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First known residence of rulers

VADODARA: While it might look like a haunted house today, Bhadra was the first known residence of the rulers of Baroda. It is believed that it was called Bhadra as it housed the nobles.


Noted archaeologist R N Mehta has described the building in his book ‘Vadodara: Ek Adhyayan’. Mehta states that the structure was newer than the Mandvi and came up towards the end of the seventeenth century or the beginning of the eighteenth century.

Mehta notes that the building was the old palace with smaller rooms on the ground floor and larger ones on the upper floor. He states that the upper floor had a Darbarkhand, a Zanankhana and a room of the ruler.

According to the book, the building was made in a style that developed after the Mughal ruler Shahjahan. The building is made of brick, lime and wood. It has an ornate Jharokha made of marble that stands out in the entire structure.

In a thesis on the city’s planning and architecture architect and state co-convener of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) Sanjeev Joshi states that Bhadra was the residence of the rulers of Vadodara till the end of the eighteenth century. It was only around 1800 that Sarkarwada came up and Bhadra gradually got transformed into a place from where the administration operated. It was modified on several occasions and additions were made to the original structure.

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