Day 259 of Indian places making you smile – The White City – Udaipur
I had first visited Udaipur as a newly married young girl in 1985, happy to be part of a big group on a picnic. The only memory I have about it is of ogling from afar at the impressive white marbled Lake Palace situated right in the middle of the Lake Pichola (which literally means the Lake at the backside!). And I also remember taking a picture from my first colour camera next to the huge bronze statue of Maharana Pratap and his strong horse Chetak, situated right atop the Moti Nagri hill.
So more than thirty years later the next time we went on a road trip to Rajasthan, I was thrilled to drive through the city of Udaipur as our Google maps directed us in our search for the Ekalingji temple which is the place of worship for the Royal family of Rajasthan. I was only able to see the beauty of the external sides of this temple complex, because of the very restricted visitor timing schedules. We drove to Eklingji twice, once during the day and once again in the night to eat the yummy famous long stuffed chilly bhajjiyas. One of our group members experienced an unexplainable spiritual presence here…we were told that even by being outside the gates, we were blessed with the immense power of this Ekalingji temple!
On a bright chirpy morning I was grumbling about the waste of time when our driver took us for shopping to the Udaipur Emporium next to the Saheliyon ki Bari which literally means the garden for friends. However I was lucky to purchase a meditation bowl from the good salesman who enticed us with stories of its great vibrations and magical ‘Om’ sound healing powers!
Finally we arrived at the most important sight seeing point – the Udaipur lake Palace. We went to the boating area to admire the view of the Taj Lake palace Hotel in the middle of the serene waters. Then in the hot sun we slowly climbed up the slopes right past the impressive Fateh Prakash palace which is also a luxury heritage hotel. We entered the South side of the city palace complex. We then passed the Shambu Niwas palace which is the place of residence of the Royal family even in the present times.
We walked upto the open courtyard with the tripoli (three arched gate) at the other end.
We then had a memorable tour of the Udaipur palace complex with a certified guide. We bowed in respect to the huge golden depiction of the Sun God which seemed to be shining benevolently on all us mortals in the huge courtyard. As we entered the palace gates we saw its spikes to curtail threats of attacking elephants in times of war. In fact we saw many paintings depicting scenes of those days of Royalty. Also saw a model of a huge horse used in battlefields, with masks of elephant trunks. (This was to confuse the enemy elephant to refrain from attacking the horses thinking they were baby elephants).
So started our long walk in the open courtyards, structures, narrow corridors all around the amazing structures and the eleven palaces situated in the Udaipur city palace complex. The Dilkhush Mahal literally delighted our hearts; the Sheesh Mahal left us spellbound with its decorative glass on the walls, ceilings and even on the floor; the Mor Chowk with its restored peacock panels gave a glimpse of the actual glory of those times; the Amar Vilas with its square marble tub, raised garden and huge tree made us first think we were on the ground floor, yet we realised later that we actually were on the fourth floor as the palace was built around the hillock,
Next at the Badi Mahal we got to see how grand this palace really was. The royal family used to celebrate the festival of colours in its central garden. From the highest open courtyard we got a superb birds eye view of all sides of the white city of Udaipur. As we made our way down and up numerous stairways, we lost count of the numerous things on display…descriptive paintings, utensils, royal living quarters, worship rooms, inlay work, sculpted work, silverware, glasswork, etc. Even the architectural designs kept changing with many influences of Mughal, European of Chinese styles along with the basic typical Rajasthani grandeur!
Udaipur – there was so much I saw in just a few hours…This time I have clicked enough pictures of you…to give me memories that will last a lifetime!
So which Indian place made you smile today?
Please share your experience of Indian places that made you smile
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