These are some of the prominent forts of rajasthan:
Showing posts with label Lake Palace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lake Palace. Show all posts
Friday, February 16, 2024
Jag Mandir
Jag Mandir
Jag Mandir is a palace built on an island in the Lake Pichola. It is also called the "Lake Garden Palace". The palace is located in Udaipur city in the Indian state of Rajasthan. Its construction is credited to three Maharanas of the Sisodia Rajputs of Mewar kingdom. The construction of the palace was started in 1551 by Maharana Amar Singh, continued by Maharana Karan Singh (1620–1628) and finally completed by Maharana Jagat Singh I (1628–1652). It is named as "Jagat Mandir" in honour of the last named Maharana Jagat Singh. The royal family used the palace as a summer resort and pleasure palace for holding parties.[1][2][3][4][5] The palace served as a refuge to asylum seekers for one occasion.[1][6]
Geography
Jag Mandir is situated in one of the two natural islands in the Pichola lake (named after the village Picholi nearby), on its southern end. The lake was initially created in the 15th century by a local banjara tribal chieftain for carrying grain across the streams. During the reign of Maharana Udai Singh II, in 1560, the lake was substantially enlarged by constructing dams across two streams. At that time, the Maharana also built the Jag Mandir and the Lake Palace (Jag Niwas Hotel) on islands in the midst of the lake. Udaipur city with its City Palace and other monuments and temples were built on the periphery of the lake.[7][8]
History
Jag Mandir Palace from above, on Lake Pichola, Udaipur. ca. 1873
The real threat, which almost decimated Mewar kingdom for many years, came from the marauding Marathas. The hope of survival revived when in 1817, the British came to their rescue with the "Treaty of Paramountcy" promising restoration of all the hereditary territories and protecting the state from any future invasions. Thereafter, peace and prosperity ensued in Mewar Kingdom. The pride and glory of Sisodia Rajputs were fully restored.[1]
During the revolt in 1857, Maharana Swroop Singh (1842–1861) saved a number of European families, mostly women and children from Neemuch, which were given refuge in the Jag Mandir Palace. The revolt was popularly known as the Sepoy Mutiny, and was also called the Indian Mutiny, (or the first War of Independence) against the British Raj.[1]
After the Independence of India from the British rule, on 15 August 1947, at the initiative of Maharana Bhupal Singh, the Mewar kingdom merged with the Indian union in 1949 along with other princely states of Rajasthan.[1]
Hawa Mahal
Hawa Mahal
The Hawa Mahal is a palace in the city of Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. Built from red and pink sandstone, it is on the edge of the City Palace, Jaipur, and extends to the Zenana, or women's chambers.
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The structure was built in 1799 by the Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh, grandson of Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh, the founder of the city of Jhunjhunu in the state of Rajasthan.[1] He was so inspired by the unique structure of Khetri Mahal that he built this grand and historical palace.
It was designed by Lal Chand Ustad. Its five-floor exterior is akin to a honeycomb with its 953 small windows called Jharokhas decorated with intricate latticework.[2] The original intent of the lattice design was to allow royal ladies to observe everyday life and festivals celebrated in the street below without being seen. This architectural feature also allowed cool air from the Venturi effect to pass through, thus making the whole area more pleasant during the high temperatures in summer.[2][3][4] Many people see the Hawa Mahal from the street view and think it is the front of the palace, but it is the back.[5]
In 2006, renovation works on the Mahal were undertaken, after a gap of 50 years, to give a facelift to the monument at an estimated cost of Rs 4.568 million.[6] The corporate sector lent a hand to preserve the historical monuments of Jaipur and the Unit Trust of India has adopted Hawa Mahal to maintain it.[7] The palace is an extended part of a huge complex. The stone-carved screens, small casements, and arched roofs are some of the features of this popular tourist spot. The monument also has delicately modelled hanging cornices.
Architecture
See also: Rajput architecture
Details of the eastern façade
This palace is a five-story pyramidal shaped monument that rises to about 50 feet (15 m). The top three floors of the structure have the width of a single room, while the first and second floors have patios in front of them. The front elevation, as seen from the street, is like a honeycomb with small portholes. Each porthole has miniature windows and carved sandstone grills, finials and domes. It gives the appearance of a mass of semi-octagonal bays, giving the monument its unique façade. The inner face on the back side of the building consists of chambers built with pillars and corridors with minimal ornamentation, and reach up to the top floor. The interior of the palace has been described as "having rooms of different coloured marbles, relieved by inlaid panels or gilding; while fountains adorn the centre of the courtyard".[8][9]
Lal Chand Ustad was the architect. Built-in red and pink coloured sandstone, in keeping with the décor of the other monuments in the city, its colour is a full testimony to the epithet of "Pink City" given to Jaipur. Its façade with 953 niches with intricately carved jharokhas (some are made of wood) is a stark contrast to the plain-looking rear side of the structure. Its cultural and architectural heritage is a reflection of a fusion of Hindu Rajput architecture and Islamic Mughal architecture; the Rajput style is seen in the form of domed canopies, fluted pillars, lotus, and floral patterns, and the Islamic style as evident in its stone inlay filigree work and arches (as distinguished from its similarity with the Panch Mahal at Fatehpur Sikri).[10]
The entry to the Hawa Mahal from the city palace side is through an imperial door. It opens into a large courtyard, which has double-storeyed buildings on three sides, with the Hawa Mahal enclosing it on the east side. An archaeological museum is also housed in this courtyard.[11]
Hawa Mahal was also known as the chef-d'œuvre of Maharaja Jai Singh as it was his favourite resort because of the elegance and built-in interior of the Mahal. The cooling effect in the chambers, provided by the breeze passing through the small windows of the façade, was enhanced by the fountains provided at the centre of each of the chambers.[12]
The top two floors of the Hawa Mahal are accessed only through ramps. The Mahal is maintained by the archaeological department of the Government of Rajasthan.[11]
Lake Palace
Lake Palace
Lake Palace (formally known as Jag Niwas) is a former summer palace of the royal dynasty of Mewar, it is now turned into a hotel. The Lake Palace is located on the island of Jag Niwas in Lake Pichola, Udaipur, India, and its natural foundation spans 4 acres (16,000 m2).[1] Popularly described as the Venice of the East, Udaipur hosts the pristine Lake Palace, curated out of white marble.
Jag Niwas, the then Lake Palace, was constructed circa 1743 -1746 by Maharana Jagat Singh II. The 62nd custodian of the House of Mewar spent a handsome price on building this luxurious palace. The exquisite lake palace was extensively used as a summer retreat for the Mewar Royal family.
Currently, IHCL is managing the palace and has done so for the last 50 years. This luxurious palace has attained global fame as several super-hit films, including Octopussy, The Fall, etc., have been shot here.
History
The reign of Maharana Sir Bhopal Singh (1930–55) saw the addition of another pavilion, Chandra Prakash, but otherwise the Jag Niwas remained unaltered and decaying. Geoffrey Kendal, the theater personality, described the palace during his visit in the 1950s as "totally deserted, the stillness broken only by the humming of clouds of mosquitoes."[2]
Lily Pond at Lake Palace, Udaipur
Bhagwat Singh decided to convert the Jag Niwas Palace into Udaipur's first luxury hotel. Didi Contractor, an American artist, became a design consultant to this hotel project. Didi's accounts gives an insight to the life and responsibility of the new Maharana of Udaipur:
I worked from 1961 to 1969 and what an adventure! His Highness, you know, was a real monarch – really like kings always were. So one had a sense of being one of the last people to be an artist for the king. It felt the way one imagines it was like working in the courts of the Renaissance. It was an experience of going back in time to an entirely different era, a different world. His Highness was actually working on a shoestring. He was not in dire straits, mind you, but when he came to the throne he inherited big problems like what to do with the 300 dancing girls that belonged to his predecessor Maharana Bhopal Singh. He tried to offer them scholarships to become nurses but they didn't want to move out of the palace so what could he do? He had to keep them. They were old crones by this time and on state occasions I remember they would come to sing and dance with their ghunghats [veils] down and occasionally one would lift hers to show a wizened old face underneath. He had something like twelve state elephants, and he had all these properties which were deteriorating. The buildings on Jag Niwas were starting to fall down and basically the Lake Palace was turned into a hotel because it seemed the only viable way that it could be maintained ... It was really a job of conservation.[2]
Maharana Mahendra Singh, the current head of the Mewar dynasty was managing the Lake Palace Hotel when it got its 5 star rating. In 1971, Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces took over management of the hotel[5] and added another 75 rooms.[6] In 2000, a second restoration was undertaken.
The "Royal Butlers" in the hotel are descendants of the original palace retainers.[1]
Former guests have included Lord Curzon, Vivien Leigh, Queen Elizabeth, the Shah of Iran, the king of Nepal and US First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.
Lake Palace on Lake Pichola, Udaipur, India.
The palace was used to film several movies:
The Lake Palace was built between 1743 and 1746[1] under the direction of the Maharana Jagat Singh II (62nd successor to the royal dynasty of Mewar) of Udaipur, Rajasthan as a summer palace. It was initially called Jagniwas or Jan Niwas after its founder.
The palace was constructed facing east, allowing its inhabitants to pray to Surya, the Hindu sun god, at the crack of dawn.[2] Jagat Singh felt that the City Palace was too public to invite the beautiful young ladies of Udaipur with decadent, moonlit picnics. Therefore a palace in the centre of Lake Pichola would offer a lot more privacy.[3] The successive rulers used this palace as their summer resort, holding their regal durbars in its courtyards lined with columns, pillared terraces, fountains, and gardens.
The walls are made of black and white marbles and are adorned by semi-precious stones and ornamented niches. Gardens, fountains, pillared terraces and columns line its courtyards.[4]
The upper room is a perfect circle and is about 21 feet (6.4 m) in diameter. Its floor is inlaid with black and white marble, the walls are ornamented with niches and decorated with arabesques of colored stones, the dome is exquisitely beautiful in form.[2][according to whom?]
During the famous Indian Sepoy Mutiny in 1857, several European families fled from Nimach and used the island as an asylum, offered to them by Maharana Swaroop Singh. To protect his guests, the Rana destroyed all the town's boats so that the rebels could not reach the island.[2]
By the latter half of the 19th century, time and weather took their toll on the extraordinary water palaces of Udaipur. Pierre Loti, a French writer, described Jag Niwas as "slowly moldering in the damp emanations of the lake." About the same time bicyclists Fanny Bullock Workman and her husband William Hunter Workman were distressed by the 'cheap and tasteless style' of the interiors of the water palaces with "an assortment of infirm European furniture, wooden clocks, coloured glass ornaments, and children's toys, all of which seems to the visitor quite out of place, where he would naturally expect a dignified display of Eastern splendor."[2]
Lake Palace in Udaipur
Lily Pond at Lake Palace, Udaipur
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