हिंदीOn this day
Ruined

Anahilwad Patan

Capital of Gujarat for six centuries under the Chavdas, Chaulukyas and Vaghelas, the city of Siddharaja Jayasimha, Kumarapala and Hemachandra, whose queens built Rani ki Vav. It was sacked in 1197 and 1299, and in 1411 the capital moved to Ahmedabad.

Built: Founded by Vanaraja Chavda (tradition, 746 CE); Chaulukya capital from 942 CEWhere: Gujarat23.85° N, 72.13° E
  1. 746 CE (VS 802, tradition)
  2. 942 CE
  3. 1025–26
  4. 1178
  5. 1197
  6. 1299
  7. 1411
Photo: Snehrashmi · CC BY-SA 4.0

01The Chaulukya city

Merutunga’s Prabandhachintamani tells that Vanaraja Chavda founded the city in Vikram Samvat 802, 746 CE, and named it after Anahila, the shepherd who showed him the spot. Mularaja took the throne in 942 and began the Chaulukya, or Solanki, line that built Modhera, the Rudra Mahalaya at Siddhpur and the Somnath of their age. When Mahmud of Ghazni marched across Gujarat to Somnath in 1025–26, Bhima I left his capital and Mahmud passed through. Bhima’s queen Udayamati built the Rani ki Vav. Siddharaja Jayasimha dug the Sahasralinga tank, and at his court Hemachandra wrote the Siddha-Hema grammar. In 1178 the queen mother Naikidevi, regent for the boy Mularaja II, defeated Muhammad Ghori at Kasahrada below Mount Abu.

021197, 1299 and after

Ghori’s general Qutbuddin Aibak came back in 1197, defeated the Chaulukya army near Abu and sacked Anahilwad; Hasan Nizami’s Taj-ul-Maasir records the plunder, but the Delhi garrison could not hold the city and the Chaulukyas and then the Vaghelas ruled on. In 1299 Alauddin Khalji’s generals Ulugh Khan and Nusrat Khan invaded Gujarat, the Vaghela king Karna fled, and the city and Somnath were plundered. Gujarat became a province of Delhi, and the Sultans of Gujarat moved their capital to Ahmedabad in 1411. The old city is now a field of mounds and ruins beside modern Patan, where the Rani ki Vav, the Sahasralinga tank and the patola weavers remain.

The life of this place

  1. 746 CE (VS 802, tradition)Vanaraja Chavda founds Anahilwad.
  2. 942 CEMularaja founds the Chaulukya line at Anahilwad.
  3. 1025–26Mahmud of Ghazni passes through on the way to Somnath; Bhima I withdraws.
  4. 1178Naikidevi’s army defeats Muhammad Ghori at Kasahrada.
  5. 1197Qutbuddin Aibak sacks Anahilwad (Taj-ul-Maasir).
  6. 1299Alauddin Khalji’s army under Ulugh Khan and Nusrat Khan takes Gujarat; Karna Vaghela flees.
  7. 1411The Gujarat Sultanate moves its capital to Ahmedabad.
Visiting

Patan is 125 km north of Ahmedabad. See the Rani ki Vav in the morning light, then the Sahasralinga tank next to it, and a patola workshop in town.

People

Naiki DeviQueen
Regent of Gujarat, 1175–1178 CE

Naiki Devi

Chaulukya queen mother, victor of Kasahrada

Mularaja IRuler
Reigned c. 941–996 CE

Mularaja I

Founder of the Chaulukya (Solanki) dynasty

Nearby

Rani ki Vav, PatanExcavated
The long resistance: Sindh to Tarain

Rani ki Vav, Patan

A seven-storeyed stepwell at the old Chaulukya capital Anahilapataka, built as an inverted temple to water. Flooded and filled with silt by the Sarasvati, it lay buried for centuries until the ASI dug it out; UNESCO listed it in 2014.

Rudra Mahalaya, SiddhpurDestroyed
The long resistance: Sindh to Tarain

Rudra Mahalaya, Siddhpur

The greatest Shiva temple of the Chaulukyas, on the Sarasvati at Siddhpur. Broken in Alauddin Khalji’s invasion of 1299 and partly turned into a mosque by Ahmad Shah I in 1414–15, it survives as a few towering pillars and a torana.

Umiya Mata Temple, UnjhaStanding
Independent Bharat

Umiya Mata Temple, Unjha

In the market town of Unjha, the Kadva Patidar community of Gujarat worships its kuldevi Umiya, Mata Parvati as Uma. Patidar families from across the world come home to her.

Sun Temple, ModheraRuined
The long resistance: Sindh to Tarain

Sun Temple, Modhera

A Surya temple of the Chaulukya kings, raised on the Pushpavati river the year after Mahmud of Ghazni’s army passed through Gujarat. Worship ended long ago, but the stepped Surya Kund and the carved halls still stand.