Shoora Patel lived in Sarai, a small village near Dhaman, in Surat District. It is not possible to have the exact year of his birth and to know the time of his moving to Surat District. Nobody has any exact knowledge of his original place in Vadodara or Kheda Districts. Leuva Patidars began settling into Charotar Districts during the period from 1000 AD approximately. During 15^th and 16^th century, Surat City started growing, and during the reign of Great Mogul King Akbarr, Surat became the most important port of trade between India and the foreign countries. That is why Portuguese, Dutch, French, English ships began coming to Surat. One time there were 84 flags of different countries flying at the port of Surat, and that is why the port of Surat was famous for her name of Choryasi -eighty-four Bandar -port. Surat soon became very rich place. The city was under the direct control of the Mogul kings in Delhi. During the reign of Mogul King Aurangzeb, Great Shivaji attacked the Surat treasury to get money to rebuild his army.

Because of her richness, people of all walks began to settle in Surat and the surrounding areas. Probably the first Patidar came and settled in Baghumara towards the end of the 15^th century. However, one of the great-grandfathers, must have come to Surat District during the middle of 17^th Century. As there is no record, it is difficult to say where they came from. Our family, four or five generations back, used to have a family BAVAJI-GURU. Some people in Sarai had the contact. In 1983, my wife, Parvati, and I went to Jambuva village on bank of the river of Vishishvamitri, about 20 miles west of Vadodara. I had a long talk with the Guruji there. He was not able to help me directly, but I was able to conclude on my own that one of our ancestor great-grandfathers must have come from a village near by Jambuva, in Vadodara District.

I used to ask many questions on the diaspora of our family to Shree Ranchhod Mota (Shree Chhaganbhai's father0 and my father (Shree Dahyabhai Patel). What I collected and remembered is as below:

There was no political stability during 17^th and 18^th centuries, and as a result there was no protection from the government. There were many kings and Navabs who claimed their right to collect the land revenue from the farmers. Sometimes they had to give away a quarter of the harvest, instead of the tenth part of the harvest. Some government officers used to come and compel them to compulsory and forced free labor and to free transport with there bullocks and cart.

On the other hand, for the lack of law and order of a proper government, there was a lot of fear and troubles from troubles from thieves and deceits like Pindhara and Thags. There were more problems in the area of Sarai village and surrounding area, which was why Shoora Patel asked two of his sons to go and settle somewhere. This was how Makanji Patel was sent to Dandeshwar and other son (name not yet established) was sent to Mori near Bhamaiya in Bardoli Taluka.

The name, Dandeshwar, came from Dand Mahadev (idol of God Shiva). The Vanzara were the people who used to keep oxen or bullock and donkeys for transporting goods from place to place. At the end of one-day journey, they used to have a rest camp at some convenient place where they could find enough water for the animals. They found this convenient place to be where Dandeshwar is situated now.

Dandeshwar was located on the route from Surat to Nashiik. It was a very important route for transporting goods from Surat to Nasik, Poona, Karnataka and South India. The Vanzara selected the camping place at Dandeshwar because it offered the unique land situation whereby they could make a big pond or a small lake with only one dam wall and they built the present Talav at Dadeshwar. These Vanzaras erected Dand Mahadev from which the place came to be known as Dandeshwar near present Kohdiar Mata temple and the school building in the village of Dandeshwar, to their faith into God Shiva.

In Dandeshwar, there was plenty of land that was easily available on lease. Therefore, Makanji Shoora Patel leased some land and started his life at Dandeshwar. He or his son Naththoo Makanji Patel built a house on a Tekra place near by the Talav. Our present houses are situated at the same place. This place is still known today as Tekro.

They survived there and the later generations, especially Vallabh Naththoo and his sons, Hansjibhai, Morarbhai, and Bhikhabhai worked very hard and managed to purchase some land for the family. Out of these three brothers, Hansjibhai was wise and clever. He was one of the leaders of the KANBI-PANCH and was well known. When the father (Vallabh Naththoo) died, the three brothers divided the pieces of land in between them. Therefore, at present we can see three divisions at each site especially at Tari, Devyun, Chavado, Satvallu etc. The all had great unity and respect for each other. They had support and co-operation from each other. We have to keep the tradition.

It was in my mind to write about our great family and to prepare a family tree. I am happy to have it prepared it. It was not easy but I enjoyed it. I talked to many many members of our family who are scattered in many different countries of the world. Most of them are in the United States. In India, there are only a few families left. Our family members are in India, USA, UK, France, Tanzania, Zambia, and New Zealand.

I am sure this book of Family Tree will help us all, but it will especially be a great help to the members of our younger generation. I tried to take every care, but there may be some errors. Please forgive me for any such errors. I will be pleased if you would bring such errors to my notice, so that I can correct it with the new edition of this Family Book. I want to thank all those who helped me, but especially to my family members, Bharat and Hema, and special thanks to my grandson, Arjun who helped me with the computer.

I wanted to include the short history of each family on the other side of that particular page however it was not possible this time. But I wish to do so with your full cooperation.

Wherever possible, birth dates of members are written in USA format of month/date/year. I could not get the birthdates of some members. I want to complete that part in the next edition. I shall be obliged if the members write to me or contact me by telephone for any correction required.

__________________

Lalbhai D. Patel
6087 Bradenhall Row
La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
Tel: (858) 551-7591
E-Mail: lalupali@san.rr.com

May 8, 1999

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