VOLUME 2
INTRODUCTION
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Steeped in history, culture, spirituality and religion, Junagadh is the foundation of Saurashtra. For architecture and history, unspoilt and colourful Junagadh is an exciting town to explore. An ancient fortified city, with a chequered past, it has an interesting mix of mosques, Hindu and Jain temples, Buddhist monuments, Gothic archways and beautiful mansions. Bustling bazaars and winding narrow streets alternate with monuments that span two millennia and civic buildings that must have been gracious before they suffered crowding and encroachment. The town is friendly and relatively hassle free, and receives only few foreign visitors. Ward (1994) has said of the location that: ‘Though for some incomprehensible reason excluded by most major travel companies from their Indian itineraries, Junagadh and its neighbouring Girnar Hill must be one of the most exciting and historically vibrant cities in the subcontinent.’ In the early 20th century Edwardes and Fraser (1907) said of Junagadh that: ‘To the traveller who has journeyed from afar over the flat and almost treeless plains of Kathiawar, the first sight of the ancient city of Junagadh comes as a grateful revelation. You see the white buildings of the city embowered in groves of mango trees, the great grim citadel, or Uparkot, on a rocky plateau beyond, and as a magnificent background the precipitous heights on the Girnar Hills rising sheer out of the plain. After the monotonous level expanse of Central Kathiawar no more agreeable prospect can be conceived. Nor does closer acquaintance modify the vividness of first impressions. If the streets of the city are narrow and tortuous and hemmed in by lofty houses, they are full of interest to the stranger.’
Junagadh is scattered with numerous Hindu temples, many mosques, a few Jain derasars, and even two churches. The city has many royal or otherwise significant mausoleums (e.g. Mahabat, Chittakhana, Najubibi’s), valuable museums (e.g. Junagadh Museum in the Taj Manzil Palace at Sardarbagh), a very popular zoo at Sakkarbagh, and many highly respected education institutions such as Bahauddin College and the Agricultural University. The City Rajmahal is a large and beautiful palace. Junagadh also has some beautiful historic gardens (e.g. Sakkarbagh, Sardarbagh, Motibagh), lakes (e.g. Narsinh Mehta Lake), kunds (e.g. Sitala) and talavs (e.g. Pari). It even has places to attract children such as Vanraj Water Park, the Science Museum and the Suraj Fun World.
Junagadh’s ancient fort, the citadel of Uparkot, built on a prominence in the
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