For those who had any amount of faith in the gun salute nomenclature started by the British to create a relative standing amongst the numerous principalities spread across India, a 13-gun salute state, like Jhalawar, was hardly of any interest. The primary reason for this categorization where the British Queen had 101 gun salutes and the viceroy entitled only to 31, and a mere 21 being the highest endowed to Indian kings, was to create a sense of their own superiority and adding fire to the prevailing rivalry amongst Indian states. These nomenclatures were followed up diligently without fail at all imperial gatherings. I don’t know what protocol was followed during the Delhi durbars and the photography sessions afterwards as literally there was a jostle to be photographed prominently. The poor kings from small principalities could hardly show their fantastically done attires adorned with fabulous jewels and had to be content with only facial coverage. But, life is much more other than a gun-salute count for sure.
Creation of present Jhalawar State in 1838 is a study in itself. By this time, British rule was well-established and wars were virtually out of sight. Then, what lead to this formation; I believe political manoeuvres and clever negotiations with the Political agents must have been behind a hard bargain that lead to reorganization of Kota State. One possible tactful reason could be to clamp down the expanding boundaries of Kota. But, whatever be the reasons, Jhalawar state saw the light of the day and found its own way in the days to come. Peace and Prosperity remained primal focus and that could easily be seen in today’s Jhalawar.
My introduction to Jhalawar Royal family took place at the “Music in the Park” live concert wherein Sitar Maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, his talented daughter Anoushka and multi-faceted tabla player Bickram Ghosh. Before the main concert, a documentary was screened with help of a LCD projector by Mark Kidel that kicked off with Panditji’s initial days in Varanasi and his relationship with his father. “He worked for the state of Jhalawar in Rajasthan”, Panditji recollected about his father. I immediately clubbed Jhalawar along with Bundi for my forthcoming visit to Hadoti. The other reason to include Jhalawar was driven by my passion for forts; i was eager to see Gagron. But, I had no idea that Jhalawar minus Gagron is a place worth visiting. The palace staff was pregnant about our arrival and they all came forward as soon we moved closer to the palace. The atmosphere was simply mesmerising with the last rays of sun fading out. We were escorted to the palace guest house all decked up for our arrival. The rooms were spacious and had an unmistakable feel of that bygone era; high ceilings, spacious interiors, imported electric fittings, seasoned teak furniture and some framed memorabilia. Soaking in the royalty we enjoyed the evening tea along with pakoras at the northern veranda. I was busy photographing the interiors when a peacock feather kept on the study drew my attention. Another photograph showing a native holding a dead Gharial on his back was a real masterpiece in terms of presenting the lifestyle of that era. Despite the fondness of Indian maharajas for Rolls & Royce, the maharaja of Jhalawar had opted for a Talbot. The receipts for the same along with the mascot designers’ bill have been framed and placed on wall for to cater to the heritage enthusiasts like me. Just imagine toady we go to a showroom, discuss the EMI and get a car but in those days it what an elaborate exercise to buy and transport a car.
The next day started quietly with a stroll around the evasive campus of Prithvi Vilas Palace. The genesis of this edifice must have been the western modernity that was experienced by the royals all over India. The congested palaces no longer appealed to them and westernism came to their rescue. Indo-Saracenic was the name given to such form of architecture that resulted from the experimentation of western architects with the native building materials incorporating local influences with gothic revival style. While Charles Mant and R. F. Chisholm were making palaces for the Gaekwads, the Scindias chose Filose when it came to designing a modern palace. Wodeyars chose Henri Irwin, while the Frederick William Stevens & George Wittet were busy leaving a colonial imprint on the metropolis of Bombay. Prithvi Vilas is though not a lavish exercise of that scale; it is a rather solemn creation quite like the palaces that I saw in Karauli. The palace complex that was designed as an outhouse occupies a total of 150 acres with a square lotus moat that encircles the main residential building. The plan is like a grid; the guest house meant for royal guests is on the eastern side.
Finishing off breakfast on scheduled time, we left for the majestic Gagron fort with Babloo as our guide and escort. The ride through the narrow irregular roads took us to the city outskirts. Soon, a fortified structure appeared on the horizon. Moving in line with the fortified walls we reached a gate that what closed for unknown reasons. The main arterial road running through the fortress took us to the last strategic point on the eastern side. Here, there were two major bastions that had enough ammunition stocks to prevent any military advances.
Gagron is a classical example of Jal Durg that is enviably placed atop a hill surrounded by vast waters of rivers Kali Sindh & Ahu further adding to its defence. Although they remain shallow during the summers the difference in elevation gives a strategic advantage to the occupant in observing the invaders and targeting them. This natural defence from three sides and with a solidly defended fourth side with apt positioning of bastion and dual gates, Gagron remained in demand right from its initial days of fortification. Although the initial fortification took place somewhere in the 8th Century, the current remains look mainly from around 15-16th cen
tury. The looks from the top were amazing and covered a good distance because of elevation that made the life simpler for the sentries guarding this post. To views encompassed a typical laid back village lifestyle; a local girl returning back with her herd of gaots village women bathing in the water, a bunch of water pelican busy fishing.
Garh Palace inside the fortified walls of Jhalawar was our next destination. This used to be royal residence during the princely times but now with the Indian government. While in use this surely was one of the most exotic offices with a fabulous display of painting on walls and ceiling done with paint & mirror. Today the offices have shifted to newly created sandstone block of “Mini Secretariat” leaving behind it deserted and uncared for. The new office came into existence because of Shrimati Vasundhara Raje Scindia, then chief minister of Rajasthan and presently a member of legislative assembly from Jhalrapatan. Her son Shri Dushyant Singh is the sitting member of parliament representing Jhalawar.
I have already witnessed what public use of historical monuments can lead to at the Raj Mahal in Orchha that was used as a school and lead to disfiguration of most of the murals in the lower levels. God has not endowed everyone with the same sense of care and sensitivity. Here also it’s a picture of disdain; what is disturbing is that the damage is irrevocable. We entered the palace taking permission from the officials posted purely for security reasons. “There’s nothing to see actually, even then you want you can go,” the man said courteously. All of the rooms in lower levels and most of them in first floor have been ripped off beyond recognition. Honestly, I had lost any hopes of finding anything worthy. Babloo took us right to the top of the main entrance adorned with a rectangular chhatri at centre and two round chhatris at both frontal corners. While we glanced the workmanship remorsefully for the complete state of disrepair.
Maharaja Bhawani Singh who is credited with the creation this palatial complex was an illustrious character who travelled globally and read widely. His knowledge helped the transformation of Jhalawar into a modern state. Bhawani Natyashala, is also a handiwork of this multi-faceted maharaja. Here at this theatre he staged plays ranging from Shakespeare to Shakuntala. His exposure to western ways and philanthropic works made him the most progressive maharaja that Jhalawar ever had. But sadly he received an identical fate just as Bahadur Shah Zafar and had the misfortune of not getting buried in the Indian soil; he died at Aden, Yemen and was cremated there in 1929. Post Bhawani Singh a traditional of education and pursuance of knowledge was ingrained in the royal family. The present maharaja Chandrajit Singh Dev Bahadur who played as our host in proxy was a tennis champion during his college days and now stays in Delhi with his family.
Jhalrapatan owes its presence on the geographical map to Zalim Singh, who although an outsider, was a sound administrator and remained at the helm of affairs at Kota State for forty five years. With his prudent lead the state became prosperous and he became the most trusted general for the Kota royals. To payback what Zalim Singh had done for the state, it was decided to carve out a separate state for his descendants and that’s how Jhalawar came into existence. Today, Jhalrapatan, nothing more than a fortified sleepy town with a strong rural flavour, is famous for the 11th Century Sun Temple that finds its place as the best pieces of medieval Indian architecture.
Sun temples have an interesting myth associated with them. It is believed that the city that houses a sun temple gets ruined. This happened with Martand in Kashmir; Modera in Gujarat; Konarak in Orissa and in more recent times Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh. Jhalrapatan is no exception as it has not improved an iota since the medieval times. The same unhurried pace, lack of knowledge and dogmatism everything lasts till date. Jain Temple en route to Sun Temple was our first halt in the fortified settlement of Zalim Singh. The temple’s antiquity goes a century back to 11th century. Taking a parikrama and some snaps we moved on to the main attraction of Jhalrapatan – the sun temple.
The grandeur of this temple indicates the glory that this place once had but today it’s all history. Parking the vehicle at the congested narrow lanes we reached the main gate only to know that the temple is closed. To make the best out of the situation, I decided to have a long shot first with my Nikon 18-55 mm and then some close-ups with Tamron 70-300 mm. By the time I finished off my photo session, I saw a few visitors percolating inside the temple through the side gate. Egregiously following them, we made our way into the Mahamandapa in front of the closed Garbh Griha. The mandapa was quite like Modera but it was nowhere when it came to the quality of workmanship. This was partially because of the feeble or no maintenance that came its way.
The major distinguishing features that this temple has are (a) placement of Jharokhas with overhanging ceiling in Bengal style (adopted at Mandore Cenotaphs) at the top of the three entrance gates (b) the layout follows the pattern of a cross (like Chaturbhuj Temple in Orchha) (c) positioning of human figurines at the first elevation in folded leg sitting postures (they don’t look like dwarapalas for sure). The quality of reddish sandstone used is of inferior quality when came to working with chisel and hammer. The granular bonding does not support finer intricacies as done with yellow sandstone at Modera. Wrapping off the temple tour, we moved towards our last destination for the day not before wasting some time with didi buying lacquer bangles and Babloo bringing a fibre like sweet.
Raen Basera, our last destination for the day, was basically a timbre house put on display at an exhibition in Lucknow that drew the attention of the Maharaja. The timbre structure had been constructed from ascu treated pinewood and put up for display by the Forest Research Institute in Ruskin’s Dehradun. The FRI, as it is better known, was set up by the Omni-curios British to study the Himalayan flora and fauna that covers a whooping 4.5 square kilometres with some extravagantly styled Greeko-Roman Architecture by C.G. Blomfield employing neat mason work. Today, it is used as a Training centre for the trainee under the Indian Forest Service. I had fond memories of a walk through wide walkways and peeping into its seemingly endless corridors with a senior officer of UPCL during one of my official tours.
Coming back to the idea of Raen Basera; well! It is said that the maharaja wanted a secluded place post his retirement days and this timber house fitted his imagination. The double story house that originally had a plinth area of 3500 square feet had 3 bed rooms, 1 drawing and 1 dining room. Some additions were later made to accommodate a kitchen, a bath room and a lounge. A framed introductory page signed by Rai Bahadur, B.A., Ll. B, Dewan, Jhalawar State dated 25th April 1940 is put on display for the inquisitive ones. Future holds no promise for this structure quite like the rest as in-decision has been looming large over for the past few years. We were informed that RTDC, state tourism Development Corporation, has been made responsible for its upkeep and they plan to make it a heritage hotel. The idea sounded unfeasible as with already feeble number of tourists seeping into Jhalawar, only serious adventure enthusiasts would go for a place about a half hour drive from main city centre in complete isolation from mankind.
Seeing the interiors that no longer had original shine and grace, I moved to the small garden in front of Raen Basera. The fading sunshine made it a perfect as I tried to capture what the maharaja dreamt of. To keep in touch with time, one sun dial has also been placed in the middle. The thought of capturing Prithvi Niwas Palace at dusk drove us back to Jhalawar through the mustard fields. A group of camels with their master turbaned with the brightest colours made it even rewarding. Relaxing in the lawn around the fountain after taking off the socks felt heavenly. While the palace staff placed plastic moulded chairs for us to sit we opted in favour of the soft grass.
Although, my penchant for heritage properties has taken me to some of the fabulously maintained Havelis, British Dak Bunglows, Palaces modelled on Indo-Saracenic lines, across India, Jhalawar was an out-of-this-world experience with its lotus moat and dancing peacock. A would definitely revisit this place in near future. So next time when you are in Hadoti, please include this destination in your itinerary to explore the heart of Hadoti.
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