The Gujarati language has large and complex character set and many characters have similar strokes, which makes OCR more challenging.Here we suggest a two-layer classification technique with SVM (RBF) and k-NN classifiers in order to propose a robust online handwritten character recognition for Gujarati language. In the first layer of classification, SVM classifier with the RBF kernel is used and in the second layer, k-NN classifier is used.The training data of second layer classifier is decided based on the outcome of first layer classifier. Training data of a group of characters which are similar to a character returned by first layer classifier, is supplied to k-NN classifier. A hybrid feature set consisting first and second order derivative of pixel values, zoning, and normalized chain code feature. The data set of around 12000 samples was generated from different writers. Around 2000 samples of data set is used for training and rest of the samples are used to test the system. The proposed system has obtained an average accuracy of 94.65% and an average processing time of 0.095 seconds per stroke.