History-Vanthali

Vanthali is small town in Junagadh district in the Indian State of Gujrat.There are traces that this places was inhabitted many many centuries back.It was called ‘Vamanasthali’ in ancient days.

One incident during the reign of King Siddharaja is very famous and it shows how old and important this small town had been in history.Sajjan Shreshthi, a minister of King Siddharaja, repaired and renovated the Girnar tirtha( a place of worship for Jains).Siddharaja the emperor of Gujrat was told that the money used for this repair was actually the  income earned from Sorath.He was enraged and headed towards Vanthali to punish him.On the way he was offered back the amount that was used during construction which was not accepted but when he came to know that the temple of Girnar was named as ‘Karnavihar’ after his father King Karnaraj and immortalized him; he was immensely delighted towards his minister Sajjana. He was delighted to write off the entire expense of renovation. He also did not accept the amount of money kept ready by the minister.

Shri Vanthali Tirtha

It is said that with the money that was to be given to the emperor a faboulous Jain Temple was built. But to-day this temple is not visible anywhere. Only a view of the architecture of the mosque over there creates a guess that this mosque must have been the Jain temple once.

It is not known when and how Memon Community settled in this small town but it is assumed that as Memons migrated and settled in other cities and tows of Junagadh state some families must have chosen this small farming area.

At the time of partition most of the Memons living in Vanthali and its suburbs migrated mainly to Karachi Pakistan.Haji Ali Muhammad Abdur Rehman Wakil, Haji Habib Wali Muhammad Lania, Ahmed Suleman Essani, Abdul Ghani Qasim Batavia, Haji Muhammad /Usman Darwaish, Muhammad Tayyab Tukdi, Muhammad Haroon Tayyab Monda are some of the notable names of this Community.