Champaner is a historical town in the state of Gujarat, in western India. It is located in Panchmahal district, 47 kilometres from the city of Vadodara. The city was briefly the capital of the Sultanate of Gujarat. At an early period Champaner was the seat of a Bhil dynasty.
History
Champaner was founded by
Vanraj Chavda, the most prominent king of the
Chavda Kingdom, in the 8th century. He named it after his friend and general Champa, also known later as Champaraj. By the later 15th century, the Khichi Chauhan
held
Pavagadh fort above the town of Champaner. The young
Sultan of Gujarat,
Mahmud Begada, deciding to attack Champaner, started towards it with his army on 4 December 1482. After defeating the Champaner army, Mahmud captured the town and besieged Pavagadh, the well-known hill-fortress, above Champaner, where king Jayasimha had taken refuge. He captured the Pavagadh fort on 21 November 1484, after a
siege of 20 months.
[Majumdar, R.C. (ed.) (2006). The Delhi Sultanate, Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, pp.164-5] He then spent 23 years rebuilding and embellishing Champaner, which he renamed Muhammadabad,
after which he moved the capital there from
Ahmedabad. Sultan Begada also built a magnificent Jama Masjid in Champaner, which ranks amongst the finest architectural edifices in Gujarat. It is an imposing structure on a high
plinth, with a central dome, two
30 meters in height, 172 pillars, seven
, and carved entrance gates with fine latticed windows called "jalis".
In 1535, after chasing away Bahadur Shah, Humayun led 300 Mughals to scale the fort on spikes driven into rock and stonework in a remote and unguarded part of the citadel built over a precipitous hillside on Pavagadh Hill. Large heaps of gold, silver and jewels were the war bounty even though Bahadur Shah had managed to escape with a lot to Diu[ The Mughal Throne by Abraham Eraly, pg 44]
Champaner is today the site of the Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park, which UNESCO designated a World Heritage Site in 2004.
Religious site
The mausoleum of
Syed Khundmir is located there.
Tourism attractions
There are total 23 places in champaner to visit.
-
Mahakali Mata Tample
-
Bhadrakali Mata Tample
-
Saat Kothar
-
Patay raja's Secret Castle
-
Khapra and Zaveri's Palace
-
Vishwamitri River Starting Point
-
Jama Masjid
-
Bawaman Masjid
-
Stepwell
-
Jain Temple
-
Udan Khatola at Manchi
-
Saat Kaman
-
Amir Manzil
-
Champaner Fort
-
Citadel Of Mahmud Beghada
-
Hissar I Khas
-
Sikandar Shah S Tomb
-
Virasat Van
-
Vada Talav
-
Khuniya Mahadev (Best to visit during monsoon season to enjoy waterfall near khuniya mahadev)
See also
-
Gujarat Sultanate
-
Panchmahal district
Notes
