5: Udaipur - Venice of the East

Google for Udaipur, and you will see pages on romance, leisure, culture and heritage pop-up. A fine example of shrewd marketing and perfect positioning, some websites even make it sound like a ‘Wonderland’ waiting for its ‘Alice’, which could be you!

Not paying heed to Raghav's advice of substituting Udaipur with more significant Kumbalgarh (an important citadel of Mewar, second in importance to only Chittaurgarh) and Ranakpur (renowned Jain temples of the 15th century), I fell for these marketing gimmicks and suffered the fate of a tourist. Thanks to City Palace in Udaipur which helped me justify this visit!

City Palace was built by the Maharana Udai Singh as the capital of the Sisodia Rajput clan in 1559, after he moved from Chittor. Located on the east bank of the Lake Pichola, on a hill top, the palace offers a panoramic view of the Jag Mandir on another island in the lake, the Jagdish Temple close to the palace, the Monsoon Palace on top of an overlooking hillock nearby and the Neemach Mata temple. The palace exhibits a fusion of the Rajasthani and Mogul architectural styles since the Moguls were a contemporary ruler of north India and had considerably influenced over the art and architecture of the era, and were avidly constructing in Agra and Delhi.

Raghav, the movie buff, could recall the James Bond movie Octopussy, which features the Lake Palace and the Monsoon Palace. It was the film which subsequently publicized Udaipur as "Venice of the East".

We spent a good half day at the museum, carefully reading the inscriptions, labels and other information about the articles on display. Interestingly, the palace had the most expensive Entry and Audio Tour fee amongst all the palaces or museums we had been to, in India or abroad – which helped us figure out that the palace was privately held, and not managed by the state government or the ASI (Archaeological Society of India). I must admit that this was also reflected in the commendable up-keep of the museum!

Amongst the other political, social and cultural memoirs in the palace, some artifacts narrated the tales from the iconic battle of Haldighati fought between Rana Pratap and Akbar. Rana chose Haldighati, a narrow mountain pass in the Aravali range, so that only a few Moghul soliders could enter the valley at any given point of time and the Rajputs could employ guerrilla warfare techniques from a vantage point - as the Rajput army was no match against the mighty Mogul army, either in strength or in ammunition!

Though the battle’s outcome was indecisive, it immortalized Man Singh, Maharana’s commander-in-chief, as also Chetak, Maharana’s loyal horse. Even though Chetak’s fore leg was wounded, it ran through the mountains for five kms, crossing over a stream (then a chasm) near Balicha village (now a two-lane highway) before it gave-up. Enthused, we decided to drive down to Haldighati, 40 km from Udaipur, sidelining the lunch at Fatehprakash palace, now a luxury hotel.

Haldighati, unbelievably, has a turmeric yellow-colored soil and hence the name! We visited the Haldighati museum and the spot where Chetak died. (This spot now has a tomb and a memorial stone). We noted that Chetak is one of the most famous animals in history with mention in documentaries, books and museums. It has a train, connecting Udaipur and Delhi, named after itself, besides a number of eating and shopping joints in and around Rajasthan. We also saw a documentary on the battle of Haldighati, with a special section on Chetak, in the museum!

After Haldighati, with a few hours in hand before dusk and nothing very interesting to explore, my religious companion, promised me an 'off-the-beat' religious experience - and took me to two ancient temples on the outskirts of Udaipur.

Nathdwara, located in the Aravali hills, on the bank of Banas river, around 45 kms north of Udaipur, houses the Shrinathji, a 12th century "infant" incarnation idol (murti) of Lord Krishna. I found it very hard to escape the charisma of Lord Krishna’s idol, which has a diamond studded in the throat. The idol was moved in the 17th century from Govardhan hill, near Mathura along holy river Yamuna, to protect it from the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb's campaign against Hindu worship in his empire. The Haveli of Shrinathji (as the temple is called), was once a royal palace of the Sisodia Rajput rulers of Mewar.

Our subsequent destination, Eklingji (a form of Lord Shiva), 22 kms west of Udaipur, was believed to be the Ruling deity of Mewar princely state and the ruler Maharana ruled as his Dewan (or Commander-in-Chief). Begun in 971, the temple was built by the Guhila (later called Sisodia) dynasty of Mewar, and includes 108 temples. The main temple, which dates to the 15th century, houses a four-faced image of Lord Shiva in black marble. Another temple in the complex is the Lakulish Temple and is the only temple of the Lakulish sect in India. We said our prayers, and sat for sometime in the temple before heading back for Udaipur.

We reached Udaipur by dark and were in two minds about attending the evening Light and Sound show at City palace. Basing our judgment on our previous experience with such shows (though mostly at the Red Fort in Delhi), we instead chose a quiet and romantic dinner in ‘Venice'. Raghav was convinced that we were more acquainted with the history of Mewar than any Light and Sound show could elaborate on, so we instead splurged on a drinking binge, our first in Rajasthan, and proposed a toast to Mewar.

We regretted for not being able to visit Kumbalgarh and Ranakpur, and even contemplated extending our trip by a trip. But then we found some consolation in the fact that we were visiting Chittorgarh and Delwara, the better versions of Kumbalgarh and Ranakpur respectively.

Travel to Udaipur did do some good to us! Shatabadi, connecting Chittorgarh to Udaipur, provided me with ample time to compile my memos about the travel and Raghav a chance to read-up more about Mewar, catch-up on his sleep and savor the local 'poha’.

Interestingly, in most cities of Rajasthan, the rick guys also double-up as a tourist guide and a commissioned agent for hotels and shopping arcades; these shopping arcades often add the suffix 'museum' to their name for attracting footfalls! So the rick guys carry cards, the size of a business card, printed either by hotels or shopping arcades, listing around seven to ten supposed tourist attractions on one side (some of them being public gardens and picnic joints), and publicize either a cheap hotel or free entry to the museums (or shopping arcade) on the other. Raghav theorized that their real earnings accrue from the commission that they receive by adding to the footfalls, and not by driving the rick!

We ended-up hiring a fancier version of the rick on our way from the station to the city. This rick was equipped with a fancy music system, playing popular Bollywood tunes, and with halogen lights that kept flashing and flickering through the entire way! As expected, the rick guy flashed tried to sell and push the tourist attractions on his card onto us, and even offered us a better (and cheaper) hotel than where we were booked. As he kept bettering his deal, we kept refusing politely, repeatedly :)

Udaipur was the last capital of Mewar, and also the last Mewar state that we visited. Fondly saluting the Rajputs of Mewar, we offer our tribute to their patriotism, courage and sacrifice.

- Namrta R (from my backpacking trip to Rajasthan)
Companions: Raghav and Lonely Planet

Also read about Pushkar, Ajmer, Ranthambore, Chittorgarh, Mount Abu, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer an Thar
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