A city so picturesque and steeped in fables, it intrigues even the most modern-day travellers with its ever-growing charm, patronised by the regal heirs, say Gustasp and Jeroo Irani
There is no getting away from the royals and their valorous past in the fabled Rajput city of Udaipur. In its City Palace complex, we met with royalty recently.
The City Palace, the largest in the State, is now a museum and is a part of the domed and turreted palace complex whose monumental girth also includes the royal residence (Shambhu Niwas) as well as two palace hotels (Shiv Niwas and Fateh Prakash) run by the HRH Group of Hotels, owned by the Maharana.
Married and settled in Boston, the young princess Padmaja Kumari Parmar, the daughter of Shriji Arvind Singh Mewar of Udaipur (the current Maharana or custodian of the House of Mewar, acknowledged as the world’s oldest serving dynasty), handles business development and strategy for the HRH Group of hotels and shuttles between the city of her birth and the US. She says, “It’s all about preserving your heritage. Once it’s lost, it’s gone forever.”
The House of Mewar has converted its royal palaces into grand heritage hotels and the creation of the Eternal Mewar brand which encompasses hospitality, cultural preservation, philanthropy and so on.
And the elegant princess bears the weight of history lightly — belonging as she does to a dynasty that was founded in 734 AD but was never subjugated. Not only did her ancestors build formidable fortresses but also alluring lakeshore and island palaces that were studded with silver and crystal furniture and also Persian carpets and valuable paintings. Beyond the palaces flare parklands studded with fountains and pavilions.
Udaipur today seems to wear its royal origins on its sleeve and locals still reminisce about the antics of their former rulers. Even under the British, when Rajasthan continued as a collection of princely states, headed by independent monarchs, the rulers of Mewar would fiercely demonstrate their sovereignty. To express his contempt for the British, one of the Maharanas would have the road by which the British official had arrived washed a couple of times!
Udaipur has developed a comfortable equation with tourism and its palace-hotels such as the lakefront Fateh Prakash and Shiv Niwas as well as the Jag Mandir island palace have enabled former royalty to preserve their heritage and live off it.
The royal vintage car collection — which includes a Rolls Royce, 1939 Cadillac convertibles, Vauxhall, customised Mercedes models and much else — is showcased in the original palace garage which is now a part of HRH’s bougainvillaea-draped Garden Hotel. Shikarbadi, the former royal hunting lodge on the outskirts of the city, is now a restful 250-acre retreat, back-dropped by forested hills. At Shikarabadi, there is a deer park and a stud farm where Marwari thoroughbreds are bred and one wakes up in the jungle-style rooms to the call of a strange bird or the cry of a peacock.
In the palace-hotels, guests may be served by retainers whose forefathers (going as far back as six generations) have served royalty. Guests can also play king and queen in a grand suite once occupied by the present Maharana or in the Silver Suite where all the furniture from the huge canopied four-poster to throne-like chairs, sideboard and doors have all been crafted from silver.
In the precincts of Shiv Niwas, one may hear a bagpiper band that plays briefly every evening, a long-cherished tradition; or witness an Ashva Pujan which celebrates the bond between the Rajput warrior and his horse or be part of the Sheetala Ashtami procession when ornamented horses, bands, and richly costumed security guards from the City Palace wind down to the Sheetala Mata temple to observe puja-archana.
In the Fateh Prakash palace hotel, we stumbled on the opulent Durbar Hall with its 1,000-kg chandeliers, imposing portraits of the Maharanas, royal artefacts and armoury. The Instrument of Accession to the Indian Union was signed here by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Maharana Bhopal Singh in 1947, we were told.
Above the Durbar Hall, unravels the Crystal Gallery. This astounding collection is said to be the single largest private assortment of crystal under one roof. It was ordered by Maharana Sajjan Singh in 1877 from the Birmingham-based F&C Ossler Company. The objets d’art gleam and beckon — decanters, glasses, washing bowls, dinner sets, hookahs, fountains and even furniture. The gallery houses what is probably the only crystal bed in the world and the royal treasure trove even has an Arabian-style bed made of gold as well as carpets woven with gold and silver threads and studded with precious stones!
We were in Udaipur on the occasion of Guru Poornima in July when the royal family renews its contract of being the custodians of the House of Mewar at the Eklingji Temple. When we walked barefoot, the sacred precinct of lord Eklingji was suffused with Indian classical music emanating from the main mandap. Some of the finest Indian musicians had been invited to play homage to the lord. There was a striking black marble, four-faced lingam of lord Eklingji, guarded by heavy silver doors and altar while on the domed ceiling above were gracefully sculpted dancers.
Every Monday evening, the Maharana (if he is in town) visits the temple, mingling among his people like a commoner — this, say locals, is a big opportunity for some royal watching.
Where else but in Udaipur would you get a ringside view of the descendant of the brave Rana Pratap, a great builder like Maharana Fateh Singh or a visionary like Maharana Bhagwat Singh who was the first royal in the country to convert his palace (the iconic Taj lake Palace) into a hotelIJ And feel a legacy that has been preserved so meticulously that you can experience a Maharana’s abode as your ownIJ
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