Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park

Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park *
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Country	India
Type	Cultural
Criteria	iii, iv, v, vi
Reference	1101
Region **	Asia-Pacific
Inscription history
Inscription	2004 (28th Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List ** Region as classified by UNESCO

Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site which is located in Panchmahal district in Gujarat, India. It was inscribed in 2004. There is a concentration of largely unexcavated archaeological, historic and living cultural heritage properties cradled in an impressive landscape which includes prehistoric (chalcolithic) sites, a hill fortress of an early Hindu capital, and remains of the 16th century capital of the state of Gujarat. The site also includes, among other vestiges, fortifications, palaces, religious buildings, residential precincts, agricultural structures and water installations, from the 8th to the 14th centuries. The Kalikamata Temple on top of the Pavagadh Hill is considered to be an important shrine, attracting large numbers of pilgrims throughout the year. The site is the only complete and unchanged Islamic pre-Mughal city.

World Heritage Site Champaner-Pavagadh is less than an hour's drive from Baroda, with a history that dates from 2nd century AD and dotted with Rajput-Hindu, Jain and Islamic secular and religious monuments. Spread over more than 6 km², it comprises the fortified sacred hill of Pavagadh with the ancient Kalikamata Temple at its summit, and at its foot, the ruins and buried remains of Champaner, the sprawling, prosperous medieval capital city built by the pre-Mughal Sultans of Gujarat.

Champaner-Pavagadh has a truly impressive setting. The spectacular reddish-yellow Pavagadh hill, which contains some of the oldest rock formations in India, rises to a height of 800m above sea level. On the east, the land slopes gently with dramatic plateaus in between. From the highest point of the hill one can see an undulating landscape covered with the famous forests of Champaner towards Jambughoda. The hills cradle the deserted capital of Muhammed Begada and the scene is interspersed with tanks, waterways, fort walls, bastions and other fragments of medieval military architecture.

The sacred Pavagadh hill is part of the cultural landscape and eloquent local myths and legends about its prosperous bygone days and valiant heroes, are kept alive in the form of the oral folk traditions of the Garba and Bhavai. As one of the prominent Shaktipeeths of Hindu religion, the hill itself is as sacred and holy as the Goddess' Yantra installed in the Kalikamata Temple at the summit of the hill.

For a number of years, Pavagadh was ruled by the Khichi Chauhans (descendants of Prithviraj Chauhan) who had fortified the hill. As Champaner-Pavagadh was on the strategic trade route to Malwa, Mehmud Begda (grandson of Ahmed Shah who established Ahmedabad) was interested in capturing it. He succeeded after several years of siege during which he had already begun building Champaner city at the base of Pavagadh, later making it his capital.

Champaner-Pavagadh is perhaps the most authentic medieval city in India as all the information about the original city is available below the ground. The untouched nature of this information is significant to understand Medieval Sultanate capitals of regional India as predecessors of later Mughal style of architecture.

External links

• UNESCO Fact Sheet
• UNESCO World Heritage Center: Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park