This photograph taken on October 10, 2026 shows artists playing traditional music to welcome visitors at the Lakshmi Vilas Palace in Vadodara, Gujarat. In a sprawling palace in western India, the "queen" or Maharani of Baroda welcomes guests with fragrant rose petals, presenting torchlit dances of Hindu myths. After independence in 1947, the maharajas joined democratic India and became ordinary citizens, but their enduring cultural influence is something politicians of all parties seek to harness. (Photo by Noah SEELAM / AFP via Getty Images)