We were up at 7 a.m. to pack for our onward journey to Udaipur. We packed the bus with all our heavy bags which proved quite a sight. I thought the front wheels would come off the ground the back was so heavy!!
Then on to the bus and off towards the airport. On the way we stopped at the park and monument to Mahatma Gandhi who was assassinated in 1948. The 150th anniversary of his birth is in 2019. The park is serene and quiet after the hubbub of the city and at the top of a rise is a black marble slab with an eternal flame on the top and the words “Oh God” in Hindi in gold on the side. These were the last words spoken by Gandhi after the Hindu extremist shot him just outside the house in which he was living in New Delhi. This was truly a great man in every sense of the word and his teachings and example shine through all the good people of the world, MLK Jr. and many, many others. He was to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize but was killed before it could be awarded which is a shame because if anyone in the history of mankind deserved the award, he did in every possible way. I felt quite moved to be in his spirit’s presence. His body was cremated and the ashes disposed of in a flowing river so the memorial is symbolic but not a last resting place for him. It is nevertheless a spot where those who value his message and example can go to pay their respects.
After leaving the Gandhi Memorial we headed for the airport and check in. This proved to be uneventful
The only drama was when we went through security when MAC’s ‘monkey tool’ caused a stir as usual and she was delayed for a short while. Some gate changes later we were on our flight to Udaipur which was only about 2 hours. The landing in Udaipur proved to be exciting as it was very heavy indeed and we felt as though we dropped the last hundred or so feet like a stone!!
We were soon out, having retrieved our bags and onto a couple of buses for the quite long drive to the hotel. The traffic was as usual chaotic. On the roads the competition is very intense, there are, cows, people, bikes, scooters, rickshaws, tuk tuk, motor cycles, cars, trucks, hand-carts, bullock carts, buses and many are traveling across or even against the flow. At every few feet, there is a drama and it seems that disaster will strike but, somehow, it is avoided. The cacophony of horns and the revving of engines makes for a ‘street music’ which is unique.
We arrived at the hotel and immediately unloaded our luggage and took the bus to the Palace which would close at 4.30 p.m. We arrived there at about 4.45 p.m. but somehow managed to gain admission for a whirlwind tour just before it closed, in fact the doors were closing behind us as we raced through the building with our guide, who was excellent rapidly describing what we were seeing along the way. At the start there was a timeline of the Moghuls. It was built by Maharana Udai Singh II. Later Maharana Pratap fought a battle at Haldighati in 1576 and tricked the opposition by attaching a false trunk to his white horse, which was called Chetak or Cetak which fooled the enemies elephants. Even though the elephants eventually broke the horse’s leg, the horse stayed with the King and brought him to safety. The horse is memorialized in a statue in the center of the city and also in the Palace itself. We visited many rooms, passing through narrow and low doorways designed to thwart enemies who would try to attack the palace. As the enemies bent down, they might have their heads cut off by the defending troops. We passed a stone bath which, when a new Moghul is inaugurated, is filled with silver coins which are then distributed to his subjects. We also saw the room which was occupied by the last Moghul who was injured at the age of 18 in a riding accident and spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair. Finally we saw the ‘Silver Room’ which contains many kilos of silver trophies and ornaments. This was indeed a whirlwind tour but well worth it for all that as this is a remarkable building with a great history. More from Wikipedia follows:
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After visiting the palace we went to the studio of an artist who used to paint with the very fine squirrel hair brushes. His eye sight is now such that he cannot paint this way any longer but his studio sells paintings by craftsmen using similar techniques. We bought a small miniature painting of an elephant.
Then it was back to the hotel to change to dinner.
Dinner was just spellbinding. We traveled the short distance from the hotel to a jetty here we boarded a small boat which took us out to an island upon which stands the Leela Palace Hotel in which there is the Sheesh Mahal restaurant. This is a magical place in every sense of the word with views out of the lake to the floodlit palaces and other buildings either on islands in the lake or on the shore line. We ate outside in the warm evening air, avoiding as best we could the few mosquitoes which buzzed around. Gas heaters warmed any of us who were cold. I had some lamb dishes and we all dined extremely well in surroundings that were nothing short of fantastical.
After dinner, we re-boarded the boat back to the mainland and a golf cart transported us back to the hotel where we rendezvoused in Dasharna and Hament’s room to finish off the last bottle of champagne and put the seal on Marc’s birthday celebrations.
Then, it was well past midnight and we were off to bed.
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| GSIA Logistics, packing the bus for our departure from Delhi |
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| The memorial with the inscription in Hindi "Oh God', the last words uttered by Mahatma Gandhi. |
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| Scenes from the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial |
The only drama was when we went through security when MAC’s ‘monkey tool’ caused a stir as usual and she was delayed for a short while. Some gate changes later we were on our flight to Udaipur which was only about 2 hours. The landing in Udaipur proved to be exciting as it was very heavy indeed and we felt as though we dropped the last hundred or so feet like a stone!!
We were soon out, having retrieved our bags and onto a couple of buses for the quite long drive to the hotel. The traffic was as usual chaotic. On the roads the competition is very intense, there are, cows, people, bikes, scooters, rickshaws, tuk tuk, motor cycles, cars, trucks, hand-carts, bullock carts, buses and many are traveling across or even against the flow. At every few feet, there is a drama and it seems that disaster will strike but, somehow, it is avoided. The cacophony of horns and the revving of engines makes for a ‘street music’ which is unique.
We arrived at the hotel and immediately unloaded our luggage and took the bus to the Palace which would close at 4.30 p.m. We arrived there at about 4.45 p.m. but somehow managed to gain admission for a whirlwind tour just before it closed, in fact the doors were closing behind us as we raced through the building with our guide, who was excellent rapidly describing what we were seeing along the way. At the start there was a timeline of the Moghuls. It was built by Maharana Udai Singh II. Later Maharana Pratap fought a battle at Haldighati in 1576 and tricked the opposition by attaching a false trunk to his white horse, which was called Chetak or Cetak which fooled the enemies elephants. Even though the elephants eventually broke the horse’s leg, the horse stayed with the King and brought him to safety. The horse is memorialized in a statue in the center of the city and also in the Palace itself. We visited many rooms, passing through narrow and low doorways designed to thwart enemies who would try to attack the palace. As the enemies bent down, they might have their heads cut off by the defending troops. We passed a stone bath which, when a new Moghul is inaugurated, is filled with silver coins which are then distributed to his subjects. We also saw the room which was occupied by the last Moghul who was injured at the age of 18 in a riding accident and spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair. Finally we saw the ‘Silver Room’ which contains many kilos of silver trophies and ornaments. This was indeed a whirlwind tour but well worth it for all that as this is a remarkable building with a great history. More from Wikipedia follows:
Quote
City Palace, Udaipur, is a palace complex situated in the city of Udaipur, Rajasthan. It was built over a period of nearly 400 years, with contributions from several rulers of the Mewar dynasty. Its construction began in 1553, started by Maharana Udai Singh II of the Sisodia Rajput family as he shifted his capital from the erstwhile Chittor to the new found city of Udaipur. The palace is located on the east bank of Lake Pichola and has several palaces built within its complex. considered the largest of its type in the state of Rajasthan. It was built atop a hill, in a fusion of the Rajasthani and Mughal architectural styles, providing a panoramic view of the city and its surroundings. Overlooking Lake Pichola, several historic monuments like the Lake Palace, Jag Mandir, Jagdish Temple, Monsoon Palace, and Neemach Mata temple, are all in the vicinity of the palace complex. Nestled within the Aravali mountain range, these landmarks are associated in popular culture with the filming of the 1983 James Bond movie Octopussy.
The City Palace was built concurrently with the establishment of the Udaipur city by Maharana Udai Singh II and his successor Maharanas over a period of the next 400 years.The Maharanas lived and administered their kingdom from this palace, thereby making the palace complex an important historic landmark.
The Mewar kingdom was flourished initially in Nagda (30 kilometres (19 mi) to the north of Udaipur), established in 568 AD by Guhil, the first Maharana of Mewar. In the 8th century, the capital was moved to Chittor, a hill top fort from where the Sisodias and Choudharys ruled for 800 years. Maharana Uday Singh II inherited the Mewar kingdom at Chittor in 1537 but by that time there were signs of losing control of the fort in wars with the Mughals. Udai Singh II, therefore, chose the site near Lake Pichola for his new kingdom as the location was well protected on all sides by forests, lakes and the Aravalli hills. He had chosen this site for his new capital, much before the sacking of Chittor by Emperor Akbar, on the advice of a hermit he had met during one of his hunting expeditions.
The earliest royal structure he built here was the Royal courtyard or 'Rai Angan',[9][10][11] which was the beginning of the building of the City Palace complex. The court was built at the location where the hermit had advised Maharana to build his new capital.[8][9][10][11][12]
After Udai Singh’s death in 1572, his son Maharana Pratap took the reins of power at Udaipur. However, he was defeated by the Mughal emperor Akbar at the Battle of Haldighati in 1576 and Udaipur fell under the Mughal rule. After the death of Akbar, Mewar was given back to Maharana Pratap's son and successor Amar Singh I by Jahangir. However, the Mughal army sent many expeditions against the Mewar empire, culminating in a peace treaty between both rulers.
But with the increasing Marathas attacks by 1761, Udaipur and the Mewar state were in dire straits and in ruins. By 1818, Maharana Bhim Singh signed a treaty with the British accepting their protection against the other empires. After the Indian independence in 1947, the Mewar Kingdom, along with other princely states of Rajasthan, merged with the democratic India, in 1949. The Mewar Kings subsequently also lost their special royal privileges and titles. The successive Maharanas, however, retained their ownership of the palaces in Udaipur and converted parts of the palace complex into heritage hotels.
The series of palaces in the city palace complex, behind an exquisite facade of 244 metres (801 ft) length and 30.4 metres (100 ft) height, were built on a ridge on the east of lake Pichola. The complex is located in Udaipur city at 24.576°N 73.68°E, which is set with an average elevation of 598 metres (1,962 ft).[16] They were built over a long period, from 1559 onwards, by 22 generations of Sisodia Rajputs. Several Maharanas starting with Udai Singh II, have contributed to this edifice, which comprises an agglomeration of structures, including 11 small separate palaces. The unique aspect of this conglomeration is that the architectural design is distinctly homogeneous . The palace complex has been built entirely in granite and marble. The interiors of the palace complex with its balconies, towers and cupolas exhibit delicate mirror-work, marble-work, murals, wall paintings, silver-work, inlay-work and leftover of colored glass. The complex provides a view of the lake and the Udaipur city from its upper terraces.[2][3][5][6][9][10][11][17]
The palaces within the complex are interlinked through a number of chowks or quadrangles with zigzag corridors, planned in this fashion to avoid surprise attacks by enemies. Erected in the complex, after entering through the main Tripolia (triple) gate, are the Suraj Gokhda (public address facade), the Mor-chowk (Peacockcourtyard), the Dilkhush Mahal (heart’s delight), the Surya Chopar, the Sheesh Mahal (Palace of glass and mirrors), the Moti Mahal (Palace of Pearls), the Krishna Vilas (named after Lord Krishna), Shambu Niwas (royal residence now), the Bhim Vilas, the Amar Vilas (with a raised garden) that faces the Badi Mahal (the big palace), the Fateprakash Palace and the Shiv Niwas Palace; the last two have been converted into heritage hotels. The complex is set with facilities of a post office, bank, travel agency, numerous craft shops and also an Indian boutique belonging to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The entire complex is the property of the Mewar royal family with various trusts maintaining the structures.
Gateways
The main entry from the city is through the 'Badi Pol' (Great Gate), which leads to the first courtyard. Badi Pol (built in 1600) leads to the ‘Tripolia Pol', a triple arched gate built in 1725, which provides the northern entry. The road between this gate and the palace is lined with shops and kiosks owned by craftsmen, book-binders, miniature painters and textile dealers. Between these two gates, eight marble arches or Toranas are erected. It is said that the Maharanas used to be weighed here with gold and silver, which was then distributed among the local people. Following the Tripolia gate is an arena in front of the Toran Pol and the facade palace, the Manak Chowk, where elephant fights were staged in the past to test their prowess before starting on war campaigns.
The main block of the city palace is approached through a modest door from the Ganesha Deodhi terrace. The door is flanked by whitewashed walls vibrantly painted with martial animals in the traditional Rajput style.There is a big boulders in the entry where elephants were tied. This elephant parking have now became car parking. Behind the entrance of Badi Pol there is a huge wall which was for the elephant fight. The elephant which touches the wall first would be considered weak elephant. Both elephants would pull each other in this fight.
- Amar Vilas
Amar Vilas is the uppermost court inside the complex, which is an elevated garden. It provides entry to the Badi Mahal. It was built in Mughal style as a pleasure pavilion. It has cussed arcades enclosing a square marble tub. Amar Vilas' is the highest point of the City palace and has wonderful hanging gardens with fountains, towers and terraces.
Badi Mahal
Badi Mahal (Great Palace) also known as Garden Palace is the central palace situated on a 27 metres (89 ft) high natural rock formation bis-a-bis the rest of the palace. The rooms on the ground floor appear to be at the level of the fourth floor in view of the height difference to its surrounding buildings. There is a swimming pool here, which was then used for Holi festival (festival of colors) celebration. In an adjoining hall, miniature paintings of 18th and 19th centuries are displayed. In addition, wall paintings of Jag Mandir (as it appeared in the 18th century), Vishnu of Jagdish temple, the very courtyard and an elephant fight scene are depicted.
- Bhim Vilas
Bhim Vilas has a gallery of a collection of miniature paintings that depict the real-life stories of Radha-Krishna.
- Chini Chitrashala
- Choti Chitrashali
Choti Chitrashali or 'Residence of Little Pictures', built in the early 19th century, has pictures of peacocks.
- Dilkhusha Mahal
Dilkhusha Mahal or ‘Palace of Joy’ was built in 1620.
- Durbar hall
Durbar Hall was built in 1909 within the Fatehpraksh Palace as a venue for official functions such as State banquets and meetings. The gallery of the hall was used by the Royal ladies to observe the Durbar proceedings. This hall has a luxuriant interior with large chandeliers. Weapons of the maharanas and some of their portraits are depicted here. The foundation stone for this hall was laid by Lord Minto, the Viceroy of India, in 1909, during the rule of Maharana Fateh Singh and was then called Minto Hall.
- Fateprakash Palace
Fateprakash Palace, which is now a luxury hotel, has a crystal gallery that consists of crystal chairs, dressing tables, sofas, tables, chairs and beds, crockery, table fountains which were never used. There is also a jewel studded carpet here. Maharana Sajjan Singh had ordered these rare items in 1877 from F& C Osler & Co of Londonbut he died before they arrived here. It is said that the packages containing these crystals remained unopened for 110 years.
- Krishna Vilas
Krishna Vilas is another chamber, which has a rich collection of miniature paintings that portray royal processions, festivals and games of the Maharanas.
- Laxmi Vilas chowk
Laxmi Vilas Chowk is an art gallery with a distinctive collection of Mewar paintings.
- Manak Mahal
The Manak Mahal approached from the Manak Chowk is an enclosure for formal audience for the Mewar rulers. It has a raised alcove inlaid completely in mirror glass. Sun-face emblems, in gleaming brass, religious insignia of the Sisodia dynasty are a recurring display at several locations in the City Palace with one being depicted on the façade of the Manak Chowk. The largest of such an emblem is also seen on the wall of the Surya Chopar, a reception centre at the lower level. Surya or Sun emblem of the Mewar dynasty depicts a Bhil, the Sun, Chittor Fort and a Rajput with an inscription in Sanskrit of a quotation from the Bhagavad Gita (Hindu holy scripture), which means "God Helps those who do their duty". It was customary for the Maharanas to offer obeisance to the Sun facing east, every morning before taking breakfast.
- Mor Chowk
Mor Chowk or Peacock square is integral to the inner courts of the palace. The elaborate design of this chamber consists of three peacocks (representing the three seasons of summer, winter and monsoon) modeled in high relief and faced with coloured glass mosaic, built into successive niches in the wall area or jharoka, These were built during Maharana Sajjan Singh’s reign, 200 years after the palace was established. The peacocks have been crafted with 5000 pieces of glass, which shine in green, gold and blue colours. The apartments in front of the Chowk are depicted with scenes of Hindu god Lord Krishna’s legends. At the upper level, there is a projecting balcony, which is flanked by inserts of coloured glass. In an adjoining chamber, called the Kanch-ki-Burj, mosaics of mirrors adorn the walls. The Badi Charur Chowk within this chowk is a smaller court for private use. Its screen wall has painted and inlaid compositions depicting European men and Indian women. Proceeding further from the Mor-Chowk, in the Zenana Mahal or women’s quarters exquisitely designed alcoves, balconies, colored windows, tiled walls and floors are seen.
- Rang Bhawan
Rang Bhawan is the palace that used to hold the royal treasure. There are temples of Lord Krishna, Meera Bai and Shiva located here.
- Sheesh Mahal
Sheess Mahal or Palace of Mirrors and glasses was built in 1716[ by Maharana Pratap for his wife Maharani Ajabde.
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After visiting the palace we went to the studio of an artist who used to paint with the very fine squirrel hair brushes. His eye sight is now such that he cannot paint this way any longer but his studio sells paintings by craftsmen using similar techniques. We bought a small miniature painting of an elephant.
Then it was back to the hotel to change to dinner.
Dinner was just spellbinding. We traveled the short distance from the hotel to a jetty here we boarded a small boat which took us out to an island upon which stands the Leela Palace Hotel in which there is the Sheesh Mahal restaurant. This is a magical place in every sense of the word with views out of the lake to the floodlit palaces and other buildings either on islands in the lake or on the shore line. We ate outside in the warm evening air, avoiding as best we could the few mosquitoes which buzzed around. Gas heaters warmed any of us who were cold. I had some lamb dishes and we all dined extremely well in surroundings that were nothing short of fantastical.
After dinner, we re-boarded the boat back to the mainland and a golf cart transported us back to the hotel where we rendezvoused in Dasharna and Hament’s room to finish off the last bottle of champagne and put the seal on Marc’s birthday celebrations.
Then, it was well past midnight and we were off to bed.
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