About

The Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park is located in Gujarat, about fifty kilometers west of Vadodara. It features a concentration of archaeological, historical, and living cultural heritage properties centered around Pavagadh Hill, an 800m high volcanic formation. The complex includes a hill-fortress of 14th-century Hindu capital and the remains of an Islamic state capital founded in the 15th century. The complex is comprised of 12 separate areas, contains the remains of fortifications, palaces, religious buildings, residential precincts, and water-retaining installations, as well as the living village of Champaner.

At the heart of Champaner, is the Citadel, whose most impressive features are its 16th-century mosques with their beautiful blend of Islamic and Hindu architecture. The Customs house, Dove Cote, and water reserves are other notable elements of the complex.

The huge Jami Masjid, just outside the Citadel’s east gate, is the largest and most magnificent of structures in the complex. It boasts of a wonderful carved entrance porch that leads into a courtyard surrounded by a pillared corridor with one hundred and seventy two pillars. The courtyard features a compact proto-typical garden in the chaar-bagh format. The prayer hall has two tall octagonal minarets of about 30m height flanking the main entrance. The mosque is topped by ten domes, in addition to the central dome, each of about (6.2m diameter), topped by finials. The central domes are surrounded by four cupolas each, of about 1.2m diameter. The two-storey high arched entrance way has a balcony projecting above it with a window looking out upon the courtyard.
The central dome stands atop a pillared gallery which is square in its layout with recessed corners. This pillared gallery overlooks the main mihrab in the prayer hall, allowing air circulation and keeping the interiors well lit and ventilated.
The mosque features finely latticed windows and seven mihrabs (prayer niches) along the back wall. Each of the mihrabs has a different design, with the central one being taller and more ornate than the others. There is a section cordoned off by a latticed wall for women devotees, with their own exclusive access to the mosque on the North.
There are three entrance ways to the courtyard, other than the exclusive entrance for women, with the Eastern gateway being the most magnificent of the three, with its lattice jali windows, ornate columns, and elaborate carvings. The central dome has fallen down, but the chhatris still stand on top of the gateway.

A step well exists in the immediate vicinity of the mosque.

Saher-ki-Masjid is a private mosque built for the royal family and nobles in the court of the Gujarat Sulatanate. Its architecture is a mix of trabeate (pillar and beam) style which was typically Indian, and an aecuate (arch and columns) style which is a typically Persian style. The mosque stands on a raised platform about 56m x 46m. The prayer hall has five prayer ornate niches (mehrab). Rising above these five mehrabs are five domes in a central line, with cupolas surrounding them, making for sixteen cupolas in all.
There are five arched doorways in all, corresponding to the five mihrabs. The central arched entrance is flanked by two tall minarets, which are adorned with friezes with floral and geometric pattern in their lower reaches, and ornate corbels and relatively plain octagonal columns with four landings, and topped off by cupolas. A battlement runs along the length of the mosque on the top, and is provided with a chhajja.
There is an ablution tank on the south-east of the mosque, close to the walls of the Citadel.

The Kevda Masjid and the adjoining cenotaph were built during the rule of Mahmud Begada in the late fifteenth century. It is about 700m to the north of Shaher-ki-Masjid. It is built on a rectangular plan of about 30m x 15m, with a double-storeyed prayer hall. The two minarets on either side of the central arched entrance feature bands of floral and geometric patterns interrupted by niches with the "Tree of Life" and pitcher decorations in their lower reaches. The minarets have relatively plain octagonal columns in the higher reaches, and have four landings. They are topped by cupolas.
There is an arched central entrance that rises two storeys high. There are two secondary arched entrance ways in the front facade of the mosque each with two windows flanking them. These windows have beautifully carved pillared balconies and awnings. The mosque originally had three domes above the prayer hall, but the largest, central dome has collapsed.
The square cenotaph which stands to the south-east of the mosque has a base of about 13m with a portico on the south. It has a fluted central dome, and four secondary domes at the corners. It has thirty eight columns with a chamfered square profile and slightly decorated capitals.
There is a well and an ablution tank in the same complex.

The Nagina Masjid is situated about 650m to the northwest of Kevda Masjid. It stands on a raised platform of about 45mx30m, with the mosque on the western end of the platform. The mosque has a plinth of about 30mx15m. It is similar in style to the Kevada Masjid, with a two-storeyed central arched entrance way, and two secondary entrances flanked by windows with pillared balconies. The two-storeyed central entrance opens into a high-ceilinged foyer, beyond which lies the main prayer hall.
There are two columns on either side of the central entrance way, but the upper reaches of these minarets beyond the corbels have collapsed. The surviving lower parts of the minarets are decorated with horizontal friezes with geometric and floral patterns, as well as niches with the Tree of Life design.
As is the case with the Jami Masjid, the central dome stands atop a pillared gallery which overlooks the mihrab in the center.
A square pavilion of about 8m base stands at the north-eastern corner of the platform on which the Nagina Masjid stands. This pavilion is missing its dome. There are entrances on all four faces with semi-circular arches. The walls and pillars of the pavilion feature elaborate designs. Even the beams supporting the dome are elaborately decorated with floral and geometric patterns.

The Mandavi or Custom House is a well-proportioned square structure situated in the middle of Champaner fort. The principal function of this structure is to separate the royal enclosure from the rest of the city. It was originally six bays deep and five bays wide and is made of dressed stone. This structure was used as an octroi house during the reign of the Marathas.

The Kabootar Khana or dove cote is a pillared gallery which stands on the edge of the large lake.

Other structures in the Champaner complex include the Lila Gumbaj ki Masjid, Kamani masjid, and the Ek Minar ki Masjid, of which only the minar survives, and a helical stepwell.

The Kalika Mata temple atop the Pavagadh hill is a shakti peeth where one toe of Goddess Sati fell (thus giving rise to the name Pavagadh). It is accessible via a stairway which covers the final 300 m of the hill, or by a ropeway. The temple is a modern structure, inaugurated in 2022 after a 5-year long development process, featuring richly ornamented columns, and latticed windows.

Trivia

Champaner was named after King Vanraj Chavda's close friend, Champaraj,