Historically named as Stambhtirth, and later as Khambhat, this port city is on the shores of the sea in southern edge of Kheda district. It is said that the ancient city is buried by now. Ancient texts and travel accounts of foreign visitors describe this city and its glory in no uncertain terms. In the histOlical peliod, duling the Solanki rule, especially during the reign of Siddharaj Jaisinh, its development was spectacular. Acharya Hemchandra also lived here. It was here that the handwlitten manuscripts were secretly maintained. Even today there are many such collections and libraries of handwritten manuscripts in Khambhat. When Emperor Jahangir wanted to look at the sea, he chose to stay at Khambhat, where he reached in a bullock cart.

Khambhat is no doubt an ancient city, but we do not get to see much of its old structures. Yes, it has an old Jumma Masjid and a palace or Darbargadh built in Mughal style nearby. About 2 Y2 km away is 'Vadvali Vav' with a Sanskrit inscription that tells us that it was built in the Bhadarva month of V.S.1539, and it seems that it was built during the reign of Muhammad Begda. Near Khambhat is a city called 'Nagra' and here the old city remains are seen. Situated on a high mound, may be under it lay the remains of the ancient city of Khambhat. It seems that these are spread over 2 to 3 km area around this mound. There are only 3 images of. Lord Brahma in the entire India, and one of them is here. Also, we can see 2 m. tall image of the Sun god in Jayaditya temple. In Koteshvar Mahadev temple we find beautiful images of Sarasvati, the Goddess' of Learning, and also an image of Lord Buddha in blue stone. The 'Kaka ni Kabar', about 5 km away from Khambhat, is a place of worship of the Bohra community. In modern times, Ranchhodlal Chhotalal made it famous as he brought his cotton mill machinery from England here and took it in a bullock cart to Ahmedabad to pioneer the mill industry there.

KALPSAR: The River-Lake that would Transform Gujarat

The KALPSAR YOJANA is huge project for transforming Gujarat totally by fulfilling its development needs. Between Ghogha on the Gulf of Khambhat in the western side and Hansot near Bharuch on the eastern side, a Plan is coming up to build 64 km long Dam and collect the waters of rivers Sabarmati, Mahi, Dhadhar and Narmada besides some of the smaller rivers of Saurashtra into a huge lake before they flow into the sea. This would mean a vast lake of sweet waters that would be with many more times the total capacity of the check dams within the state. The lake under this Plan would be having an area of 2,000 sq. m. and 10.54 lakh hectares of land in Saurashtra will be given its waters for irrigation through canals, stretching from Barvala to Malia of Rajkot district. The hydroelectricity would also be produced from the tidal waves. In all these areas, industrial projects also would have the benefit of milIions of cubic meters of water supply for them. This vast lake would also make additional land available to an extent where 12 cities of the size of Bhavnagar and Rajkot, or say 1 crore persons can be accommodated.