Bhavnagar, in the Indian state of Gujarat, is a port city on the coastal region of the Saurashtra peninsula abutting the picturesque Gulf of Cambay. Once the capital of the princely state of that name, Bhavnagar was founded in 1743 by a Rajput prince, Bhav Sinhji and was lucky enough to have successive rulers who contributed to the development of their kingdom in a major way, to the extent that it became a highly progressive society. Bhav Sinhji, the founder of the city established educational and judicial institutions. Later rulers commissioned European architects to build palaces and administrative buildings. So aware and progressive were the rulers that Bhavnagar was amongst the first of the princely states to join the Indian Union after independence in 1947.

The main places of interest in Bhavnagar are the markets in the old city, alive and full of character, with overhanging wooden balconies and sections reserved for specific trades such as the cloth bazaar, the silver bazaar and so on; the Takhteshwar Temple, which lies on top of a hill from where you get excellent views over the city and the Gulf of Cambay; Ganga Devi Mandir and the Gandhi Smriti Museum. The Gaurishankar Lake, with its well laid out park, is a popular picnic spot.

Getting There: Bhavnagar is connected by air to Mumbai and by rail to Ahmedabad. State transport buses and private bus operators run regular services to Bhavnagar from Ahmedabad (51/2 hrs), Vadodara, Junagadh, Surat and Bhuj. The city offers a fair selection of hotels in the bottom and mid range, as well as a palace hotel belonging to the erstwhile Maharaja of Bhavnagar.

Bhavnagar is the ideal base for forays into the places of interest in and around the area of Bhavnagar. It is most convenient for a trip to Shatrunjaya Hill, one of the holiest Jain pilgrim centres. Indeed, for many visitors, Shatrunjaya would be the highlight of their visit to Saurashtra. A 50 km drive southwest of Bhavnagar brings you to Palitana at the foot of Shatrunjaya Hill. Shatrunjaya = ‘the Place of Victory’, over hatred and worldly things. The hilltop complex is dotted with as many as 863 temples, most of them in beautifully carved marble, built over a span of 900 years. The earliest temples, constructed in the 11th century, were more or less destroyed during the Muslim raids in the 14th and 15th centuries. Most of the present temples were built from the 16th century onwards, with each generation of pilgrims making its contribution to the shrines.

Most visitors make the 600m climb on foot, and that takes two hours at the very least. ‘Dolis’ (chairs on poles lifted by four bearers) are also available. As you climb higher along the wide steps, accompanied by other pilgrims, more and more temples come into breathtaking view and the sound of murmured prayers grows ever louder. It is a truly spiritual experience. The hilltop also provides an excellent view, which, on clear days, can take in Bhavnagar in the northeast and the Gulf of Cambay in the south.

You can also use Bhavnagar as the base for visiting the Blackbuck National Park at Velavadar, 55 km north. This is a unique grassland ecosystem that has become famous for its successful conservation of the blackbuck, wolf and the lesser florican. Blackbuck, the exclusively Indian antelope, is perhaps the most graceful of its kind -- the male sports ringed horns that have a spiral twist of three to four turns and are around 70 cm long.