Keshod
| Keshod केशोद કેશોદ | |
|---|---|
| city | |
  Keshod Location in Gujarat, India | |
| Coordinates: 21°18′N 70°15′E / 21.3°N 70.25°ECoordinates: 21°18′N 70°15′E / 21.3°N 70.25°E | |
| Country |
 India |
| State | Gujarat |
| District | Junagadh |
| Elevation | 42 m (138 ft) |
| Population (2014) | |
| • Total | 210,000 |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Gujarati, Hindi |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+5:30) |
| PIN | 362220 |
| Telephone code | 02871 |
| Vehicle registration | GJ11 |
Keshod is a city and a Taluka in Junagadh district in the Indian state of Gujarat.
History on the name
It has been told by many old aged people of this city that the name of the city came from a very interesting incident happened during the Mahabharata time. Krishna ran away with Rukhmani and defeated her brother Rukhmayaa. They were escaping in the jungles for days and nights. During this time Rukhmani washed her hair in the small pond(Nowadays called "Utawadiya") available in keshod. Hair are called "Kesha" and to wash is called "Udd" in Sanskrit, hence the name Keshod came from the addition of these to names in Sanskrit "Kesh-Udd". Since that time the city has been called as Keshod.
Infrastructure
Development of this city is very fast in terms of population, art, infrastructures, education and cultural change. The Nawab of Junagadh had built one mahal in Keshod for passing winter in to this city. Nowadays this mahal is converted into Government L.K. Highschool, the oldest highschool of Keshod.
Keshod Airport serves Junagadh district, which was historically used by Nawab of Junagadh Muhammad Mahabat Khanji III while escaping to Pakistan.[1] There are currently no scheduled operations at the airport.[2]
In 2014-2015, work towards completion of by pass highway is going on. So after fully operation Keshod city by pass will allow tourists (towards Somnath, Veraval, etc.)to drive on smooth and low traffic wide road as they do not have to cross the city.
Terrain
Keshod's landscape is mostly dry. It is 30 kilometres from the sea. During the monsoon months it often rains heavily in and around Keshod but the searing heat means that for a lot of the year there are problems with receiving running water. Farming is the largest employer with ground nut being the most popular crop grown and also business factories like Ramayan Group are leading.
Demographics
Keshod is mostly inhabited by Hindus, but about 15% are Muslim.
References
- ↑ Chopra, Pran Nath (1992). Encyclopaedia of India, Volume 30. Rima Pub. House. p. 42.
- ↑ "Indian Air Farce". The Indian Express. 16 January 2005. Retrieved 4 February 2012.