| (EN) Patan was a capital of Gujarat in medieval times. It is the administrative seat of Patan District in the Indian state of Gujarat and administered by municipality. The city contains many Hindu and Jain temples as well as few mosques, dargahs and rojas. The city has many historical places also. Patan, an ancient fortified town, was founded in 745 AD by Vanraj Chavda, the most prominent king of the Chavda Kingdom. He named the city Anhilpur Patan or "Anhilwad Patan" after his close friend and Prime Minister Anhil shepherd. It is variously referred to in Sanskrit literature as Anahilpatak, Anahipattan, Anahilpur, Anahilvad Pattan, Pattan etc. These Chalukya rajputs, with Paramaras of Malwa, the Chauhans of Sakambhari and Chandellas of Kalanjar and Mahoba, were serious contestants for supremacy in northern India. At the zenith of their imperial greatness the bounds of Gujarat were extended to cover Saurashtra and Kutch in the West, Lata in the South, Malwa in the East and Southern Rajasthan in the North. Historian Tertius Chandler estimates that Anhilwara was the tenth-largest city in the world in the year 1000, with a population of approximately 100000. When Muizzuddin Muhammad Ghori had attempted to conquer Gujarat, the forces of Mularaja-II, the then King of Patan, a mere boy-ruler, led by his heroic mother Naikidevi, inflicted such a crushing and conclusive defeat on him that the foreigner did not dare again during his life time to cast his greedy eye upon Patan. He ... |
