Pakistan is a paradigm example of a failed state that has undergone an extremely dangerous form of radical Islamisation.
Jag Niwas Palace
The Construction of The Palace
For over a hundred years Jag Mandir has served as the main pleasure palace of
the Sisodia rulers. During the rule of Maharana Sangram Singh II (1716-34) his
son Jagat Singh II had asked permission for a sojourn at Jag Mandir but for
reasons best known to the father the young prince was refused. On the other hand
the adjacent island was given up for the prince's personal use. Pavilions of the
palace were constructed before 1734 and after his coronation Gadi Rana Jagat
Singh II (1734-1751) further expanded the marble water palace. Jagat Singh II
named the palace, Jag Niwas, also known as the Lake Palace, after himself. The
palace faces east, allowing its inhabitants to pray to the Sun god at the crack
of dawn.
The Extension of Many Palace
Lake Palace Hotel in Udaipur, IndiaJagat Singh's period saw the extension of
the palace through the Bara Mahal, Khush Mahal, Phool Mahal, Dhola Mahal,
Dilaram Palace and the Canal The Khush Mahal (Palace of Happiness) is also known
as the Maharani suite since the Queens were occupying it, is one of the sought
after rooms in the palace. It has a perfect Moorish setting - coloured glasswork
framing the windows, marble flooring, the bed with its luxurious bedding and
offers the most enchanting way to watch the sun set over the quiescent waters of
the lake. In the heart of the room is an antique jhoola (swing). The other
palaces include Udai Prakash with a huge terrace and Kamal Mahal with exquisite
glass inlay in designs of lotus and leaf patterns. Col. Tod when writing about
his life in the palace says: "Here they listened to the tale of the bard and
slept off their noonday opiate amidst the cool breezes of the lake, wafting
delicious odours from myriads of lotus flowers which covered the surface of the
waters."
Served As A Refuge Place for British Families
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. In order to protect his guests the Rana destroyed all the town's
boats so that the rebels could not reach the island.
The Inlay Work
The upper room of the palace is a perfect circle and is about 21 feet in
diameter. Ferguson, the noted antiquarian, is of the opinion, that it was the
prettiest room that he had ever seen or known in India. "Its floor is inlaid
with black and white marbles, the walls are ornamented with nichés and decorated
with arabesques of different coloured stones in the same style as the Taj at
Agra, though the patterns are Hindu and dome is exquisitely beautiful in form. A
room built of 12 enormous slabs of marble, Shah Jahan's throne sculptured from a
single block of serpentine and the little mosque dedicated to Kapuria Baba, a
Muhammedan Saint, are other objects of interest on the island."
The Breathtaking Beauty of Palace
About Jag Niwas it has been said that "the low yet extensive island fringed
with marble piazzas enclosing luxuriant orange-gardens interspersed with sombre
cypresses; towering palms and gilded minarets shooting up here and there; the
whole resting upon background of the dark and lofty Aravallis, forms a scene
unsurpassed by any other in India." Ferguson has written about these two spots
that "the only objects in Europe to be compared with them are the Baromean
islands in the Lago Maggiore but I need scarcely say their Indian rivals lose
nothing by comparison. They are as superior to them as Duomo at Milan is to
Buckingham Palace. Indeed I know of nothing that will bear comparison with them
anywhere."
The Fading glory of The Place
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 mouldering in the damp emanations of the lake."
About the same time two colonial bicyclists, William Hunter Workman and his wife
Fanny, 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 splendour."
The reign of Bhopal Singh (1930-55) saw the addition of another pavilion,
Chandra Prakash, but otherwise the Jag Niwas remained unaltered, degrading,
weak, and raring to fall but increasingly silent about it. Geoffrey Kendall, the
noted theatre personality, described the palace during his visit in the 1950s as
"totally deserted, the stillness broken only by the humming of clouds of
mosquitoes." When Maharana Bhagwat Singh ascended the throne in 1955, Udaipur's
golden years were already on the decline. Their fierce sense of self-respect and
code of honour had given them their dignity but at the cost of their fortunes.
Other Rajput kingdoms had prospered through their relationships with either the
Mughals or the British (or both), but the Sisodias were only dependent on their
wealth. Even in the 1960s Udaipur had no industry or business as such, with the
only one being that of sword making.
Palace Converted into A Luxury Hotel
Bhagwat Singh was wise enough to realise this and prepared himself for the
future of his dynasty and kingdom. With this purpose in mind he 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 wasn't 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. and 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."
Kipling had once stated that "allpalaces in India excepting dead ones are
full of eyes," and Didi found it exactly so in case of Jag Niwas.
The Restoration Work Commenced
The palace was filled with peepholes, secret passages, and secret chambers.
There was a room that could be entered only through a trap door at the top. The
Lake Palace Hotel caught the fancy of several distinguished guests including
Elizabeth II, Jacqueline Kennedy, the Shah of Iran and the King of Nepal.
The hotel provides an opportunity for guests to have an inimitable glimpse of
the lifestyle that was once associated with the aristocracy. Major renovation
and extension was done on the palace in 1970, which did little to debilitate it.
Jag Niwas was more a garden with several pavilions, built mostly in the 18th
century. However, recent additions on the island palace are modern in style. In
1971 the management of the hotel was taken over by the Taj Group of Hotels and
they have made the water palace one of the most attractive Indian tourist sites
with its fantastic amalgamation of courts, apartments and gardens.
Just behind the Lake Palace there is a small island, proud with its own
palace called the Arsi Vilas. This one was built by one of the numerous
maharanas of Udaipur to enjoy the sunset on the lake. It is also a sanctuary
catering to a variety of birds, including tufted ducks, coots, egrets, terns,
cormorants and kingfishers.
