Gozaria, situated in the Western Indian State of Gujarat is a small village 31 kms away from Gandhinagar i.e. the state capital on the Ambaji highway. This small village in northern Gujarat with a population of 13,933  had total literacy rate of 81.3% as per the census 2011. It  had its first school in 1883, a village library establis
hed in 1915, which is a very significant feature of villages in the erstwhile Gaekwad State of Baroda. The Public Trust named Gozaria Kelavani Mandal was established in 1937 and it had its first AV primary school in 1937,with its chief patriarch being Late Shree Ramchandra Jamnadas Amin who was Minister for P.W.D. and Electricity, Baroda State and member of Bombay Legislative Assembly. This is the Land where Sri Aurobindo stayed in 1894 on one of his trips of North Gujarat.

Let’s have a glance at the historical landmarks in the multi-sided journeys of Gozaria. Formerly Supervisor of Gozaria High school and art-lover at heart, Mr. Ashvinbhai Patel found an artistic idol of Vagishwari Devi Sharda in the area surrounding the temple of Goddess mother Ambe. The photograph of this  idol is as under:

The pond near this temple is known as ‘Bheem Talav’ and keeping this information in mind  it is surmised that the village of Gozaria might have located in the area surrounding the temple of Goddess mother Ambe. Although this village is considered as the rural area, many of its representatives have made the sky as their limit for their individual as well as the collective cultivation of their motherland. Many young men of the land have carried out mercantile enterprises overseas and by virtue of working tooth and nail they attained affluence even there. The biggest example is that of Sheth Shree Patel Lalbhai and Sheth Shree Patel Somabhai, whose generous charity lies at the very foundation of Shree Gozaria Kelavani Mandal, formed in 1937.

As per one of the myths prevalent in the village, a certain cow used to drip at a definite place. In Gujarati cow is referred to as ‘Gau” from its Sanskrit heritage and the cow’s act of dripping on her own is referred at as “Zarvu”, which is an action verb from the dictionary point of view. The combination of these two words leads to coin the word “gauzari”, from which as part of apbhramsa ‘gozaria ‘finally  came into being via “ gauzarya”initially and “guzariya” medially.  Seventy years ago on the railway ticket of Gozaria ‘Gujariya’ used to be written. Seventy five years ago this village was known as ‘Parekhvaadaa’ and the adjoining village of Langhnaj was known as ‘Chheepaavaad’. Here the usage of the noun ‘Parekh’ does not need to be misunderstood as they were none but the ‘Kadva Patidars’, whose predecessors  were assigned the task of revenue-collection by the Gaekwad administration and hence they later on began to be celebrated as ‘Amin’.It is a matter of great research when and in what circumstances this village got relocated in the area near today’s venue of ‘Motomadh’. As per the documents of descent from the Barots, the ancestors of Sanghji started residing in the place of today’s venue of ‘Motomadh’ .

As per the data extracted from the documents of descent prepared by the Barots, there lived Venaa (Vanaa)  Patel in the village of Lalpur near  Siddhpur . He got married with Tejba, the daughter of Harshod from Gozaria. After the scuffle with Chaampaa Shah of Lalpur, Vena Patel left Lalpur and settled at his in-law’s place Gozaria with family in Samvat 1270. One of his brothers went to Kand for residing and later on it became known as Karannagar. The descendants of Vena Patel’s brother are called ‘Gozaria Party’. The third of his brothers got resided at the Shahpur area of Ahmadabad, where there exists  ‘Gozaria ni Pol’ even today.

Vena Patel had two sons, Kumbhobhai and Karamshibhai. The place where  Kumbhobhai and his descendants started dwelling is known as ‘talpad’ or ‘tarpoj’, His descendants are known as ‘Sanghji Parivar’ today. Both the brothers were not on good terms with each other, so Karamshibhai started living in the ‘Vantaa’ area and started his new familial line. The administration of ‘tarpoj ‘was popularly carried out  as part  of the region of Kadi in the administrative area of Gaekwad administration while the area called ‘Vaanto’ was under the administration of the Varsoda Darbar. The crematoriums of both these areas were located at different places in Gozaria and this trend is still in prevalence. The rain water of  ‘tarpoj’ used to flow towards the village pond in the north while the rain water of the ‘Vantaa’ area used to flow towards the way to the Solaiya village.With the growth and development of  the descendants of the ‘Sanghji Parivar’,  the number of ‘para-pol’ came into being. The nomadic tribe of ‘banzaras’ got the three big wells of the village constructed with the help of the then Gaekwad administration. Some peasant families came from the outside and resided for the purpose of agricultural deeds.

Sanghji family:

In the descent of Kumbhabhai Juthabhai, Naranbhai and in the fourth generation comes Laxmichand, who had six sons- Sanghji bhai, Laljibhai, Hirjibhai and Vrijibhai and a daughter called Vashiba. The major part of the family was that of Sanghjibhai and that of the other five brothers was called the minor one. The turn of the village headman was maintained as per the familial branches. The names of the village headmen are Natthudas Khushaldas, Mafatlal Mohanlal, Shankarlal Ishwardas, Rambhai Ganeshdas, Ishwarbhai Amichanddas and Joitabhai Ishwardas etc. As the major community of the village was that of Patels, the village headmen began to be called ‘Police Patel’ in the post-independence days. Late Jeevanbhai Jesangdas became the police Patel in this fashion. After the beginning of the Panchayati Raj Dr. Amichandbhai D.Patel became the very first Sarpanch of the village. Dr. Patel came from the nearby village of Kaanthaa. He attained wide popularity as the doctor in the entire surrounding area. The first SSC of the village was Patel Shardaben Jeevandas of the area called Moto Madh.

Parekhvaadu (Gozaria):

The grand doyen of the Amins of Gozaria- Nandlal Premjibhai Parekh was the representative of the ‘Kadva’ Patidars of Navrangpura, who during his pilgrimage to Dwaraka in samvat 1800 found a ‘shivalinga’.  He came to Gozaria in samvat 1802 and on the fifth day of Shukla Paksha in the month of Chaitra he carried out the ‘Praan-Pratishthaa’ of the aforesaid ‘shivalinga’. This temple became famous as ‘Siddhanaath Mahadev’ nowadays.  He passed away in 1813. The Amins got the Ramji Mandir temple of Lord Krishna erected in the ‘para’ division of the village.  Kalyanbhai (Kala Parekh) and Jesangbhai (Kaidvo Raja) were very influential personalities. After that Shree Ramchandra Jamnadas Amin was celebrated lawyer of Vijapur as well as an enormous academician. He rendered his sincere services as the President of Gozaria Kelavani Mandal for as many as twenty seven years.

Pious Stay of Sri Aurobindo Ghosh:

The most conspicuous event in the history of Gozaria is that it became the host of the man of multi-dimensional personality of Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, who was himself a yogi, a revolutionary freedom-fighter, poet, scholar, philosopher.  Approximately One hundred and thirty years ago on the auspicious day of January 11, Sri Aurobindo graced his presence to the village of Gozaria as part of his duties of surveying about the famine that struck the entire region of Mehsana.  He was assigned these duties by Shreemant Sayaji Rao Gaekwad of Baroda.

Beginning of the Railway Services:

Because of the appreciable rapport of the Amins with the then Gaekwad administration on September 01, 1928 the Ambaliyasan-Gozaria-Vijapur railway track was constructed. Later on Somnath Panchal got the railway platform erected.

Mirkhan , the Outlaw:

Ninety nine years ago in the tear 1822, an outlaw from Patan, namely Mirkhan, looted Gozaria. However, he did not rob the peasants. One individual Mohan Raval died in his gunfire. Eminent writer Pushkar Chandarvakar visited this village and subsequently serialized a novel about Mirkhan in the daily newspaper Mumbai Samachar.