Established along river Gautami, Sihor (Gujarati: સિહોર, Hindi: सिहोर :: Corrupt name from सिंहपुर - Sinhpur) is quite an ancient, historical town and now a medium sized city, a municipality in Bhavnagar district in the Indian state of Gujarat.

Immediately being associated with Gautam Rishi, Ahalya, Lord Ram and scriptures of Ramayana, Sihor, the erstwhile capital of the Gohil Rajputs (Sisodiya-Suryavanshi Rajputs), is an ancient town located in the Bhavnagar District, Gujarat. Surrounded by hills, it is situated about 23 km from Bhavnagar. Rulers of Bhavnagar and Sihor have been noble, kind, farsighted, adventurous and royal, which is evident not just in the historical accounts and books, it is the people who are proud of them, they speak up from their heart.

Buddhism & Jainism
It is often referred as Sinhpur in imperial gazetteers, some ancient texts, epics and puranas. It is said to be a thriving place during Maitraka rule (475 AD-767 AD), and Gupta period when Buddhism was equally prevalent and the Vallabhi was a dominating empire (now called as Vallabhipur, some 20-25 kms. away from Sihor), and a great center of learning. Vallabhi was famous for its catholicity and the students from all over the country, including the Brahmin boys, visited it to have higher education in secular and religious subjects. It is said that the graduates of Valabhi were given higher executive posts.

Sihor & Shatrunjaya
Interestingly, it remains a crucial outpost during the advent of Jainism in the subcontinent, while being an important place en route the famous Pilgrimage of Shatrunjaya Parvat (Mountain) at Palitana where thousands of Jain pilgrims and tourists all over the world pay a visit every year. Palitana is some 30 kilometers from Sihor. The old traditional route to Shatrunjaya - Palitana was through the Hills starting from Sihor and much geographical changes have in fact changed the entire region and terrain of this part of Bhavnagar region.

Currents of Time
Vallabhipur was just foothills or the base for the pilgrimage with sea towards its south. A disastrous natural calamity did change the maps and did change topography and entire space time of the region, where sea waters just disappeared from Vallabhipur fading as away as some 20-30 kms and the calamity nearly vanished the dominating cultural empire followed by attacks from Turks and Mughals, repetitively.

During advent of Jainism, Sihor while resembling to mountain range, ascends, thick forests, and thriving trails surrounding, it remained a significant place or the gateway to Shatrunjaya, some 30 kilometers away. The peaks and the top of Shatrunjaya are seen from a few spots at Sihor and it was a tradition to pay a tribute to Shatrunjaya from Sihor before reaching there.

Along the Indus Civilization
There are some thriving and complex references of this subjected Sinhpur of West India, on West Coast in various texts and research works. Sihor or Shihor is a corrupt name of Sinhpur as it has transformed like this, Sinhapur - Sinhapura - Sihore - Shihor - Sihor. People belonging to Sihor (Sinhpur) in those times, or the first settlers with associating Sinhpur name with them, were believed to be of Lion Clan, and are said to have arrived from Kashmir, Upper North West India/Hindukush, Himalayan Range and Central Asia during the times of Indus civilization.

Sihor, Sri Lanka & Sinhalese : The most subtle and undocumented chapter in the History
While debating the old settlers or natives of Sihor, some suggests that they might have migrated from North East India to West India (where present day Sihor is) and the place where they settled, named it as Sinhpur, carrying their history and identity.

Although, Fire and Sun worship has been found common among them as them being Aryans. Ancient records and references suggest and prove that between 543-483 BC some of them from Sihor (about 700 people) have been migrated to Sri Lanka as an army with exiled Prince Vijay of Sihor (then being first king of Sri Lanka in ancient period) taking the sea-route, settled there as Sinhalese bringing Indo-Aryan culture and language to the Sri Lanka island.

However, Hela people are said the original settlers or indigenous people of Sri Lanka with whom Prince Vijaya unified his Sinha clan group by marrying Princess Kuveni. And thus one can understand, Sihor holds a serious significance and asks for a genuine historical insight and further research considering its importance, dominance and powers as a Sinhapur kingdom. There is a well famous and partially documented version acknowledging the above fragment of history, as locally "Lanka Ni Laadi Ane Ghogha No Var" meaning "Bride of Lanka and the Groom from Ghogha", here Ghogha had been a all weather port along Bhavnagar, some 30-35 kms away from Sihor at present, and as Prince Vijay was exiled, and had started his voyage to Lanka from Ghogha, the story and tales tell us the story in that fashion.

Getting older
Sihor has its own chapters in the History of region, and in the history of India throughout the Indian History time-line, at least right from Bronze Age to Indus Civilization, Vedic Era, Ancient India, Medieval & Post-Medieval India, Colonial Era to Post-Partition period (post 1947), till now. It is a geographically significant place with unique rock patterns of its hills with some unique prototype. It has some thriving architecture plying across the Hilly terrain and in the old town.

Present
Sihor has been a happening center hosting variety of businesses and industrial activities for centuries. Be it Manufacturing of Brass and Copperwares, Ceramics & Pottery, Snuff works and allied products, Agriculture Products, Oxygen Plants, Iron & Steel Plants, Rolling Mills associated with Asia's largest Alang Ship Breaking Yard. There are many other biz/industrial activities taking place in Sihor as of now. All chief communities of Sihor have contributed greatly to the progress, prosperity, growth and development of Sihor.

Presently, Sihor represents a typical Indian cosmopolitan settlement accommodating people from various states. Earlier it was purely an estate of Brahmins donated back to them by Gohil Rajputs with capital changing to Bhavnagar from Sihor. It has been a seat of learning, scholarship, spiritualism, art, culture, charity and entrepreneurship.