Monsoon Palace

Monsoon Palace

Did you know that the Monsoon Palace in Udaipur, Rajasthan, was used as the residence of the exiled Afghan prince Kamal Khan in the 1983 James Bond film Octopussy?

The Monsoon Palace, also known as the Sajjan Garh Palace, is a hilltop palatial residence in the city of Udaipur, Rajasthan in India, overlooking the Fateh Sagar Lake. It is named Sajjangarh after Maharana Sajjan Singh (1874–1884) of the Mewar dynasty, whom it was built for in 1884. The palace offers a panoramic view of the city's lakes, palaces and surrounding countryside.

The history of the palace reflects the history of the Mewar kingdom. Maharana Sajjan Singh, (b. 18 July 1859 d. 23 December 1884), the initial builder of the Monsoon Palace was the seventy–second ruler of the Mewar dynasty (1874–1884) and ruled from Udaipur for a short period of 10 years until his untimely death. He was invested in 1876 as Maharana and was considered an enlightened ruler and a "man of vision", as he launched a massive programme of developmental activities in his kingdom. le that Udaipur gained recognition as the second Municipality in India, after Bombay. In recognition of his outstanding achievements in preserving and developing the Mewar kingdom, and to remind him that his was a princely state under the British Raj. He was conferred the title of "Grand Commander of the Star of India" in November 1881 by Lord Ripon, on the occasion of Queen Victoria's crowning as the Empress of India.

The palace, built with white marble in Rajput architectural style, is located on Bansdara peak of the Aravalli hill range at an elevation of 944 m (3100 ft) above mean sea level, overlooking Lake Pichola from the west about 1,100 ft (340 m) below the palace. The intention of the original planner, Maharana Sajjan Singh, was to build a nine-storey complex, basically as an astronomical centre and to keep track of the movement of monsoon clouds in the area surrounding the palace, and also to provide employment to people. It was also meant to serve as a resort for the royal family. Unfortunately, the Maharana died prematurely at the age of 26 (after only 10 years of rule between 1874 and 1884), which resulted in the shelving of his plans for some time. Before his death, he had built it partially, and it was subsequently completed by his successor king Maharana Fateh Singh who used it to watch the monsoon clouds. The royal family also used this building as a hunting lodge.

The white marble palace has high turrets and guards regulating each of the towers. The palace has a grand central court with a staircase and many rooms and quarters. The palace is built on marble pillars, which are carved with exquisite motifs of leaves and flowers. The walls are plastered with lime mortar. At night, the illuminated palace with the Rajasthani architecture comprising domes, fountains and jharokas gives it a fairy tale beauty.

A unique water harvesting structure to collect rainwater in an underground cistern, with a storage capacity of 195,500 litres, exists in the precincts of the palace. In spite of this, the water supply was found to be inadequate and the palace was therefore abandoned.

The Monsoon Palace is 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) west of Udaipur and overlooks Lake Pichola.A boat ride across Lake Pichola in Udaipur provides excellent views of the palace and allows visitors to enjoy the scenic beauty of the palace. Udaipur is well connected by road and air links to all parts of the country.

The Monsoon Palace was used as a location for the filming of the 1983 James Bond film, Octopussy.

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Extracts from article in Wikipedia with my inputs posted in November 2009.

Narasipur Char