Forgotten

Men often build grand mansions, not just to live in, but that their legacy may live on. In the quiet little town of Sidhpur in Gujarat is the neighbourhood of Vohrawad, where European-style houses of unmatched magnificence—some preserved, some elegantly wasted—stand like a faded memory.

- Sugato Mukherjee

A sleepy little town in north Gujarat, Sidhpur has its rightful place in history and mythology. It was here, on the bank of the mythical Saraswati river, that the great warrior, Parasurama, performed the last rites of his mother. Sidhpur thus became a sacred pilgrimage for Hindus to honour their maternal ancestors and came to be known as the ‘Kashi of the West’.

The town rose to prominence during the rule of the Solanki dynasty when it became the capital of the state and was named after the famous king, Siddhraj Jaisingh. But today, the crowning glory of Sidhpur is the gorgeous European-styled architecture of over a century ago in the Muslim neighbourhood of Najampura. Much like the Chettiars of Chettinad and the Marwaris of Shekhawati, the Dawoodi Vohras are a prosperous trading community. A close-knit clan, they have a significant presence in Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Kolkata. As successful migrants to larger cities have often done, the non-resident Vohras built magnificent mansions in their home town—Sidhpur.

The listless highway from Ahmedabad to Sidhpur, cutting through the semi-arid countryside, does not prepare you for the magic of Sidhpur. The new part of the town wears a drab and dusty look with its ubiquitous trading shops and dull-looking houses. At a roadside sweet shop we stop for a break, where the elderly owner responds to our query with a single word. “Vohrawad,” he smiles and explains the route to reach the famous neighbourhood.