PAVAGADH - UNESCO World Heritage Site || Tindit India ||

Author- Kirti Singh 

In India there are many tourist places and monuments to visit such as Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Gateway of India, India gate, Golden temple, Mecca masjid, Amber fort, Akshar Dham Mandir, Vaishno Devi mandir, vindhyachal mandir, and many more places.

India ranked 34^th on world travel, tourism competitiveness index. India has moved up 6 places to rank 34^th on the world travel and tourism competitiveness index, driven by the rich natural and cultural resources and strong price competitiveness.

There are many tourist places in Gujarat, one of them is PAVAGADH, which is highly attracted by indigenous as well as foreigners. It was inscribed by UNESCO as a WORLD HERITAGE SITE in 2004. It is the transition between Hindu and Muslim culture in the late 15^th and early 16^th century is documented in the park, particularly the early Islamic and pre-Mughal city. Pavagadh is a region in Panchmahal district about 46 km away from Vadodara in Gujarat state in western India. It is known for a famous Mahakali temple that draws thousands of pilgrims every day, mostly in NAVRATRI. It is a tribal area populated predominantly by the Rathwas. The temple of kali is at a height of 250 meters. Youngsters mostly prefer the staircase to reach the temple but there are many old people who are not able to climb stairs, therefore, there is a ropeway facility for them as well as for all other categories of people.

There is quite interesting history behind this place. It is said that the Rajput king Vanraj Chavda established Champaner at the foot of Pavagadh in fond of memory of his wise minister Champa. Later, the Patai Raval family ruled it and took care of the boundary. The folk tales say that Mahakali assumed the form of a woman and danced in a Garba during Navaratri. The last Patai, Jaisinh stared at her with dirty looks. The deity became angry at Jaisinh and cursed him that the town will fall. The Muslim emperor of Gujarat, Mahmud Begada assaulted Pavagadh and won the hill on the boundary in the 15th century.

Patai was defeated and killed. Mahmud Begada shifted his capital from Ahmedabad to Champaner for some time for reasons of diplomacy. He developed the town by constructing buildings such as the fort of Champaner, Uohra mosque, Mandavi, Kirtistambh, the temple of Shaikh, Jama Masjid, Nagina Mosque, and Kevda Mosque. The remains of the Palace of Begada are still found near Vad Talav (Banyan Pond) two km away from Champaner by road.

The government has granted many concessions and offered subsidies to the new industries coming up in this area.