Rajkot, Jan 30 (PTI) Mandhatasinh Jadeja was Thursday crowned as the 17th king of the over 400-year-old erstwhile princely state of Rajkot in Gujarat in a grand ceremony.

Chief minister Vijay Rupani and several state ministers attended the event.

Coronation of the new king followed the death of previous `Thakor Saheb' of Rajkot, Manoharsinh Jadeja, in 2018.

Rupani said that `Yuvraj' Mandhatasinh should be praised "as he has followed the tradition of his family and organized such a grand function for coronation".

"The ruling family of Rajkot has always upheld democracy and the rule of law," the chief minister said, recalling the contribution of Manoharsinh Jadeja to the state.

Several ministers, religious leaders and members of erstwhile royal families from other parts of the country attended the event.

The celebrations leading up to the event had started on Tuesday, during which 2,500 Rajput women set a record by performing a sword dance, entering the Guinness Book of World Records `for largest number of women dancing with swords'.

Manoharsinh, the previous king, was a five-time Congress MLA and had served as Gujarat finance minister.

Mandhatasinh, who joined the BJP in 2009, runs a chain of heritage hotels.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)