Junagadh
Junagadh is a city in the Indian state of Gujarat. The city is located at the foot of the Girnar hills, 355 km south west of state capital Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad. Literally translated, Junagadh means “Old Fort”. It is also known as “Sorath”, the name of the earlier Princely State of Junagadh.
An impressive fort, Uperkot, located on a plateau in the middle of town, was originally built during the Mauryan dynasty by Chandragupta in 319 BCE The fort remained in use until the 6th century, when it was covered over for 300 years, then rediscovered in 976 CE The fort was besieged 16 times over an 800-year period. One unsuccessful siege lasted twelve years.
The East India Company took control of the state in 1818, but the Saurashtra area never came under the direct administration of British India. Instead, the British divided the territory into more than one hundred princely states, which remained in existence until 1947.
Built right next to the Mahabat Makbara. I like to refer to it as the evil twin of the Taj Mahal because of its appearance. This makbara has(had, actually) really good marble tracery work on the windows. Most of the marble jalis are missing. Only one or two jalis remain. I think this place was neglected for quite a while after independence from the British Raj in 1947. The reason for that being the Nawab of Junagadh had refused to sign the merger document(Unification of India). Therefore, there must have been a state of serious confusion as to which piece of land goes where(India or Pakistan). The Nawab fled to Pakistan and his state was merged into the Republic of India.
A fine example of Islamic, Hindu and European architecture blended together, the Mahabat Makbara was built towards the end of the 19th cent. Sadly this place is also not well maintained. We had stopped in Junagdh for breakfast. Jalebi and gathiye( I learnt later on that those are locally known as faafdey) is the favourite breakfast here.
