building Chintamani Parshwanath temple in Saraspur in 1622. Shortly after (1626), the English traveller Sir Thomas Herbert describes Ahmedabad as "the megapolis of Gujarat, circled by a strong wall with many large and comely streets, shops full of aromatic gums, perfumes and spices, silks, cottons, calicoes and choice Indian and China rarities, owned and sold by the abstemious Banians who here surpass for number the other inhabitants." In 1629 and 1630 Ahmedabad passed through two years of famine known as Satyashiyo Dukal so severe that its streets were blocked by the dying, and those who could move, wandered to other countries. For the poor and destitute soup kitchens, langar-khanas, were established. The famine over, the city soon regained its prosperity. In 1636, Azam Khan started construction of Azam Khan Sarai in Bhadra. During the next thirty years (1640–1670), the fortunes of Ahmedabad were at their best. The most distinguished governors were Azam Khan (1635–1642), Aurangzeb (1644–1646), and Murad Bakhsh (1654–1657). In 1638, Johan Albrecht de Mandelslo visited the city. During this time the only disorder was in 1644 a riot between Hindus and Muslims in which under Aurangzeb's orders the temple of Chintamani Parswanath near Saraspur was mutilated. Aurangzeb ascended the throne at Delhi 1658. In 1664, the revenue concessions were offered to Europeans and Tavernier came to the city. English Ambassador Sir Thomas Roe visited the city in 1672 again. The jizya tax was imposed on non-Muslims in 1681 and the riots broke out due to famine in the city. The city was flooded up to Teen Darwaza in 1683. Though for several years (1683–1689) affected by attacks of pestilence, Ahmedabad seems to have lost little in wealth. In 1695 it was the headquarters of manufactures, 'the greatest city in India, nothing inferior to Venice for rich silks and gold stuffs curiously wrought with birds and flowers.' With the close of Aurangzeb's (1707) reign began a period of disorder. During Mughal rule, with the rise of Surat as a rival commercial center, Ahmedabad lost some of its lustre, but it remained the chief city of Gujarat. Economy At the close of the sixteenth century the city was large, well formed, and remarkably healthy; most of its houses were built of brick and mortar with tiled roofs; the streets were broad, the chief of them with room enough for ten ox-carriages to drive abreast; and among its public buildings were