Wednesday 7 January 2015

CHAPANER - Chapter 1


Champaner (ચાંપાનેર شمبنر ; Muhammadabad) is a historical city in the state of Gujarat in western India. It is located in Panchmahal district, 47 kilometres from the city ofVadodara. The city was briefly the capital of Gujarat.
It was founded by Vanraj Chavda, the most prominent king of the Chavda Dynasty, in the 8th century. He named it after the name of his friend and general Champa, also known later as Champaraj. By the later 15th century, the Khichi Chauhan Rajputs 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.[1] He then spent 23 years rebuilding and embellishing Champaner, which he renamed Muhammadabad,[2] after which he moved the capital there from Ahmedabad. In 1535, after chasing away Bahadur ShahHumayun personally led some 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 booty even though Bahadur Shah had managed to escape with a lot to Diu[3] Champaner is today the site of the Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park, which UNESCO designated a World Heritage Site in 2004.

The above text have been copied from wikipedia. A brief research during my visit to chapaner. although i clicked more than 100 of pics there but few ones just strolled my mind as they are quite close to me.