Nawanagar was founded by Jam Rawal in 1540 as the capital of the eponymous princely state.[10] Jamnagar, historically known as Nawanagar (the new town), was one of the most important and the largest princely states of the Jadejas in the Saurashtra region. It was a 13 gun salute state. According to historical records, Bahadur Shah, Sultan of Gujarat, bestowed upon Jam Lakhaji twelve villages in recognition of his role in the siege of Pawagadh. Jam Lakhaji, however, was killed by his cousins, Tamachi Deda and Jam Hamir Jadeja, after he took possession of the villages. His son, Jam Rawal, thereafter murdered his father’s killers and became ruler of Cutch. The State of Kutch was semi-independent from the Gujarat Sultanate although they had to pay tribute. Hamirji’s two sons Khengarji and Sahibji served the Sultan of Gujarat. During a hunt, the two brothers saved the Sultan from being killed by a lion. As a reward for their valour, an army was sent with them to regain their kingdom. When Jam Rawal heard of the two princes coming back to the Kutch with the imperial army, he prepared for battle. One night, Goddess Ashapuraji, the supreme deity of the Jadeja Clan of Rajputs, appeared to Jam Rawal in a dream and told him that although he had broken an oath taken in her name not to kill Hamirji, even though he was the person responsible for his death, she had refrained from punishing him because he had at all other times honoured her, but he was no longer to dwell in Cutch. Jam Rawal and his entourage marched out of Cutch, attacked and killed Tamachi Deda, the main conspirator in the killing of his father, and conquered the town of Amran and its dependencies. Jam Rawal bestowed the rule of Dhrol province on his younger brother Hardholji, who was later killed in battle at Mithoi near Khambhalia, whereupon the throne passed on to his eldest son, Jasoji. Jam Rawal conquered parts of Saurashtra and formed his kingdom with 999 villages named it as Halar. Once on a hunting trip in present-day Jamnagar, a hare was found to be brave enough to turn on the hunting dogs and put them to flight. Deeply impressed by this, Jam Rawal thought that if this land could breed such hares, the men born here would be superior to other men, and accordingly he made this place his capital. On the seventh day of the bright half of the month of Shrawan, V.S. 1956 (August 1540) on the banks of the rivers Rangmati and Nagmati, he laid the foundation of his new capital and named it Nawanagar (new town), which after few centuries came to be known as Jamnagar, meaning the town of the JAM’s.