Mehsana district

Mehsaji Chavda, a Rajput and an heir of the Chavda dynasty, established Mehsana. He constructed the Toran (arc gate) of the city and a temple dedicated to Goddess Toran in Vikram Samvat 1414, Bhadrapad Sud 10 (1358 AD).^[5] It is described by Jaisinh Brahmbhatt in poems of 1932 AD.^[6][7] It is also corroborated by Manilal Nyalchand, an author of Pragat Prabhavi Parshvanath of Samvat 1879. He also refers that Mehsaji built the temple dedicated to Chamunda. It inconclusively establishes that the town was founded during Rajput period. Another legend says that Mehsaji established it in Vikram Samvat 1375 (1319 AD).^[8]

Gaekwads conquered Baroda and established Baroda State. They expanded their rule in north Gujarat and established Patan as its administrative headquarters. Later the headquarters was moved to Kadi and subsequently to Mehsana in 1902. This northern area under Baroda was divided in 8 mahals. Gaekwad also connected the city by Baroda State railway which was opened on 21 March 1887. Sayajirao Gaekwad III built a palace known as Rajmahal in Vikram Samvat 1956 for his son Fatehsinhrao. It is now used as a district court.^[8][7]

Baroda state was merged with India after independence in 1947. It was included in Bombay state. Later became part of Gujarat in 1960 after partition of Bombay state into Gujarat and Maharashtra. Now Mehsana is a standalone district in north Gujarat.^[8][6]

There are 7 Vidhan Sabha constituencies in this district: Kheralu, Unjha, Visnagar, Bechraji, Kadi, Mahesana and Vijapur.^[3]

According to the 2011 census, Mehsana district has a population of 2,035,064,^[10] roughly equal to the nation of Slovenia^[11] or the US state of New Mexico.^[12] This gives it a ranking of 229th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of 462 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,200/sq mi).^[4] During the decade from 2001 to 2011, the population grew by 10.73%.^[2] Mehsana has a sex ratio of 926 females for every 1,000 males, and a literacy rate of 83.61%.^[2] 25.27% of the population lives in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes makes up 7.97% and 0.46% of the population respectively.^[10]

At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 97.58% of the population in the district spoke Gujarati and 1.76% Hindi as their first language.^[13]

Mehsana district consists 10 talukas: Becharaji, Kadi, Kheralu, Mahesana, Vadnagar, Vijapur, Visnagar, Satlasana, Jotana, and Unjha. Populations as of 2011 were as follows:^{[citation needed]}