Gaekwad Haveli at Ahmedabad

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Located in Ahmedabad, the Gaekwadi Haveli is the symbol of the expansion policies of the Peshwas and the Gaekwads. Built during the late 1730s, it was used as “Baithak” of Gaekwad during the Maratha rule.

Fall of Ahmedabad and rise of the Gaekwads :

After capturing the Baroda State in 1734 from the Badi Nawabs, Damajirao Gaekwad went on to expand the boundaries of his State. In 1737, with the help of Momin Khan(the new Mughal viceroy of Gujarat), he was able to push Ratan Singh out of Gujarat and capture Ahmedabad. Ratan Singh was an ally of Abhay Singh the previous viceroy of Gujarat, who assassinated Damajirao’s father Pilajirao Gaekwad. Thus the Ahmedabad fell under the joint rule of Marathas and the Mughals. During this the joint rule, the Gaekwad Haveli was built at Ahmedabad.

This joint rule ended in 1753 when the combined forces of Damaji Gaekwad & Peshwa Raghunathrao defeated the Mughals & gained full control of Gujarat. This control of the Gaekwads on the city remained unbroken except for a period of a year from January 1757 to February 1758. During this period Ahmedabad was recaptured by Momin Khan, only to surrender it back.

The Haveli:

During the joint rule of the Peshwa and the Gaekwads, the latter controlled only one gate of the city out of eleven. This was the Jamalpur gate which was the site of the haveli built during the late 1730s. Damajirao improved this haveli and made it into a citadel.

This citadel had an irregularly built wall with heavy gates that enclosed a large area divided into three parts. The northern part was originally a garden watered by a Persian wheel. The central and rear portions formed the heart of the citadel. The southern portion was added later around 1814, by a man named Keshoba Pandit.

The infamous Maratha and a saying :

Sometime around the late 18th century, Aba Shelukar was appointed as the “Sarsuba” of Ahmedabad for the Peshwa. He controlled areas of the city for revenue management. This particular Maratha became an infamous person, by committing atrocities on the civilians to extract money. He even tried to gain full control of the city during which he captured the Gaekwad Haveli.

Finally, the rule of Shelukar ended in the late 1790s. In 1799, the Gaekwad sent an army to the city to take it back from this tyrant. The army captured Bhadra Fort and Shelukar was detained in 1799 by the Peshwa. He was sent back to Pune where he was jailed for seven years.

This whole incident has been captured in a saying and the folk culture of Ahmedabad. An axiom in the Gujarati language,” Haath Ma Dando, Bagal Ma Moi, Haveli Leta Gujarat Khoi” describes the incident, basically saying that “as soon as he took the haveli, he lost Gujarat”. The folk culture of Ahmedabad preserves the memories of the incident in a manuscript called “Farbus Gujarati Sabha”. It has a Garba about Selukar’s atrocities in the city which is as follows :

Pune thi Shelukar aavio re, Garba karva Ahmedabad na raj rea;
aavyiyo tyare posla odhi, gayo tyare chadar odhia

(English: Shelukar arrived from Pune wearing an expensive shawl but had to leave Ahmedabad hiding under a cheap blanket !!!).

Later years and the present use of the Haveli :

The British East India Company took the control of the city in 1817 and the haveli was used as barracks for the garrison until 1824. Later, it was turned into an arsenal for the Northern Division of the Army in 1833. After the opening of the railway between Ahmedabad and Bombay, it was reduced to an ordnance depot in 1863.

The haveli currently houses the Crime Branch HQ from 1969 onwards. The haveli’s facade was restored in October 2014 and the watchtower was converted into police museum.

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Standing proudly in Ahmedabad, the Haveli is the symbol of the early rulers of the Gaekwad dynasty who consolidated and expanded the State for the future rulers of the Dynasty.

Partial Source: Wikipedia, ToI & Divyabhaskar

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