Jadeja

The Jadejas were a Rajput clan of Kutch and Saurashtra in Gujarat, descended from the Samma pastoral people of Sindh. Written sources place their emergence in the fourteenth century, when Hindu branches of the Sammas settled in Kutch rather than accept Islam.

Marriages with Sodha Rajput women and the adoption of Rajput customs later secured their Rajput standing. By the middle of the century Jadeja chiefs held lands across Kutch.

The clan's fortunes rose under Khengarji I, whose sister married Sultan Mahmud Begada of Gujarat. The sultan raised him to the title Rao and granted him Morvi in 1538, and in 1540 Khengarji founded the state of Kutch, binding twelve related Jadeja chieftain families to him. Other branches came to rule Nawanagar, Rajkot, Gondal and Dhrol, while the Kutch line remained on its throne into the nineteenth century.