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 BARODA DIVISION AND

170

CITY.

(Bombay, 1883). Mr. Elliot’s elaborate and admirably complete volume unfortunately reached me too late to be utilized in the preparation of this article, which is therefore substantially reproduced irom the first edition of The Iniperial Gazetteer, with statistics up to 1881.]

Baroda.

— Division of

Baroda

State, Guzerat,

Bombay

Presidency,

comprising the Districts of Baroda, Choranda, Jarod, Petlad, Padra, Dabhoi, Sinor, Sankheda, Tilakwara, and Chandod. Population (i88r) 654,989, namely, 349,283 males, and 305,706 females. Baroda. The chief city or capital of the territory of the Gdekvvar,

—

in 22° 17' 30" N.

lat., and 73° 16' E. long. It contains 24,027 houses, population (1881) of 106,512, including 4694 persons returned as being in the cantonment. It is the second city of Guzerat,

and a

total

and the

third in the

deep, sunk bed

Bombay

of the

little

Presidency.

It is situated east

river Viswamitri,

of the

over whose tortuous

course and side channels four stone bridges have been erected, leading

from the cantonment to the town. referred

nearly

to

Alemoirs :

—

‘

It is

a

The

century ago by

largest of these

Mr.

Forbes in

his

was thus Oriental

a stone bridge consisting of two ranges of arches over

mention it because it is the only bridge of the kind I His description of the city, though somewhat highly coloured, needs but few alterations and additions. The beautiful trees by which it was then surrounded, still half conceal numerous temples and tombs, chiefly of Musalman noblemen, while here and there are fine wells, such as the Nav Lakh ki Bdwali the Nine Lakh (or Well Sahib. The city proper near the tomb of the Ami'n ^^0,000) each other.

I

ever saw in India.’

—

—

is

‘

intersected by two spacious streets, dividing

it

into four equal parts,

meeting in the centre in the market-place, which contains a square pavilion with three bold arches on each front. This pavilion is a Mughal building, as

is

everything else that has the smallest claim to grandeur

—

The Maratha structures are mean and shabby and elegance. none more so than the Darbar finished by Fateh Singh, which resembles most Hindu palaces in want of taste and proportion of architecture and elegance in the interior decorations.’ This condemnation of the last century applies equally to the palace built by the late Syaji Maharaja, and now occupied by the present a shapeless heap of crowded little rooms Gaekwar and his queen, Immediately behind it and the and narrow winding staircases. pavilion already alluded to, towers high above the town the Nazar Bagh Palace, built by the late Gaekwar Malhar Rao, and now used as a

—

treasure-house for the Gaekwar’s jewels, valued at over three millions sterling.

Although unduly crowded by the neighbouring houses, this some architectural merit, and the interior is not wanting In the neighbourhood of the palace, but somewhat nearer

lofty edifice has

in finish.