South Gujarat Littoral · Western Coastal Strip

People

Name	Years	Field	Known for
Narmadashankar Dave "Narmad"	1833–1886	Poet and lexicographer	From Surat; wrote the first Gujarati dictionary, the Narmakosh, argued in prose for social reform, and composed "Jai Jai Garvi Gujarat", which functions as the language's anthem. He is usually treated as the point at which Gujarati prose becomes modern.
Nandshankar Mehta	1835–1905	Novelist and educationist	A Surat schoolmaster who wrote Karan Ghelo in 1866, generally counted as the first novel in Gujarati, and wrote it while running a school rather than as a literary professional.
Dadabhai Naoroji	1825–1917	Economist and public figure	Born at Navsari; developed the drain-of-wealth argument in Poverty and Un-British Rule in India, using trade and revenue figures to make an economic case that had until then been made only morally. He was also the first Indian elected to the British House of Commons.
Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata	1839–1904	Industrialist	Born at Navsari into a priestly family; built the textile mills, the hotel and the plans for the steel works and the research institute that his successors completed. His ancestral house in Navsari is still standing.
Meherji Rana	16th century	Zoroastrian priest	High priest of Navsari, summoned to Akbar's court in 1578 to explain Zoroastrian practice during the emperor's religious discussions. The Navsari library that carries his name, founded in 1872, holds one of the great collections of Zoroastrian manuscripts.
Bahman Kaikobad Sanjana	fl. 1599	Priest and chronicler	Wrote the Qissa-i-Sanjan at Navsari in 1599, the verse account of the community's flight from Iran and landing at Sanjan. It is the only narrative source for the migration and was composed centuries after it, which is the central problem in Parsi historiography.
Morarji Desai	1896–1995	Administrator and statesman	Born at Bhadeli in Valsad district; a career that ran from the provincial civil service to the office of prime minister, and a lifelong public advocate of naturopathy and prohibition.
Sam Manekshaw	1914–2008	Soldier	Field Marshal, and one of only two Indian officers to hold that rank. He was born in Amritsar, but his family were Parsis of Valsad who had moved north — the coast's diaspora working in the ordinary direction.
Jivya Soma Mashe	1934–2018	Warli painter	Worked at Ganjad, on the Konkan side of the Warli country whose Gujarat half lies in the Dangs and Valsad. He was the first to paint Warli on paper and canvas for a market rather than on walls for a rite, which is why the tradition has a public name at all — and also why its ritual and commercial forms have since diverged.
Zinabhai Ratanji Desai "Snehrashmi"	1903–1991	Poet	From Chikhli in Navsari district; brought the haiku into Gujarati and wrote several hundred of them, along with short stories and an autobiography.
Bhulabhai Desai	1877–1946	Lawyer	Born at Valsad; one of the leading advocates of his generation at the Bombay bar, best remembered for the defence he led in the Red Fort trials of 1945.
Vallabhbhai Patel	1875–1950	Lawyer and administrator	Born in Central Gujarat rather than here, but he acquired the title Sardar at Bardoli in 1928 while leading the campaign against a revenue increase — which is why a taluka town on this estuary carries a national reputation.

People from South Gujarat Littoral who shaped its history, arts, science, sport and public life. (12)