Junagarh

Junagarh stood below the Girnar hills in Saurashtra, with Uparkot Fort overlooking the town. The Chudasama rulers held this centre until Mahmud Begada of Gujarat conquered it in the early 1470s. Under the sultans, Junagarh was also known as Mustafabad. An appointed commander collected tribute and crown revenues, placing the town within the political arrangements directed from Ahmedabad.

Mughal expansion into Gujarat in 1573 brought a further layer of authority. Junagarh remained a centre for governing Sorath, while local military officials negotiated power within the larger empire. As Mughal control weakened in the eighteenth century, Sher Khan Babi established a separate ruling house in the late 1740s. The successive governments reused a fortified urban centre with its own regional hinterland. The history of the town therefore involved both conquest and administrative continuity: the fort and the collection of revenue remained important even as Chudasama kings, Gujarat sultans, Mughal officials and Babi rulers occupied different positions in the regional hierarchy.