Ranchhodji Diwan

Ranchhodji Diwan (1768—1841) was an author and the chief minister of Junagadh state. Ranchhodji was a son of Amarji Diwan, the chief minister of Junagadh state. Upon death of his father, he was appointed the chief minister. Although a Nagar Brahmin by caste, he had mastered the profession of arms. He had fought battles with states of Jamnagar and Cutch. In 1805, British agent Colonel Walker met Nawab of Junagadh state and it became British protectorate under East India Company in 1807. Thus Ranchhodji retired from battlefields and started writing poetry. He assisted the state in abolishing the practices of Sati and female infanticide. He was a follower of Shakti. Like some other natives of Junagadh, he had contracted a dislike of Pushtimarg, the Vallabh form of Vaishnavism, and he went so far as not to name any member of his family with a name which would have even a remote tinge of that cult. Many allusions have been made to him by English writers like John Malcolm and Mariana Postans. In Blackwood's Magazine, the mention is made of his qualities. Postans, who saw him reposing under a vine-clad bower surrounded by a number of amanuenses, sitting on Persian carpets, says that,