origins and good at horsemenship,medicine & archery. One cruel king puanra is said to have been controlled/put to an end by them-thus they attained godz status in region.In the Middle Ages, Jakhau was a thriving port and warehousing village. However as Godia Creek silted up and ships increased in size, trade went to the dredged port at Mandvi instead and south to Bombay (now Mumbai). Exports were mostly salt cotton, millet, and castor bean oil and later cloth and tobacco, while imports were mostly rice, lumber and dried fruit, and some sugar.The 1998 Gujarat cyclone helped to further destroy the port. The major occupation is now fishing.DemographicsIn the 2001 census, the village of Jakhau had 4,076 inhabitants, with 2,032 males and 2,044 females, for a gender ratio of 1006 females per thousand males.