With the surge of interest in personalities from Gujarat, not least because of
the election of the controversial Narendra Modi as Prime Minister of India,
there is no better time for a biography of a great son of Gujarat and one of
India s forgotten heroes.
Born in 1887 into a clan of princely Patels, Darbar (or Prince) Gopaldas was not
only a beloved and just ruler of the people of his tiny state in Saurashtra, he
was an active and courageous participant in the struggle for India s freedom and
for social justice. Championing Dalit rights long before that became acceptable,
he declared, when his