Ashabhil no Tekro

Ashabhil-no-Tekro is a hillock that is believed to be one of the oldest areas of Ahmedabad. It is situated in the Dhal-ni-Pol neighbourhood which has many attractive houses and temples.

Historical accounts indicate that a town named Ashawal or Ashapalli existed east of the Sabarmati, extending through existing areas of Ahmedabad like Astodia and Jamalpur. It is believed that the ruler of this town was a Bhil chieftain named Asha. Chronicles talk about how the Solanki king Karna also defeated Bhil and Koli tribals, who used to raid the Chaulukya territories. The 14th century chronicler Merutunga states that Karna established the city of Karnavati after this victory, which is identified with modern Ahmedabad by some scholars after defeating a Bhil chief named Asha though many consider this to be an apocryphal story. Ashabhil-no-Tekro is believed to have been the seat of Ashawal.

Ashabhil-no-Tekro lies in the neighbourhood of Dhal-ni-Pol, an excellent example of the residential clusters of Ahmedabad. Dhal means slope, and this residential area gets its name from the incline of the road as it runs through the neighbourhood. Walking through the neighbourhood a visitor can see many extant old buildings and recently restored heritage houses like Sewa-ni-Haveli and French Haveli adaptively reused as a crafts centre and a homestay respectively. At places you can see the roads widen to form squares called Chowks surrounded by houses with lanes or cul-de-sacs called Khancho leading off them. A long walk here offers an opportunity to see many attractive facades of houses, bird-feeding structures called Chabutro and temples like the impressive Munisuvrat Swami Derasar.