Champaner

The house of Champaner took its name from the fortified town in eastern Gujarat. Local tradition traced the town to a Bhil raja called Champa or to the eighth-century Chavda king Vanraj, who named it after his general Champa. By the fourteenth century the principality was held by Khichi Chauhan Rajputs from Pavagadh fort above the town.

The rajas paid tribute to Ahmedabad while leaning on Malwa against Gujarat. In 1449 Gangadas was driven into Pavagadh by Muhammad Shah II and saved by a Malwa diversion.

Mahmud Begada began a twenty-month siege of Pavagadh in 1483; a Malwa relief attempt failed and the fort fell in November 1484. The last raja, Jai Singh, was executed, his lands annexed to Gujarat, and Mahmud rebuilt the town as his capital Muhammadabad. In 1535 Humayun stormed the same cliffs pursuing Bahadur Shah.