Guj: 17th king of Rajkot to be coronated on Jan 30

Mandhatasinh Jadeja will be crowned as the 17th king of the over 400-year-old erstwhile princely state of Rajkot in Gujarat in a grand ceremony on Thursday.

The coronation ceremony comes following the death of previous Thakor Saheb of Rajkot Manoharsinh Jadeja in 2018.

"The coronation programme is not being done for celebration, but to uphold the tradition and fact that I have taken up the post as a responsibility," Jadeja, who is in his early 50s, said.

Officiating priest Acharya Kaushik Trivedi said a 'Rajsuya Yagna' will be performed, in which waters from 31 rivers of the country will be brought for 'jalabhishek'.

The three-day celebrations leading up to the event started from Tuesday, wherein a record was set by Rajput women for sword dance.

As many as 2,500 Rajput women performed sword dance, entering the Guinness Book of World Records for largest number of women dancing with swords.

Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, some state ministers and several descendants from various royal families of India will participate in the coronation ceremony, those close to the royal family said.

The previous king Manoharsinh was a five-time Congress MLA and had served as the state finance minister during the Congress rule in Gujarat.

While Mandhatasinh, who joined the BJP in 2009, is a businessman and runs a chain of heritage hotels.