Junagadh

IN NEWS:

• Pakistan has added Junagadh to territories in its recently published Maps.

About Junagadh:

• Junagadh is the headquarters of Junagadh district in the Indian state of Gujarat.
• Located at the foot of the Girnar hills, it is the 7th largest city in the state.
• Historically it is famous for the Junagadh inscription dating back to period of Ashoka.

About Junagadh inscriptions:

• It is an inscription with fourteen Edicts of Ashoka on a large boulder.
• The inscriptions are in Brahmi script in a language similar to Pali and date from 250 BCE.
• On the same rock there is a later inscription in Sanskrit, which was added around 150 CE by Mahakshatrap Rudradaman I, the Saka (Scythian) ruler of Malwa, and a member of the Western Kshatrapas dynasty.
• Another inscription dates from about 450 CE and refers to Skandagupta, the last Gupta emperor.

Junagadh Princely State:

• Junagadh was a princely state under British India.
• On the eve of independence, Nawab of Junagadh chose to join Pakistan initially despite the state not having any geographic contiguity with Pakistan.
• This lead to popular struggles against the government and eventually he Dewan of Junagadh, Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto decided to invite the Government of India to intervene.
• The government of India rejected the protests of Pakistan and accepted the invitation of the dewan to intervene.
• A plebiscite was conducted in February 1948 and it went almost unanimously in favour of accession to India.

PRELIMS QUESTION

Junagadh inscription is located in the state of :
(a)Assam
(b)Gujarat
(c)Maharashtra
(d)Madhya Pradesh 

Answer to prelims question