Rajasthan #1: Forts and Palaces

पधारो म्हारे देश. Welcome to my country. That’s the line that greeted us when we landed in Udaipur, Rajasthan. And boy, these guys understand tourism and hospitality like no other state.

 

Rajasthan is famous for its magnificent forts and palaces. Plus, there’s the desert. Talking of which, I thought of all of Rajasthan as a dry place, so I was taken aback to be told that Udaipur is called the City of Lakes. Then I remembered something from my 12 yo daughter’s Geography book - the parts of the state in the rain shadow of the Aravallis get a lot of rain; while the parts on the other side barely get any. Udaipur is in the rain shadow.

 

The guides at the forts and palaces at all the places we visited – Udaipur, Chittorgarh, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Nagaur, and Jaipur – were excellent and knowledgeable. Left to ourselves, we’d have never even noticed half the stuff in those places, let alone appreciated them. Like design choices to keep the place cool, and ingenious ways to heat up the water for royal baths. The layout of palaces was designed to minimize, er, friction amongst the queens. The intricacies of the various paintings were impressive. So too was the effect of lamps and cleverly positioned colorful glass and mirrors to lighten up the night. A common theme across all palaces was the designing of mechanisms for the women to view court proceedings without being seen themselves.

 

The guides know their history and tell the stories of the place well. At Udaipur, it was the tale of Maharana Pratap and the battle of Haldi Ghati. At Chittorgarh, it was of the mass suicide (jauhar) of Queen Padmini and the women of Chittor. And at Amer fort in Jaipur, it was the tale of Queen Jodha who married Akbar. Not surprisingly, while my wife and I found the historical references and significance to be interesting, my 12 yo daughter had that “Oh god! Not a history class during my vacation” expression.

 

In Saheliyon ki Bari, a garden for the princesses of Udaipur, the guide explained that the fountains were designed to operate on gravity. The garden was fed by waters from the nearby Fateh Sagar Lake, which was at a higher altitude than the garden and water thus came with enough pressure to power the fountains. Even the pipes were designed to minimize maintenance, he said. He then proudly added that the engineers of older times were so much better than the engineers of today, evoking a wide grin from my daughter.

 

And yes, many of these forts and palaces were the backdrop of Bollywood movies, from Jodha-Akbar to Padmavat. Entertainment – now that’s something my daughter is fully on-board with, so after we came back, she watched both movies.

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