Vadnagar

Vadnagar is a town and municipality in the Mehsana district of the state of Gujarat in India. It just about 35 km from Mehsana city. Its ancient names include Anartapura (the town of Anarta) and Anandapura. It was a Buddhist location visited by Xuanzang in 640 C.E. Historian and archaeologist Alexander Cunningham has identified Anandapura with the town of Vadnagar. Vadnagar is also the birthplace of Narendra Modi, the current Prime Minister of India. Anarta The archeological excavations presented sequence assigned from 4th-3rd century BCE to present period. Several ancient inscriptions and literary sources mention a town called Anartapura or Anandapura, identified as the area in and around the present-day Vadnagar. The epic tale Mahabharata mentions the Anarta Kingdom in the northern part of present-day Gujarat. The oldest Puranic legend about Gujarat is about a king named Anartha. The town is mentioned in the Tirtha Mahatmya section of Nagara Khanda of Skanda Purana by the name of Chamatkarapura. The Junagadh rock inscription (dating from 150 C.E.) of Western Kshatrapa King Rudradaman I mentions a region called "Anartha" (meaningless) in northern present-day Gujarat. The Maitraka rulers of Vallabhi (505-648 C.E.) issued land grants to the Brahmins of Anarthapura or Anandapura. The Harsola copper plates (949 C.E.) of the Paramara king record the granting of two villages in Gujarat area to the Nagar Brahmins who originated from Anandapura. This Anandapura is also identified with Vadnagar, which is associated with the Nagar Brahmins. In 2009, archaeologists discovered a 4 km long fortification near Vadnagar which they believe could be the historical Anartapura. Vadnagar has also yielded an image of Bodhisattva dated back to the 3rd or 4th century C.E. This image may have been brought from Mathura to install in one of the town's Buddhist monasteries. Vadnagar's old town is found inside the walls of a fort with six gates: Arjun, Nadiol, Amarthol, Ghaskol and Pithori. The town was added to the tentative list of the UNESCO World Heritage Site in December 2022.