Why it looks like this

Baroda state, ruled by the Gaekwad dynasty, was one of princely India's richest, and its reforming maharaja Sayajirao III (ruled 1875–1939) built the capital to match: universities, museums, parks, and the vast Indo-Saracenic Laxmi Vilas Palace, completed in 1890 and famously compared in size to several Buckingham Palaces.

The old town crowds the east bank of the Vishwamitri River — a stream known for the hundreds of crocodiles living in the middle of the city — while the university quarter and modern industrial districts spread beyond, feeding on Gujarat's petrochemical corridor.