Palanpur in early times is said to have been called Prahladana Patan or Prahaladanapura after its founder Prahladana, mentioned in Jain texts. It was afterwards re-peopled by Palansi Chauhan from whom it took its modern name. Others say that it was founded by Pal Parmar whose brother Jagadev founded nearby Jagana village.
The Jain texts mentions that Prahladana, brother of Paramara Dharavarsha of Abu, founded Prahladanapur in 1218 and built Prahladana-vihara dedicated to Pallaviya Parshwanatha. The town was re-peopled ruled by Chauhans around thirteenth century. At the start of the seventeenth century, the Palanpur State was taken over by Jhalori dynasty of Pashtun Lohani tribe which was founded in 1373 and ruled from Jhalor. The dynasty came into historical prominence during the period of instability that followed the demise of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in the early 18th century. It was overrun soon afterwards by the Marathas; the Lohanis followed the trend of seeking recourse in the British East India Companyagainst them and finally entered the subsidiary alliance system in 1817, along with all other neighbouring states, becoming a British protectorate.[1] After independence of India in 1947, Palanpur State was dissolved in 1949 and merged with Union of India as a part of Bombay State. Subsequently Palanpur became the capital of Banaskantha district of Gujarat.
Dairy, textile, diamond polishing and marble are major industries of Palanpur. Banas Dairy is one of the largest dairy in the state. The diamond polishing and evaluation industry across India and abroad is dominated by Palanpuri Jain diaspora. Palanpuri Ittars are popular for their fragrance and earned the nickname 'city of flowers' to the town.
Surmandir is the first Multiplex of north Gujarat and is now operated by Carnival Cinemas. Other single screen cinemas are City Light and Movie World.
Several notable persons hails from Palanpur:
- His Highness-Jalori Nawab Saheb-Diwan-Khan-MahaKhan Shree-Sir Taley Muhammad Khanji Bahadur Of Palanpur.
- Jalori Thakore Saheb-Khan Shree-Gulab Khanji Kesar Khanji Mandori Of Deesa.
- Bharat Shah, a diamond merchant, Hindi film financier and distributor
- B. K. Gadhvi, politician
- Chandrakant Bakshi, (1932–2006) A well known Gujarati author.
- Pranav Mistry, famous computer scientist and the inventor, well known for his work of SixthSense, Samsung Galaxy Gear and many other technologies. He is currently the Global Vice President of Research at Samsung.
- Rohit Jivanlal Parikh, mathematician, logician and philosopher. He holds the position of distinguished Professor at Brooklyn College, New York (1982–present).
Palanpur is the original home of the Palanpuri diamond merchants in Surat/Belgium etc.[10]
