Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
Concept
Vadodara
Summary
Vadodara (ʋəˈɖodəɾɑ), also known as Baroda, is a major city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district and is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, from the state capital of Gandhinagar. The railway line and National Highway 8, which connect Delhi with Mumbai, pass through Vadodara. The city is named for its abundance of banyan (vad) trees. Vadodara is also locally referred to as the Sanskari Nagari () and Kala Nagari () of India.
The city is prominent for landmarks such as the Laxmi Vilas Palace, which served as the residence of the Maratha royal Gaekwad dynasty that ruled over Baroda State. It is also the home of the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda.
The city once was called Chandanavati after the rule of Chadas of the Dodiya Rajputis. The capital was also known as Virakshetra or machod (Land of Warriors). Later, it was known as Vadpatraka or Vadodará, and according to tradition, is a corrupt form of the Sanskrit word vatodar, meaning "in the belly of the banyan tree". It is, as of 2009, almost impossible to ascertain when the various changes in the name were made; early English travelers and merchants of the 15th century mention the town as Baroda, and it is from this, that the name Baroda is derived; in 1974 (well after independence), the official name of the city was changed to Vadodara.
At Akota, now a suburb of Vadodara, excavations have found rich microlith deposits, providing early evidence of habitation in the area. These prehistoric people took part in hunting and fishing and lived no later than 1000 BCE.
By the first centuries CE, Akota was the site of a commercial town with far-reaching trade links. Known in antiquity as Aṅkoṭṭaka, it had well-built houses made from burnt bricks. Two re-struck coins of the early Western Satraps have been found here, along with artifacts possibly of Greco-Roman origin. A Gupta-era coin has also been found here.
Akota flourished under the Maitraka dynasty, although it experienced periodic severe flooding.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.