Balasinor

Balasinor vadasinor Vadsol
City
Nickname(s): Land of Dinosaurs
Balasinor Location in Gujarat, India Show map of Gujarat Balasinor Balasinor (India) Show map of India
Coordinates: 22°57′N 73°20′E / 22.95°N 73.33°E / 22.95; 73.33Coordinates: 22°57′N 73°20′E / 22.95°N 73.33°E / 22.95; 73.33
Country	India
State	Gujarat
District	Mahisagar
Elevation	72 m (236 ft)
Population (2014)
• Total	44,000
Languages
• Official	Gujarati, Hindi, Urdu, English
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	388255
Telephone code	02690
Vehicle registration	GJ 07 to GJ35
Website	http://vadsol.org/

Balasinor^[1] (also referred to as Vadasinor) is a city located in the Mahisagar district of Gujarat, India. Formerly a princely state of the Babi dynasty belonging to the Babai (Pashtun tribe), it was created on 28 September 1758^[2] out of the state of the Junagadh Babis.

History

Balasinor State was founded in the 18th century. The rulers were titled Nawab Babi.^[3]

Geography

Balasinor is located at 22°57′N 73°20′E / 22.95°N 73.33°E / 22.95; 73.33, on the National Highway Number 47 and the Gujarat State Highway Number 2.

Demographics

As of the 2001 Indian census,^[4] Balasinor had a population of 33,704.

It had a literacy rate of 70.5% and a ratio of 940 women for every 1000 men. 12.6% of the population was between the ages 0 to 6. A large section of the population has migrated to cities since India's independence. For example a recent telephone directory of the migrated Dashanima Vanik people (a trader caste of Vaishnava sect) shows some 3,000 households in Mumbai comprising 120+ pages and some 15,000 people, where there are only five pages for Balasinor proper in the directory.^[5][6] As witnessed by his sister,^[7] even the son of the Nawab of this former princely state has migrated to Mumbai to "pursue his career". In fact when one visits Balasinor one is struck by the large sections of the town that have buildings sitting empty especially along the main Vhora trader street.

According to Chambers's Concise Gazetteer Of The World from 1914, the population of Balasinor town was approximately 9,000 at the time.

India's Jurassic Park

In the early 1980s, palaeontologists stumbled upon dinosaur bones and fossils during a regular geological survey of this mineral-rich area.^[8] The find sent ripples of excitement through neighbouring villages and many residents picked up fossilised eggs, brought them home and worshipped them. Since then excavations have thrown up a veritable trove of dinosaur remains—eggs, bones, a skeleton which is now kept in a Calcutta (Kolkata) museum—bringing hordes of scientists and tourists to Balasinor.

Piecing together the evidence in Raiyoli, researchers now believe that Gujarat is home to one of the largest clutch of dinosaur hatcheries in the world. At least 13 species of dinosaurs lived here, possibly for more than 100 million years until their extinction some 66 million years ago. The soft soil made hatching and protecting eggs easier for the animals. So well-protected are the fossilised eggs found here that many researchers call them the best-preserved eggs in the world after the ones found in Aix-en-Provence in France.

These fossilised dinosaur remains have triggered what tourism officials of the Gujarat state call "Dinosaur Tourism".Princess Aaliya also called the Dinosaur Princess conducts guided tours of the fossil park.^[8][9]

References

www.palacebalasinor.com