It was at the coronation of the Thakur of Rajkot Mandata Sinhji that I first met Ketan, a suave young Mumbaiker running a brewery called Brewbot in Mumbai with taprooms in Bandra and Andheri. His goatee, stylish achkan and well-tied saafa, giving away his Rajput roots. On chatting with him, one discovers that this Kathiawari Rajput, a Cordon Bleu Gohil, was the present Thakur Saheb of Palitana, a state known as the abode of Jain temples, its stunning landscape and the beautiful Hawa Mahal.
A rare photo of the royals of Palitana.
Prince Shivendra Sinh Gohil of Palitana.
Ketan and Nisha with their sons, Veer and Arjun.
Shiv and Sonia.
Prince Shiv with his friend, Jane Buckingham, in London.
Rajmata Palitana Sonia Devi with Rajmata Jaipur Padmini Devi
Sonia Sahni.
Son of the most-suave prince of Palitana, Shivendra Sinh Gohil, Ketan is also the son of celebrated actress Sonia Sahni, best known as the stunner who played the mother in Bobby. Sonia is the Rajmata of Palitana and was Shiv’s much loved second wife. “My parents were what you would call today the ‘Page Three’ of Mumbai. My dad, living on Altamount Road, would drive out in the various vintage cars that were a part of the Palitana legacy, and my mother was much loved in the Mumbai, then Bombay, circles.”
“He was already a married man and had a son too. But he had been separated from his wife for some time before we met. We fell in love, I moved in with him, we lived together for two years before we got married. I kept working even after marriage. Shiv only said, ‘If you can manage both the house and your career, then go ahead’. He wanted me to be happy at any cost. He made my life very beautiful. He loved travelling and so did I, and that was one more thing we had in common. He took me on a cruise. We had one of the happiest marriages. When my son was born, I decided to give up acting. I wanted to look after him,” Sonia had shared in an interview in 1993.
“My mother and we relocated to Goa during the pandemic and are thrilled to be living under the same roof. Mumbai is so fast-paced and distant. But here in this villa, mom is enjoying herself with her grandkids and us,” shares Ketan. Adds Sonia, smiling, “This for me is like heaven. I have lived and loved both the worlds of films and the princely Gujarat. My husband treated me like a queen and today I love being a granny.”
Palitana was a princely state in India during the British Raj until 1948. The centre was the city of Palitana. The last ruler of the state received a privy purse of Rs 180,000 during the state’s accession to independent India on 15 February 1948. It was one of the major states in Saurashtra, where there were many smaller states. It used to be a native state of India in the Kathiawar Agency of the Bombay Presidency. Its rulers enjoyed a nine-gun salute. It is best known for the Palitana temple shrine, a veritable Mecca for Jains residing across the globe. Palitana temples reside on a hill “donated to a Jain monk by my ancestor.” “He would see him meditating on top of the hill and was moved by his shraddha,” says Ketan.
“During the reign of my grandfather, the late H.H. Maharaja Saheb Shri Bahadursinhji Mansinhji of Palitana, the princely state of Palitana was widely considered to be a training school for learning administration skills for princes of the erstwhile princely states of Saurashtra. Many princes were sent to Palitana after their academic learning to learn administrative skills directly from H.H. Bahadursinhji himself for becoming the future rulers of their states. As the late H.H. Maharaja Saheb Shri Bahadursinhji was widely known for his pure and impeccable administrative skills. He made sure he passed on the knowledge to younger generations,” Ketan says.
Ketan, a hotelier trained in Switzerland and a consultant behind many running restaurants in Mumbai, recalls, “Spending many carefree days as a child in the family home, the Hawa Mahal, life was in three compartments—Mayo College, Palitana and South Bombay.”
After the passing of his father, the family had to face litigation galore. “A Rajput is known for the litigation his family gets into,” laughs Ketan. The Mahal was finally sold to Mandhata Sinh of Rajkot and since then the original Thakurs of Palitana have been living in the oasis called Goa.
Ketan is looking at reviving his restaurant business now as a home delivery service. “The brewery continues. We were the ones to bring in the culture of draught beer to Mumbai and I wish to continue that legacy.”
Meanwhile Nisha, his wife, an acclaimed hair stylist, now conducts private sessions with her loyalists in Goa who, “fly down specially to get their hair cut by her and also enjoy a bit of Goa.” It is indeed Life 2.0 for this princely family.