The Republic of India (Bhārat in Hindi) is the seventh largest country and second most populous country in the world. It occupies a subcontinent of Asia that projects southward into the North Indian Ocean, separating the Bay of Bengal on the east from the Arabian Sea on the west. Before 1947 it was a patchwork of regions governed as British colonies and semi-independent princely states under British supervision. In 1947 this British Raj was partitioned into the independent states of India and Pakistan. Several French and Portuguese colonies embedded in the territory of India were absorbed in 1950 and 1961, respectively. India is a federal union of 28 states and 8 union territories. The westernmost state, Gujarat, has the longest coastline of any of the states and the largest number of lighthouses. The broad Kathiawar Peninsula, in the center of the state's coastline, separates two major inlets of the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Khambhat on the southeast and the Gulf of Kutch on the northwest. This page lists lighthouses of the western part of Gujarat, including the Junagadh, Porbandar, Devbhumi Dwarka and Jamnagar districts at the western end of the Kathiawar peninsula as well as the large Kachchh (Kutch) district on the north side of the Gulf of Kutch. The political history of this region is quite complex. Under the British Raj the majority of the modern territory of Gujarat was divided into princely states that had control over local economic affairs. Several of these Indian states built lighthouses, including several that survive. After India became independent in 1947 Kutch was established as a state and the Kathiawar peninsula was included in the state of Saurashtra. In 1956 Kutch and Saurashtra were merged into the large state of Bombay, and then in 1960 Bombay state was divided, with its northern portion split off as the state of Gujarat. Gujarat is divided into 33 districts and the districts are divided into county-level units called talukas. Hindi and English are official languages in India, with English serving as a lingua franca for the entire nation. The Indian Constitution recognizes another 21 languages, called scheduled languages, and each of the coastal states has its own scheduled language in official use. In Gujarati, the official language of Gujarat, word for a lighthouse is dīvādāṇḍī (દીવાદાંડી); tāpu is an island, nadī is a river, and bandara is a harbor. Lighthouses and aids to navigation in India are administered by the Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships (DGLL), an agency of the Ministry of Shipping. Lighthouses on the south coast of the Kathiawar Peninsula are maintained by the Jamnagar Directorate and those of the Gulf of Kutch are maintained by the Gandhidham Directorate. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from volume F of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 112.
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Western Kathiawar Peninsula Lighthouses
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Porbandar Light, Porbandar DGLL photo |
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Navadra Light, Porbandar DGLL photo |
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Kachchh (Kutch) District Lighthouses
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Bhadreswar Light, Mundra DGLL photo |
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Mandvi Light, Mandvi, November 2010 ex-Panoramio photo copyright Imran Shaikh; used by permission |
Information available on lost lighthouses:
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Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: East: Southern Gujarat | West: Pakistan
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Posted February 6, 2006. Checked and revised August 27, 2023. Lighthouses: 44. Site copyright 2023. Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.