Hidden at the heart of Siddhpur — a historic town in Gujarat about a hundred kilometres from Gandhinagar — there are several late 19th and early 20th-century ‘Havelis’ (mansions) that look like they came out of a Wes Anderson film. Pastel-hued, and ornate with stucco-work and intricate neo-classical features, these palatial residences are known as ‘Bohravad’, or the Dawoodi Bohra neighbourhood.

A close-knit community of Shia Muslims originally from Yemen, the Dawoodi Bohras trace their lineage to the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. From there, the community spread out to the rest of Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, eventually arriving in India as traders and pilgrims in the 18th century. Here, they settled in Siddhpur — the historic capital of the Solanki dynasty that ruled Gujarat and Kathiawar between the 10th and 14th centuries. In India, Siddhpur became the beating heart of the Dawoodi Bohra community.

In the 19th century, many Dawoodi Bohras travelled to cities in Europe and East Africa in search of opportunities to trade in goods like spices, perfumes, and gemstones, and their businesses flourished. Newly rich and flush with cash, the community soon rebuilt the Bohra quarters of Siddhpur in the image of the European cities they had seen during their travels.

The magnificent Havelis of the Dawoodi Bohras of Siddhpur not only represent the cosmopolitan culture of the community, but also stand out as excellent examples of the delicate and tasteful fusion of European, Indian, and Islamic architectural traditions. While the overall style of these houses appears very European and out of place in India, most of these houses incorporate several regional architectural features within their design.

For example, otla or high plinths — a common feature of Indian architecture not only in Gujarat but across the country — appear prominently in the Bohra havelis of Siddhpur. These otlas provide a transition base to the entrance of the houses, marking the barrier between the outside and the inside, and serve as social places where families would get together after dusk for an evening chat among themselves and with their neighbours.

These evening chats also contribute to the close-knit nature of the community and translate to the construction of these havelis. Narrow but deep, encompassing a small courtyard in the centre, these havelis often share walls.

The confluence of European and Indo-Saracenic architectural elements continues in the ornate façades of the havelis. Look past the Victorian hooded fenestrations, bay windows, elaborate pilasters, and trefoil arches housing balconies with classical balusters, and you’ll see intricately carved ‘jaali’ or lattice-work screens on the windows.

Sadly, these unique portals to a largely unexplored side of Indian history lie abandoned today. Nomadic in nature, the Dawoodi Bohras historically travelled wherever their trade took them, and most Bohras of Siddhpur settled in cities like Mumbai and Ahmedabad in India and also in Europe and Eastern Africa after Independence. The Havelis of Bohravad, once the homes of their ancestors, now lie unused in their absence; forgotten and frozen in a time — beauties of a bygone era.

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