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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."
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." |
