Parnera Hill is situated in Parnera town of

Valsad district Valsad district is one of the 33 districts in the Western Indian state of Gujarat. It is bound by Navsari district to the north, Nashik district of Maharashtra state to the east, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli district of the Dadra and Nagar Haveli ...

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It is located around 6.5 km away from

Valsad Valsad (Pronunciation: �alsɑɖ (Gujarati: વલસાડ), historically known as Bulsar, is a city and a municipality in Valsad district of the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the district headquarters of Valsad district. The city of Vals ...

city and 200 miles away from

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

. Height of hill from ground is around . It has two entries one from Atul and one from Parnera.

History

As per known information, a Hindu king had made a fort on the hill. Upon inspection of the Fort's relics and structure use of skillful engineering methods of that time may be seen. The fort was under

Dharampur state Dharampur State was a princely state in India during the time of the British Raj. Its last ruler acceded to the Union of India 10 June 1948. Geography Dharampur State had an area of 1,823 km2 and fell under the Surat Agency of the Bombay Pr ...

(called Ram Nagar state at that time) during the 15th century. Sultan Muhammad Shah Begda won this fort at the end of 15th century. In 16th century,

portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

of Daman seized and destroyed this fort in 1558 and 1568. After that, Shivaji raid on Surat in 1664 and 1670. That time, while moving back they had passed through the fort of Parnera Hill. That time, a huge war was happened here. Based on folktale, Shivaji jumped away from a big hidden passage of the fort with his horse during this war.

In 1696, Commander of

Shivaji Shivaji Bhonsale I (; 19 February 1630 – 3 April 1680), also referred to as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle Maratha clan. Shivaji carved out his own independent kingdom from the declining Adil ...

, Shree Moro Pandit took possession of fort and built military base. That time was era of Peshwa. But, Golden era of Peshwa completed slowly. In 1780, Fort come under the hand of Gayakwad government of Vadodara, then Peshwa Balaji Bajirao 3rd attacked on the fort. This fight ran up to 7 days. One poet has mentioned this fight's description in "Parnera ni lol" garba. In 1780, British Govt. took possession of fort under the leadership of Lt. Wales and put military for handling harassment of Pindharas. At the beginning of the 19th century, military was moved away from there. During 1857's rebellion, fort was demolished. Some relics of it still exists on Parnera Hill. There are three stepwells on Parnera Hill. Army, Commander used water of it during that time. There are still three cannon in broken fort. There were around 150 cannons in fort during Indian independence. Some of them are now in Valsad R.P.F. Ground.

Temples

There are three temples on the top of Parnera Hill: * Shree Maha Kali Mata Temple * Shree Chandika, Shree Ambika, Shree Navdurga, Shree Sheetla Mata and Hanumanji Temple * Swayambhu Rameshwar Mahadev Temple Shree Maha Kali Mata temple is situated on the top of Parnera Hill. In south direction of the fort, there is a big rock where cave is situated in it. Shree Maha Kali Mata statue is inside the cave. There is also one archaeological temple on the hill, where goddesses Shree Chandika, Shree Ambika, Shree Navdurga, Shree Sheetla Mata statues are in the temple. There is also temple of God Hanumanji in front of it. Swayambhu Rameshwar Mahadev temple is also located near this temple on the hill. Based on one folktale, five goddesses Shree Chandika, Shree Ambika, Shree Navdurga, Shree Sheetla and Shree Kalika was stayed with each other here. Because of some reason, Goddess Kalika became sad. Goddess Kalika was gone to the cave. Therefore, there are two temples on the hill. In every October, a huge fair is organized on Parnera Hill during Navratri.

Mosque

Chand Pir Baba Dargah is situated on the top of Parnera Hill. Pir was martyred in the fight of truth and non-violence. During fight, Pir's cut head fell down in Parnera and Pir's body fell down in Bilimora. In remembrance of Pir's sacrifice, Dargah were made in Parnera and Bilimora. Based on one folktale, Pir's body was buried in Pardi's Chand Pir Shah dargah.

References

{{reflist Hills of Gujarat Tourist attractions in Valsad district Forts in Gujarat