While you are on your trip to Gujrat, it is worthwhile to visit this park which is in Champaner. This beautifully landscaped park is located in the Panchmahal district in Gujarat. It is a park which gives us an ideal blend of Hindu-Muslim style of architecture. The site acts as a place of worship and continuous pilgrimage for the many Hindu believers.
The park with its ancient Jaina and Hindu architecture has in its compound many temples. The site is also complete with special water retaining methods which were used to meet the water scarcity needs of those times. All of these are coupled with its religious, agricultural as well as its military structures, which date back to the regional Capital City. The park was built in the 16th century by Mehmud Begda. It therefore represents the cultures which have disappeared.
When you marvel at the beauty of the park, you will be amazed to know that it has made the most of its setting, topography and natural features. The park is very much exposed due to forest takeover, abandonment as well as modern life. It is these features which have made the park to be a place of continuous pilgrimage and worship for the Hindu believers.
It was in 2004 that the park was made a world heritage site. Here one can see of an early Hindu capital a hill fortress from the 16th century. The place is complete with temples, palaces, agricultural structures, residential precincts and also the many water installations and belongs to the period of the 8th to the 14th centuries.
There are many pilgrims who visit the much revered Kalikamata Temple which is located atop the Pavagadh Hill to pay their homage to the Goddess. It acts as an impressive place to study Islamic history of the pre-Mughal times. The park is situated some 47 kilometers northeast of Vadodara and has managed to display 1,200 years of history and culture.