Come to the ancient city of Gujarat and enjoy the history of this lovely state which dates back to around 2500 B.C. There are excavations here in this state that has been carried out and it boasts of a settlement of many communities of agriculture.
Vadnagar in this state of Gujarat is a place that has the most fascinating history and has tales going back to around 4,500 years back. With the best pottery, ornaments, textiles, tools and fragments found here in this beautiful locale, there is a lovely site here which surrounds the Lake Sharmistha. There are many archaeologists who say that this was a great enchanting Harappan site.
The banks of the River Kapila had an early settlement and with the river flowing from the Aravalli hills and it fed water into a lake which was called Sharmishtha. This was the site where there was a great settlement that existed in the past. Then this settlement grew over a great size and today the present city which is located on top of a hill is a lovely artificial mound which has been created by a group of buildings which have been built and then destroyed in the earlier times. There have been lot of diggings here which were done for archaeological purposes. These layers here speak about a lot of interesting history of the past.
Many years ago this city was called Chamatkarpur. It is said that there was a king who was cured of leprosy and he bathed in the waters of the Shakti Tirth. He got cured instantly and in gratitude the king built a new city with a lot palaces and temples. This place thus got the name of Chamatkarpur and was the place where the famous Rishi Yajnavalkya lived. Yajnavalkya means the Knower of the Vedas. This place was a major attraction for many scholars who lived here and thus this was a great centre of living.
Then there is Saptarishi which is a lovely locale on the banks of the pond lying to the east of the Lake Sharmistha. This pond gets water from the River Kapila and it flows as the Sharmistha. It is said that once there were many temples and buildings here and the banks had a fleet of stone steps. Yajnavalkya had a son called Kayayan who was also a great saint. There were two places he established out of which one was the Maha Ganapati in Vadnagar and the other was Vastupad.
India’s 14th and the current prime minister Mr. Narendra Singh Modi was born at the same place which has made it more known and worldwide famous. Vadnagar, the ancestral place of our PM is under the strict supervision of Mr. Modi and is so getting developed very fast in every sectors including Transport, education, medical etc. which were under developed earlier.
It is said that Alexander the Macedonian ruler conquered a huge part of the western part of India including the region of Kutch sometime in 325 BC. When he was returning from India he left many Indian representatives behind. All his soldiers, entertainers, artisans, and many other elements in the army were very scared of the tired journey and they remained in this conquered land. Some of the Greeks were believed to have gone back to Kutch and also to Aanartapur which was the most fascinating city in this part of the world. There were fair skinned Greeks here and they started living here. They started mingling and mixing here and the descendants of these mixed people are believed to be the Nagars. Thus the Greek connection here is still seen in this part of Gujarat in Vadnagar.
In the seventh century the Chinese traveller Hsuan Tsang visited Vadnagar which was then known as Anandapur. He visited this place twice. In 627 AD he started his journey from the north eastern part of China and went to far away India. He then came back to his native land in 643AD. It was a very long journey and it took a lot of time. He kept a chronicle of the places he visited and also gathered a lot of collection of books from this country. He travelled across the western part of India and Anandapur was one such place here visited. He writes about Vadnagar or Anandanagar and says that this is a place with a very rich establishment and had around 1000 priests and the people here studied the Little Vehicle of Sammatiya School. He also added that there were many Deva temples and also a lot of temples in and around.
Vadnagar also saw a lot of Buddhism and Jainism. Buddhism however disappeared here after the 8th century & Jainism continues to flourish. This was generally a period of prosperity and peace. The city totally had all kinds of commercial and industrial activities and had the manufacture of dyeing, textiles, printing of calicos, agricultural tools, making of utensils and also stone carvings. The bazaars were full of customers who used to come from far and near. The traders were very rich and were also happy with the business.
The Vadnagar region also attracted a lot of Malwa rulers. They attacked the region and the Malwa rulers totally exploited it and neglected the welfare of the city. For these Malva rulers it was no more than a source of revenue and a frontier city.
Then the region became the new Gujarat capital. Vanraj Chavda founded the city in the year 745. It progressed a lot and then the Solankis drove the Malwa rulers out from the Vadnagar region. Till the end of the 13th century, the entire Vadnagar region prospered and this was the golden period here. Vadnagar was thus always revered and considered as a region of prosperity and peace. With the best public baths, bazaars, inns and vavs, it provided great tour delights.
