MAJA MA GUJARAT



DABHOI

Location: 30 kms South-East of Vadodara

We arrived in Dabhoi on Dussehra day. The objective of our visit was to view the remains of the 12^th century Vamavart fort made by the Solanki  king Siddhraj Jaisingh I to fortify the ancient city of Darbhavati. It was altered during the time of the Vaghela king, Visaldev in the early 13^th century. It is one of the few examples of Hindu military architecture which still remain but just barely.

All that remains of the fort today are the four entrance gates, one in each cardinal direction. They are named the Vadodari Bhagol or the West gate, The Nandodi Bhagol or the south gate, the Champaneri Bhagol or the North gate and the Hira Bhagol or the west gate. While the first three gates are named after the cities in whose direction they face the last is named after the architect Hira who did much of the restoration work. The original architect of the fort is said to be one Deva Shilpi.

The Hira Bhagol is the most ornate with intricate carving of gods and goddesses from the Hindu Pantheon with 6 pilasters on each side of the gate supporting as many corbelled brackets. The Kali temple is adjoining the gate on the right side and is profusely carved. The gates are surrounded by the living city and traffic flows around them thick and fast. To think that built civilisations more than a millennia apart were still co-existing says a lot about the intangible living heritage of our historical cities.

 

We were witness to a very interesting celebration on the day of our visit which also happened to be Dussehra. The worship of the mother goddess had concluded and a colourful procession passed us as we watched fascinated. Women carried a pot of mud with shoots of grain growing from them in thick clumps. Some of them were possessed by the ‘devi’ and were dancing with abandon. They were led by the men beating drums ahead of them as they danced around the locality. Finally the ‘images’ were immersed in a nearby tank.

Today is also the day when people enjoy eating the local speciality of fafda and jalebi. The colourful stalls were a sight to behold.

Dabhoi is  also an important Jain pilgrimage centre and the gateway to the Sardar Sarovar Dam. It is the place where the famous Gujarati poet Dayaram settled down to compose the ‘garbis’ that are sung till today with great reverence. The city has a number of old heritage and colonial style buildings some built under the aegis of the royal Gaekwad family. A beautiful school building in the name of Ganpat Rao Gaekwad lay overgrown and abandoned.

Dabhoi has one of the world’s oldest and biggest narrow gauge railway junctions. The railway station was set up by the royal Gaekwad family more than 150 years ago. The train would be lugged by a pair of buffalos then as the tracks were too light to take the load of the steam engine. Amongst other things the train carried cotton from the farmers of Dabhoi to the mills of Bombay. The station has been renovated in the past few years

 

MAJA MA GUJARAT

TAMBEKARWADA

 Location: In the lane opposite the famous Dhuliram Pedawala, Raopura, Vadodara.

This historic monument looks like just another building or a big house from outside. Localites  don’t even glance at it. One had to drive around quite a bit before being able to find the site. The locals kept directing us uncertainly till we suddenly stumbled on to the familiar blue and red ASI board.
Located in the heart of the city, Tambekarwada is one of the oldest surviving residential complexes constructed in 1874 by Bhau Saheb Tambekar, who was the Diwan of Baroda during the time of Maharaja Ganpatrao Gaekwad from 1849 to 1854. This three-storeyed building has typical Maratha wooden architecture. Mural paintings have been used extensively to decorate the structure.

 

The front portion of this large building has paintings on its first three floors on walls, wooden doors and even pillars showing scenes from Ramayana and Life of Krishna, Gods and Goddesses of Hindu faith and the Anglo Maratha war.

The doors of the antechamber on second floor also have intimate love scenes, Kushti techniques and shringar visuals. Some of the murals actually looked like the Ganjifa card. 

 

The paintings seem to be a combination of the miniature and the pichwai style

The painting technique seems to be similar to what is known as 'secco'. The wall has been coated with lime and mud and the base then worked upon. Highlights have been picked out in gold in places but not much of it remains to be seen. Considering that the paintings are just 140 years old they seem to have lost a lot of their brightness and detail. ASI has restored some murals but the quality of restoration does not seem to be of very high quality to my untrained eye. Maybe the original itself did not really compare well with the standards set by the old masters in Kerala and Ajanta. Still it was one of the surprises of Vadodara for me. And a pleasant one at that.

 A niche before restoration and after

While the ASI has restored the front portion of Tambekarwada the portion adjoining it still needs attention. The ASI had recently written to the civic body seeking possession of the portion under the Vadodara Municipal Corporation so that it could be maintained better.
During monsoon there is seepage of water into the wall of the protected haveli and in the long run this could damage the protected monument. ASI has also sought permission to use the portion in possession of the VMC. The proposal entails that the spruced up premises could be put to use for a library, art gallery or any similar purpose to generate revenue to maintain the historical building.
Admission into the monument is free of charge. There was a lady caretaker who took us around very patiently. She was forthcoming with answers to all queries and allowed us access to all the floors cheerfully. What was missing however was some kind of written material giving more details about the background and history of the monument and details about the content of the paintings. There was one mural for example of a boys school/ hostel which showed several European boys playing the fool as their master looked on from the doorway. Just could not figure out how it fit into the scheme of things. I am sure that the ASI will sooner or later fill this gap?