Baroda or Vadodara has often been
called the cultural capital of Gujarat.
And rightly so. It is also one of
the corporate capitals of Gujarat
with IPCL, ONGC and other major
industries, and numerous national
and multi-national projects coming
up in the city and nearby industrial
estates like Nandesari, Jagadiya
and Halol.
Laxmi vilas palace, Baroda
Like
Hydrabad and Mysore, Baroda is a city with
a mighty hang-over of it’s powerful
dynastic rulers, the Gaekwads, a Maratha
clan that were generals of the Peshwas and
carved out an important kingdom for themselves
with Baroda as the capital. The city saw
it’s zenith when Maharajah Sayajirao
Gaekwad came to the throne in the late-19th
and early-20th century. He introduced wide
ranging reforms, the MS university, important
railway links, schools and hospitals.Sayaji
Rao became one of the 3 premier princes
to be given a salute of 21 guns, after the
Nizam and HH Mysore. With this princely
past, it is now surprising that Baroda has
been called a city of palaces. The Laxmi
vilas, built in the 1880s and 90s, is a
marvelous work of eclectic architecture
with a mix of Islamic, Rajput, Maratha,
Bengali, Gujarati, Venetian and Gothic styles.
The palace is set in 720 acres landscaped
by Mr Gonderling of Kew. Permission is required
to visit the palace, with it’s fabulous
darbarhall featuring huge Venetian chandeliers,
domes, decorous ceiling,
Baroda museum
Not only is it one of the southernmost
outposts of the sub-continent's oldest
civilisation but it saw all the phases
of the Harrapan culture including
the most mature period when the civilisation
had all but disappeared from present
day Pakistan. Originally Lothal was
the site of the Red Ware culture,
named for its micaceous pottery, until
2400 BC when the Harrapans arrived
here from the Indus Valley in search
of more fertile lands and potential
ports. Gradually they colonised many
areas along the Gulf of Cambay, forming
citadels that include the southernmost
outpost of the Indus Valley civlisation,
which spanned an area larger than
those of the Nile Valley civilisation
in Egypt and Euphrates-Tigris river
civilisation in Sumeria.
is
now a railway staff college, the Nazzar
bagh which was the oldest of all Gaikwar
palaces but now dilapidated, the Shiv mahal
which is used for functions, the Kanderao
palace now housing Municipal corporation
offices-besides other reminders of the 19th
century Gaikwar rule like the Maharajah
Sayaji Rao University building, the Sayaji
Bagh city museum, the frescoed Kirti Mandir
royal mausoleum, the Nyaya Mandir besides
lake Sursagar, the Fatehsingh Rao Gaikwad
museum and the Sayaji Bagh garden &
zoological park.
Other highlights of Baroda
are the beautifully painted Tambakarwada
haveli, the 8th century Narayan temple,
the Narsinhji haveli temple, the 1763 AD
Maratha Brahmin Ganesha haveli, the Mandvi
pavilion, Jumma Masjid, the Maqbara and
the 1586 AD stepwell in Qutub Ud Din masjid.
Some interesting combinations with Baroda
are AJWA-NIMETA(lake shore gardens with
picnic facilities), DABHOI FORT(13th century
Rajput fort, rated among the greatest in
India with 4 magnificent gateways), CHAMPANER(An
Islamic citadel, rivaling Fatehpur Sikri
and Bidar, with some of the grandest Indo-Saracenic
architectural monuments in India, built
on the foundations of a former Rajput capital
city),PAWAGADH(A temple covered fortified
hill, overlooking and historically guarding
Champaner, with a scenic ropeway service,
CHANDOD- SHKLATIRTH: A holy place for bathing
in the Narmada river with good hotels including
the Savita palace, a former aristocratic
mansion 7.JAGADIYA:Jain temple complex of
great importance.
