Baroda

Baroda, now Vadodara, lies on the Vishwamitri River in Gujarat. Nearby Akota, known in antiquity as Ankoṭṭaka, was a trading settlement whose finds point to connections beyond western India. It was a neighbouring centre rather than simply another name for Baroda.

The city passed through the political worlds of the Gujarat Sultanate and the Mughal Empire before becoming the seat of the Maratha Gaekwad family. A district history records Damaji Rao Gaekwad's conquest of Baroda in 1734. The dynasty's rule linked the town to a larger state in Gujarat, while its river and surrounding agricultural country remained important to local life.