Junagadh State
former princely state in India
The State of Junagadh was a princely state in the Kathiawar Peninsula of western India, located in present-day Gujarat. Ruled by the Babi dynasty of Muslim Nawabs since 1654, it was one of the larger princely states in the region firstly within the Maratha Empire and later by British India. In 1947, following the partition of India, Junagadh became the subject of a political dispute when its ruler, Nawab Mahabat Khan III, acceded to Pakistan despite the state's predominantly Hindu population and its geographical contiguity with India. This decision led to unrest and the eventual intervention of the Government of India. After a plebiscite held in 1948, in which an overwhelming majority voted in favor of accession to India, Junagadh was integrated into the Indian Union and later became part of the state of Gujarat. Pakistan claims sovereignty over the erstwhile princely state to this day.
History
The state of Junagadh was established by the Maharaja of Parmar Rajputs. Muhammad Sher Khan Babai was the founder of the Babi Pashtun dynasty of Junagarh in 1654. His descendants, the Babi Nawabs of Junagarh, conquered large territories in southern Saurashtra.
However, during the collapse of the Mughal Empire, the Babis became involved in a struggle with the Gaekwad dynasty of the Maratha Empire over control of Gujarat, during the reign of the local Mohammad Mahabat Khanji I. Mohammad Khan Bahadur Khanji I declared independence from the Mughal governor of Gujarat subah, and founded the state of Junagarh in 1730.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Junagadh State” as former princely state in India. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as former princely state in India. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q14491604. Authority coordinates are 21.520, 70.470. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1654, 1947, 1948 and 1730.
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This entry incorporates text from “Junagadh State” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.