Ranchhodji was a son of Amarji Diwan, the chief minister of Junagadh state. Upon death of his father, he was appointed the chief minister. Although a
Nagar Brahmin by caste, he had mastered the profession of arms. He had fought battles with states of
Jamnagar and
Cutch. In 1805, British agent Colonel Walker met Nawab of Junagadh state and it became British protectorate under
East India Company in 1807. Thus Ranchhodji retired from battlefields and started writing poetry. He assisted the state in abolishing the practices of
Sati and
female infanticide. He was a follower of
Shakti. Like some other natives of Junagadh, he had contracted a dislike of
Pushtimarg, the Vallabh form of
Vaishnavism, and he went so far as not to name any member of his family with a name which would have even a remote tinge of that cult. However, when he installed the liṅgam of Budheśvar, he ordered the worship of the deity to be the done in the same fashion as the Puṣṭimārga sevā rituals. Many allusions have been made to him by English writers like
John Malcolm and Mariana Postans. In
Blackwood's Magazine, the mention is made of his qualities. Postans, who saw him reposing under a vine-clad bower surrounded by a number of amanuenses, sitting on Persian carpets, says that, ==Works==