Pavagadh is a hill station of Gujarat, and its municipality in Panchmahal district is located about 46 kilometers away from Vadodara.
Pavagadh is known for a famous Goddess Kali Temple known as Maha Kali Temple, an ancient Hindu temple, which draws thousands of pilgrims every day. It is a tribal area populated predominantly by the Bhil Tribe. The area of this locality is under the Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park. This park is known as the World Heritage site declared by UNESCO in the year 2004
Pavagadh is the gateway to Panchmahal District. The locations of hilly areas around Halol provide good scenery. Pavagadh Hill has total height of 822 meters. There the tourists can find many scenic trails to ascend including waterfalls during monsoon time. On the eastern side of the residual hill, the Rangpur Ashram was established run by Hari Parikh, a socil aactivist and the religious leader who works towards the upliftment of the local tribal people. The plateau at an altitude of 490 meters is known as Machi Haveli.
It is said that, one of the Rajput king Vanraj Chavda established Champaner at the foot of Pavagadh in fond memory of his wise minister Champa. Later, the Patai Raval family ruled it and took care of the boundary. The folk tales say that Maha Kali assumed the form of a woman and danced in a Garba during Navaratri. The last Patai, Jaisingha watched her with dirty looks. The deity became angry at Jaisingha and cursed him. As a result, the Muslim emperor of Gujarat, Mahmud Begada assaulted Pavagadh and won the hill on the boundary.
Patai was defeated and killed later at the hands of Muslims. Mahmud Begada shifted his capital from Ahmedabad to Champaner for some time for reasons of diplomacy. He developed the town by constructing buildings such as the Champaner Fort, Uohra mosque, Mandavi, Kirtistambh, the temple of Shalkh, Jama Masjid, Nagina Mosque and Kevda Mosque. The remains of the Palace of Begada are still found near Vad Talav that is known as Banyan Pond. This is located at about two kilometers away from the monuments of Champaner.
In Pavagadh, there are many tourist attraction sites. These are the remains of the Raval Palace still exist at Machi Haveli. There are rest houses, holiday homes and small hotels at Machi. Other notable tourist attraction site is the Kalikamata Temple. The age old Kalikamata Temple is a famous religious site for both the Hindus and the Muslims. Situated amidst dense western tropical forest cover on a cliff, the temple is believed to be one of the 51 Shakti Peeths. Maa Mahakalika Udan Khotala (Passenger Ropeway) is operating since 1986 and takes the tourists quickly and comfortably from Manchi to the hill top near the Maha Kalika Temple in about 6 minutes, whereas, the steep climb on foot takes over one hour. The temple of Kali is at the height of 550 metres. A rope-way facility has been made available to the both national and international tourists to reach the temple. There are about 250 steps have to be climbed from there. A little above the Kali Temple there is Sadanshah Pir Dargah. There are numerous tales, songs and dramas knitting the story of Patai Raval.
The Government of Gujarat has granted many concessions and offered subsidies to the new industries coming up in this area. As a result of it, Halol and Kalol towns near Pavagadh have turned into tertiary industrial estates. There is a film studio at Halol added advantage in enhancement of the economic growth in this place.
