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HISTORY OF PIPLAV
The name of
out village “PIPLAV” was given after the name of a person “PIPO” Rabari (Rabari means
shepherd) who was among the first person who lived 500 years ago. The
population of PIPLAV at present is about 4000. Out of that about 2/3rd
are “Patels” and remaining 1/3rd are mixed. The
surname Patel did not exist until 250 years ago. In the mid 18th century, Mogul King BahadurShah
(Son of Aurangzeb) came from Delhi to our area by invitation of
VIR VASANTDAS ( A well
known leader of our Village ) and upon Vir
Vasantdasji’s request to King BahadurShah,– Patidars of
this area (PATI means Land,
DAR means to possess or cultivate ) were renamed to “PATEL”. Before
this, all our people were cultivators and all the land belonged to the
government and 50% of all produce goes to the cultivator and remaining
50% goes to the government. After the approval of the King, our people
became land owners and they have to pay yearly “tax” or “Lagan” to the
government. Thus, Vir Vasandaji
played a very important role for our future.
Untill
1940, people of out village were not doing so well as most of our
families depended on farm income and some income from dairy products
derived from buffaloes, and these conditions existed all over other
villages as well. Only very few families got the opportunity to migrate
to East Africa and big cities. Compared to Piplav,
their standard of living was good but was not comparable to the US
Standard. After the world war II ( after
1945 ) many people went to East
Africa and their livelihood became little better than others. Until
1942-43, there were “no” public buildings in Piplav
such schools,
dispensaries etc. For lower grades, primary school public shelter ( Dharamshala ) was used
and public library was used for English level education. For higher
education, our students had to go to near by
village “SUNAV“. In 1941, one wealthy person, Mangaldas
H. H Patel came to Piplav for worship to Godesses ASHAPURI (Ashapuri
Temple) and by grace donated Rs. 8000/- ( by
today’s standards – Rs. 400,000/- ) for
primary school for boys which was opened in 1943. After 2 years, in
1945, he donated Rs. 25,000/- ( Todays Rs, 1,200,000/-
) for opening an dispensary
after his mother’s name ADI-BA public dispensary. Soon after, another
well-to-do person Dahyabhai I. Patel, donated Rs 10,000/-
to upen up a woman’s delivery facility, and
along with him, Mr. P.K.Patel donated for
girls primary school. We soon started middleschool
up to 9th grade. For highschool,
our students still had to go to SUNAV. In 1960, Mr. M.M.Patel
from Mumbai donated Rs. 31,000/- for separate
building for high school which was named after him. Aong
with him, Mr C.L.Patel
donated Rs15,000/- and Mr
MAganbhai F.Patel
donated land on which school is build. There were also some other initial
donors who donated Rs. 5000/- each for the
school.
In Year 2000, a
remarkable progress had been made by people of out village in building,
an expensive marriage hall called WADI by spending almost Rs, 10,000,000/-. This WADI has two entrances
(IN-OUT) and its main roads constructed with red bricks and beautiful
landscaped with lanwn, shrubs, flowers and
trees. WADI consists for a separate hall with amenities for the Groom
and the bride-to-be. A “MOYARU” (wedding site) is constructed with 54’
diameter concrete dome or umbrella which looks very beautiful. A two
story dining hall with six large industrial kitchen cooking stations
and store rooms. It has dedicated water facilities for the kitchen.
There is also a separate platform for auditorium. The WADI is designed
such that two weddings can be conducted simultaneously. Currently Mr. Ashabhai B. Patel is active administrating our wadi.
There are many people who
sacrificed for the prosperity of our village. It is due to such
sacrifices that we are we stand today. We encourage each and every
generation Piplavian to continue to remember
their roots, sacrifices of their people and progress and prosperity of
their Gaam and Gaamwala’s
where ever they may be in the world.
Maganbhai A. Patel & Aashish R Patel.
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