Wadhwan, also spelled Vadhwan, is a city and a municipality in Surendranagar district in the Indian state of Gujarat.

According to legend, the site of Wadhwan was originally a place called "Astigram", or "the village of bones", due to the predations of a man-eating yaksha named Shulpani, who lived in a cave on the bank of the Bhogavo river half a mile east of the present town.

[3] Another legendary account holds that, around 295 CE, Wadhwan was ruled by the Vala dynasty king Ebhal, remembered in oral tradition for defeating an Irani force of 200,000 men.

From the time of Ahmad Shah I of the Gujarat Sultanate, Wadhwan was the site of a strongly fortified thana to secure control over the region.

Another inscription, this one in Old Gujarati and dated to samvat 1613 (1556 CE, during the reign of Ahmad Shah II), records the local Kotia and Talavia Kolis as being landholding pasaitas responsible for the maintenance of the forts (kot) and water tanks (talavi) near their lands.

[4] Vadhwan rulers belonged to the Jhala Rajput clans and had good administrative and culturally inclined society.

The Raj Mahal was the residence of His Highness Balsinhji in the 19th century, replete with exotic gardens, cricket pitches, fountains, tennis courts and lily ponds.

The part which is incomplete is outside the actual fort and is in different stages of construction along with the study of architectural designs, which were stopped midway.

In the present day also, many of the Sompura artisans whose community built Hawa mahal are seen involved in carvings and cutting of sculptures for various Hindu and Jain temple projects.

It is believed that the son and daughter-in-law of King Sarang Dev sacrificed their lives here for the natives of the region.