Kalika Mata Temple

The Kalika Mata Temple crowns Pavagadh Hill above Champaner in eastern Gujarat. The goddess is venerated as Mahakali in the form of Durga or Chandi, and a Kali Yantra in the sanctum is dated to the 900s or 1000s. Counted among the Shakta Pithas, the hill is hallowed as the place where a toe of Sati's right foot fell.

Pavagadh was also a Jain pilgrimage: from 1113 the Svetambara Achalgacch honoured Mahakali as its protecting deity. The shrine long served both Jain and Hindu devotees.

In 1484 Mahmud Begada of Gujarat stormed the Pavagadh fort after a twenty-month siege and built his capital of Muhammadabad, the later Champaner, below; Humayun scaled the cliffs and took the fortress in 1535. Through these conquests the goddess kept her pilgrims, who gathered in thousands for the fair of Chitra Sud 8.