સોજિત્રા
Where Devotion Meets the Land
Sojitra is the elder statesman of the six — an ancient town whose name has changed with empires, and whose seven historic khadkis carry an unbroken Patidar lineage from a single Mughal-era land grant.
Archaeology and old records agree that Sojitra is genuinely ancient — a settlement that has passed through many names and many rulers. Local tradition credits its founding to Sojan Rabari, whose Sojanpur (or Sojatypur) gradually became Sojitra.
The defining moment came in 1575, when the Gujarat Sultan Muzaffar Shah granted the town’s lands in hereditary tenure to Jeshangbhai Patel, son of Vitabhai. The estate passed to his seven inheritors — Harakjibhai, Sunderbhai, Bhuderbhai, Saudasbhai, Amabaidas, Pragdas and Mahidas — and their seven shares of the land became the seven khadkis of Sojitra, which still exist today: every Patidar family of the town traces its lineage to one of the seven, and to live in a khadki is to carry its founder’s name in your family’s story. Few villages anywhere preserve so direct a line from a single charter to the present day.
An ancient settlement of the Charotar — archaeology and old records show a town renamed and re-ruled by successive powers. Tradition credits its founding to Sojan Rabari, whose Sojanpur slowly became Sojitra.
The Gujarat Sultan Muzaffar Shah grants Sojitra’s lands in hereditary tenure to Jeshangbhai Patel, son of Vitabhai — the founding charter of Patidar Sojitra.
The estate passes to seven inheritors — Harakjibhai, Sunderbhai, Bhuderbhai, Saudasbhai, Amabaidas, Pragdas and Mahidas — and from their lines grow the seven khadkis, the family quarters that still organise Patidar Sojitra today.
Under the Mughals, Sojitra serves as a pargana seat — a revenue headquarters — before passing with the Charotar into the orbit of the Gaekwads’ Baroda State.
Sojitra joins Nadiad, Vaso and fifteen other villages in one of the first formal gols — the marriage circle whose refinement over the following decades produced today’s Chha Gam.
The Chhappaniyo famine drives Sojitra’s young men outward — to Bombay, then East Africa — beginning the town’s global diaspora.
An education flowering: the M.M. High School and Library and its sister institutions make Sojitra a schooling centre for the surrounding countryside — a tradition the town never surrendered.
Baroda State merges into Bombay; in 1960 Gujarat is born. Sojitra’s public men and women step onto the new stage — Kamalaben Patel as Deputy Minister, Dr. Thakorbhai Patel in the state cabinet.
With the creation of Anand district, Sojitra becomes a taluka headquarters — the ancient seat once again a seat of administration.
The Governor of Gujarat inaugurates the Smt. H.J. Patel Primary School for Girls — the town’s centuries-old commitment to learning renewed for its daughters.
A town of markets, schools and one of the Charotar’s most spirited Navratris — with khadki descendants gathering from three continents for weddings and festivals.
Sojitra’s modern gift to Gujarat has been public servants: Kamalaben Maganbhai Patel, Deputy Minister of the State; Dr. Thakorbhai Patel, State Cabinet Minister; and Ravjibhai Maganbhai Patel, Secretary of the Gujarat Congress Committee — a tradition of civic duty that mirrors the town’s ancient role as a seat of local governance.
Sojitra is now a taluka headquarters in Anand district — a town of schools (the M.M. High School and Library among its oldest institutions), busy markets, and one of the most spirited Navratri celebrations in the Charotar, when its squares fill with garba late into the night.
The six villages of Chha Gam — Dharmaj, Karamsad, Vaso, Nadiad, Bhadran and Sojitra — were settled by Patidar families between the 12th and 16th centuries and rose to become the most prosperous and respected Leuva Patidar villages of the Charotar. In 1869 the villages began formalising their gol (marriage circle), binding their families together through generations of marriage, trust and shared enterprise. That bond is why a community founded in these six villages still gathers as one family today — in Gujarat, in Britain, in East Africa, and here in Chicago.