Rise and Glory History of Halari Visa Oshwals

Author(s): Rati Dodhia
Publisher: Rati Dodhia

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Part III. Settlement in Halar
one of these rounds one patrol of guards witnessed an unusual phenomenon. They saw a wild dog ready to chase and attack to kill a rabbit. The rabbit instead of trying to run away faced the dog and fought back to protect itself. The wild dog out of fear of its life ran away. The guards related the entire incident to Jam Rawal. Jam Rawal called the royal priests and asked for the reason for this strange phenomenon. The priests explained that this was due to special power possessed by that parcel of land. They further said that if a city was built on this land the people who would live there would be fearless, brave and adventurous.
After consulting his ministers he decided to build a new city on that land. On an auspicious day and time and place as determined by the royal priests a dowel rod/iron pin (khambhi) was driven into the earth and the foundation was laid. Construction was begun. Thus in this powerful land in the year V.S. 1596 and the month of Shravan, on Wednesday, the seventh day of rising moon (bright half of the month) (A.D. 1550) the city of Navanagar was founded.
Once the city became prosperous, he moved his capital from Khambhalia to Navanagar and changed the name of the capital city to Jamnagar from his name. As he was follower of Lord Shiva, at the auspicious time he built a temple for Nageshwar Mahadev and another for his family deity the goddess Ashapura. Close to the temple he built the palace, fort and royal chambers.
The city progressed rapidly. People from neighboring villages moved in the city and started businesses. Its fame spread all around. After the founding of the city of Jamnagar, Jam Rawal slowly consolidated his rule over the area, and his successors expanded the principality and established several other states, which included Dhrol, Rajkot and Gondal.