The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c15.87

v1.c15.87

We return to the west coast. The Bombay and Baroda railway runs out of Bombay northward and does not ascend the Ghāts, but follows the coastal plain across the lower Tāpti and Narbadā rivers to Baroda, and thence on, across the alluvial flats of the Mahī and neighbouring small rivers, to Ahmadābād. The Gaikwār of Baroda governs a small but very rich and populous lowland. His people speak Gujarātī, though the Gaikwār is a Marāthā, like Sindhia and Holkar. His territories are so mixed with those of the Bombay Presidency that the map of the plains round Ahmadābād and Baroda city is like that part of Scotland which is labelled Ross and Cromarty. Ahmadābād was once the most important Muhammadan city of Western India, and contains many fine architectural monuments, surpassed only by those of the great Mughal capitals, Delhi and Agra.