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encyclopedia: Vadodara
Vadodara
(Gujarati:
વડોદરા (help·info),
Marathi: बडोदा), also known as Baroda (Gujarati:
બરોડા), is the third most-populated city in the
Indian state of
Gujarat
after
Ahmedabad and
Surat.
It is one of four cities in the state with a population of over 1
million[6],
the other being
Rajkot
and the two cities listed above. It is also known as the Sayaji Nagari
or Sanskari Nagari (Cultural Capital of Gujarat). Vadodara or Baroda,
formerly the capital city of Gaekwar State, is situated on the banks
of Vishwamitri, a river whose name derived from the great saint Rishi
Vishvamitra. It is located southeast of Ahmedabad. It is the
administrative headquarters of
Vadodara District.
Vadodara is home to almost 1.6 million
people
[7] (as of
2005),
the beautiful
Lakshmi Vilas Palace and the
Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (M.S.U.) which is famous
for various departments, including the fine arts, performing arts,
technology, management and medicine streams. It has a high literacy
rate by Indian standards of 78% (2001). Major
industries include
petrochemicals,
engineering,
pharmaceuticals, and
plastics.
History
Vadodara has a rich historical
background. The ardent historian can trace Vadodara's history over
2000 years and more. The first noted history of the city was of the
early trader settlers who settled in the region in 812 A.D. The
province was mainly Hindu-dominated with Hindu kings ruling till the
year 1297. The
Gupta Dynasty was the first power rulers of the region. After
fierce battles, the region was taken over by the
Chalukya Dynasty. Finally, the kingdom was annexed by the
Solankis. By this time the Muslim rule had spread across India,
and the reins of power were then snatched by the
Delhi Sultans. The city was ruled for a long time by these
Sultans, until they were easily overthrown by the
Mughal emperors. The Mughals' biggest problem were the mighty
Marathas who slowly but eventually took over the region. It became
the capital of the
Maratha
Gaekwads.
Sayaji Rao III (1875-1939), a most able ruler, made many public
and bureaucratic improvements in the region. Although the British had
a major influence on the region, Vadodara remained a princely state
until Independence. Like all other princely states, Vadodara also
joined the Republic of India in 1947.
Origin of
name
Two thousand years back, there was a
small town known as "Ankottak" (present day Akota) on the western bank
of river Vishvamitri. The earliest mention of Vadodara is in a granth
or charter of
812 that identifies it as Vadapadraka, a village attached to the
nearby town of Ankottaka. In 600 AD severe floods in Vishvamitri
forced the inhabitants to move to the eastern side of the river to a
village known as "Vatpatrak" (Leaf of
Banyan
tree) which developed into Vadodara. In the 10th century Vadapadraka
replaced Ankottaka as the main town.
The city was once called Chandanavati
after its ruler Raja Chandan of Dor tribe of Rajputs, who wrested it
from the Jains. The capital had also another name "Virakshetra" or "Virawati"
(A Land of Warriors). Later on it was known as Vadpatraka or Wadodará,
which according to tradition is a corrupt form of the Sanskrit word
Vatodar means 'In the heart of the Banyan tree'. It is now almost
impossible to ascertain when the various changes in the name were
made; but early English travellers and merchants mention the town as
Brodera[8],
and it is from this that the name Baroda is derived. Again in 1974,
the official name was changed to Vadodara.
In 1907, a small
village and
township[9]
in
Michigan,
United States was named after Baroda.
It is also rumoured that the name
baroda originated from two words Bad which means the banyan tree and
Aodh, which means a tent/canopy. According to popular legend, the
region in and around present day Baroda was full of Banyan trees that
formed a dense cover that looked like a huge tent canopy from a
distance. Thus the name Baroda stuck.
Culture
Aarkee Garba during Navratri
Festival
Vadodara is also known as ‘Sanskari
Nagari’, means a Cultured City. Vadodara is one of India’s most
cosmopolitan cities. Thanks to the vision and broadmindedness of the
Gaekwads, the subsequent industrialisation, the proliferation of
academic activities and a strategically important geographical
location, Baroda has welcomed a wide variety of people from all over
India and also from all over the world. In all of this, the sprawling
and cosmopolitan
MS University campus and the large number of local, national and
foreign industries act as a catalysing and unifying force.
The great museums on the palace grounds
such as the
Maharaja Fateh Singh Museum and art gallery are unique and carry
artifacts from around the nation and the world. There are Gujarati
film studios in the city as well as a large number of large old-style
movie theatres in addition to the newer multiplexes that have sprung
up in the past few years.
Diwali,
Uttarayan,
Holi,
and
Ganesh Chaturthiare celebrated with great fervour. Classical
music and dance have their patrons, and so does the modern stage and
pop culture. The culture and the traditions are both alive and being
forever experimented with.
Navarātrī or
Garba is the city's largest festival, with song, dance and
lights during every October. Many of the residents spend their
evenings at their local
Garba grounds where local musicians play traditional music
while people dance the
Rass
and
Garba dances which often goes on past midnight. This is also a
time when the youth are more visible outdoors and until later than
other times of the year. The people of Vadodara have preserved the
original and the traditional part of the
Navarātrī.
Garba in Vadodara attracts a fairly large number of
international tourists.
Recent
history
The City of Vadodara apty described by
a medieval Jain writer as a “Tilak on the Brove of Lata.” was a nodal
center of the costal plain of Gujarat. It is strategically situated at
a junction of the main highways linking Gujarat with Rajputana and the
Punjab in the north, the Malva and the Gangetic valley in the north
east, Konkan in the south and Khandesh in the south-east.
Significantly Vadodara today is a junction on the western railway of
the lines leading to Ahmedabad, Delhi & Mumbai. This confirms the
historic role of Vadodara in the communication pattern for movements
of people and culture. The history of Vadodara city amply bears out
its cultural and commercial activities during the last two thousand
years. Apart form the traditional stories, our knowledge of the
history of Vadodara is based mainly on Jain literature and a few old
inscriptions pertaining to Vadodara.
Baroda State was a former Indian State
in Western India. Vadodara's more recent history began when the
Maratha
leader
Pilaji Gaekwad (or Gaikwar) conquered Sonagad from the
Mughal Empire in 1726[10].
Before the Gaekwars captured Baroda, it was ruled by Babi Nawabs, who
were the officers of the Delhi ruler. Moghul rule came to an end in
1732[10],
when Pilaji Rao Gaekwar brought the Maratha activities in Southern
Gujarat to a head and captured it. Except for a short period, Baroda
continued to be in the reign of the Gaekwars from 1734 to 1948.
Initially detailed to collect revenue on behalf of the
Peshwa
in Gujarat,
Pilaji Gaekwad remained there to carve out a kingdom for himself.
Damajirao, son and successor of
Pilaji Gaekwad, defeated the Mughal armies and conquered Baroda in
1734[10].
He assumed the titles of an independent ruler. His successors
consolidated their power over large tracts of Gujarat, becoming easily
the most powerful rulers in the region. After the Maratha defeat by
the Afghans at the
Third Battle of Panipat in 1761[10],
control of the empire by the Peshwas weakened as it became a loose
confederacy, and the Gaekwad
Maharajas ruled the kingdom until Indian independence. In 1802[10],
the British intervened to defend a Maharaja that had recently
inherited the throne from rival claimants, and Vadodara concluded a
treaty with the British that recognized the Kingdom as a 'Princely
state' and allowed the Maharajas of Baroda internal political
sovereignty in return for recognizing British 'Paramountcy', a form of
suzereignty where the subject of foreign affairs was completely
surrendered.
The greatest period in the Maratha rule
of Vadodara started with the accession of
Maharaja Sayajirao III in 1875[10].
It was an era of great progress and constructive achievements in all
fields.
Maharaja Sayajirao III, who ruled from 1875 to 1939, did much to
modernize Vadodara, establishing compulsory primary education, a
library system, a
university, and model
textile
and tile factories, which helped to create Baroda's modern textile
industry. Modern Vadodara is a great and fitting memorial to Maharaja
Sayajirao. It was the dream of this able administrator to make Baroda
an educational, industrial and commercial centre and he ensured that
his dream would come true. For this reason, the city is also referred
to as Sayaji Nagari (the town of Sayaji).
With India's independence in 1947, the
last ruling Maharaja of Baroda State acceded to India. Baroda State
was merged into to
Bombay State shortly after independence, which was divided into
the
states of
Gujarat
and
Maharastra in 1960, with Vadodara part of Gujarat.
In recent times, Vadodara was affected
by the devastating
January 26, 2001 earthquake that struck Gujarat. The city was
spared the devastation suffered by some of the other major cities in
Gujarat. However there were some casualties as poorly constructed
buildings collapsed in the wake of the earthquake and the after
shocks. |
