Kanthkot Fort

Kanthkot Fort sits on an isolated rocky hill near Kanthkot village in Bhachau taluka, Kutch, with walls of massive blocks patched in many places with smaller stones. Tradition says it was the Kathis' capital in the eighth century, and that the present fort was begun around 843; when a stretch of wall ran across the ascetic Kanthadnath's fireplace, he destroyed it, and the builders named the fort after him to win his favour. It later served as the Vaghela and then the Samma capital and passed to the Jadejas. In 1816 it surrendered to the British, who razed the fortifications.

On the hill stand the remains of three temples: a domed shrine to Kanthadnath, rebuilt about 1820 after the 1819 earthquake, with a white marble image of the ascetic; a much-ruined Jain temple to Mahavir with a pillar inscription of 1283; and a temple to the Sun that still holds the image of Surya. A western ravine holds two deep wells and a ruined stepwell. It now draws tourists.