Champaner Pavagadh
The Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park holds a largely unexcavated city which has been built in the late 15th / early 16th century as the capital of Gujarat. It is an early Islamic, pre-Mughal city and its architecture shows the transition between the Hindu and Muslim traditions.
The monuments are situated at the foot and around the Pavagadh hill. This hill measures 800 m and was once standing as a fortress of the Hindus under the regime of the Solanki Kings and later under the Khichi Chauhans. The young Sultan of Gujarat, Mahmud Begada, captured the fort on 21 November 1484, after a siege of 20 months. He then spent 23 years rebuilding and embellishing Champaner, which he renamed Muhammadabad, after which he moved the capital there from Ahmedabad. The new city was built at the foot of the hill and not on top of it, as the previous settlements were. The town finally succumbed to attacks from the Mughal Emperor Humayun in 1535. It was then deserted with no more important construction periods.
The designated area includes over 100 monuments, including fortifications, water installations and different standing structures. At the top of the hill is the temple of Kalikameta. There are also five mosques that are in excellent state. Some of them are forerunners of the Mughal architecture, being a mix of Hindu traditions and craftsmanship with Moslem ideology. The most significant of them is the Jama Masjid, also built by Sultan Begada. It is an imposing structure on a high plinth, with a central dome, two minarets 30 meters in height, 172 pillars, seven mihrabs, and carved entrance gates with fine stone jalis.
Thousands of people visit the Patha, or pilgrims route, every year to the living village of Champaner.
