Located in one of the narrow by lanes called Ghadiali Pol, of the Mandvi area, is the Haveli (mansion) of Hari-Bhakti. It is said that Haveli was built by Hari & Bhakti during 19th Century.
Who were Hari and Bhakti ?
According to one of their family members, Hari and Bhakti were two brothers from the Mandodhar Village near Baroda, who went to Pune to try their luck, and made it big before they returned to Baroda during the rule of the Gaekwads. There after they got the Haveli built in the Ghadiali Pol. They were the moneylenders to the royal family of Baroda, the Gaekwads. The documents of these transactions are still intact to this date.
The Haveli :
The haveli was designed keeping in mind the profession of its occupants i.e. money lending. The three storeyed structure is basically a maze of small rooms, big rooms, balconies, and staircases so steep and so narrow that only one person could climb it at a time. It is said that this haveli was interconnected to two other havelis, also belonging to the Hari-Bhakti family, via secret passages.
Just like any other building of the time, this Haveli is also a wooden construction. The haveli is planned around a courtyard, called the “Chowk”. This chowk houses the “Tulsi Kyara” used for growing the holy plant of Tulsi, and worshiping it. It also has a huge Brass pot which could contain 200 litres of water at a time. The courtyard/chowk is encircled by a veranda. The doors and windows of several rooms open into this veranda. The wooden posts that support the above floors are seen in the courtyard. These posts stand on stone bases, and are ornately carved and painted in contrasting colors of ivory and crimson, the posts also feature small wooden brackets at the top.Above them are ornately carved wooden beams, frieze and cornices that effortlessly hide the wooden joist flooring system behind them.
Most of the windows on the upper floors are full height windows, as is common in the houses of that time. These windows have two sets of doors, one of these are set with iron grills for the passage of air & light, as well as security, the other, has solid wood panels. At many places the passage between two wooden posts/columns is decorated with wooden panels cut in the shape of cusped arches. Apart from this, the interior of the building is embellished with wall paintings, glass chandeliers and small niches used for lighting lamps at the evening times.
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Most of the portion of the haveli is locked since there only a few people living in it. A few years ago, a huge portion of the haveli had to be dismantled on account of it being in a bad condition.
Just like its forgotten splendor and secret passages the haveli itself is at the brink of getting forgotten.
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