Tharad

Tharad is a town in Tharad taluka in the Banaskantha district of the state of Gujarat in India. It is the administrative center of Tharad taluka. Tharad is near the border of Gujarat, 40 km from the border with Pakistan and 15 km from the Indian state of Rajasthan. The town was a princely state ruled by the Vaghela Rajputs, and the majority of its population follow the religion of Hinduism. Its main industries are agriculture and diamond polishing. It is one of the first major towns in Gujarat on National Highway 15.HistoryThe verse, dohra, about the founding of Tharad, states that in 115 Tharpar Parmar, leaving Shripur or Bhinmal in Marwad, went to the west and established the city of Tharad. The town continued in the hands of the Parmars till the tenth century, when it was taken by Chaulukya king Mularaja.Tharad is said to have originally belonged to Parmar Rajputs, and many Parmars of the Suvar and Kalma clans were found in subordinate positions in the Tharad villages during British period.According to a Jain account, the last of the Parmar line became a convert to the Jainism, and resigned his chiefdom to his sister's son, the Chauhan Saregogji Ratansingji of Nadol, an ancestor of the Rana of Vav, in 1275 . Others say that the Chauhan killed his maternal uncle and usurped the chiefdom. The Chauhans, with the title of Rana, ruled at Tharad for about six generations, till, in the reign of Rana Punjaji, they were attacked by the Muslims, their capital stormed, and their chief slain. Another account says that the Chauhan Rajputs were driven out by the Rathods of Jodhpur, who were succeeded by the Muslims in fifteenth century.