Palitana is a city in Bhavnagar district

Bhavnagar district

Bhavnagar is a peninsular district of South-Eastern Gujarat. Bhavnagar city is the administrative headquarters of the district. It had a population of 2,469,630 of which 37.86% were urban as of 2001. It covers an area of over 9940 km²...

, Gujarat, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. It is located 50 km southwest of Bhavnagar

Bhavnagar

-Topography:Bhavnagar is a coastal city in the eastern coast of Saurashtra, also known as Kathiawar, located at . It has an average elevation of 24 metres . It occupies area of 53.30 km². General slope dips in the northeasterly direction at the apex of Gulf of Khambhat...

 city and is a major pilgrimage

Pilgrimage

A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...

 centre for Jains

Jainism

Jainism is an Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings. Its philosophy and practice emphasize the necessity of self-effort to move the soul towards divine consciousness and liberation. Any soul that has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state...

.
As a princely state

Princely state

A Princely State was a nominally sovereign entitity of British rule in India that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule such as suzerainty or paramountcy.-British relationship with the Princely States:India under the British Raj ...

, founded in 1194 (one of the major states in Saurashtra, where there were many smaller states), Palitana covered 777 km² and had 58,000 inhabitants (in 1921) in 91 villages, generating a 744,416 Rs revenue.

In 1656, Shah Jahan's son Murad Baksh

Murad Baksh

Murad Baksh was the youngest son of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and empress Mumtaz Mahal, he was the Subedar of Balkh until he was replaced by his brother Aurangzeb in the year 1647....

 (the then Governor

Subahdar

Subahdar was one of the designations of a governor of a Subah during the Mughal era of India who was alternately designated as Sahib-i-Subah or Nazim. The word, Subahdar is of Persian origin...

 of Gujarat) granted the village of Palitana to the prominent Jain merchant Shantidas Jhaveri

Shantidas Jhaveri

Shantidas Jhaveri was an influential Indian jeweller, sarraf and sahukar during the Mughal era. He was the wealthiest merchant in the Ahmedabad city during the 17th century. He was also a philanthropist, who made donations to temples and schools.- Early life :Shantidas Jhaveri was an Oswal Jain...

 in 1656.