Maharana Arvind Singh Mewar considers it his duty to portect the monuments and culture he inherited.
The City Palace in Udaipur seems to rise from the edge of the sapphire water of Lake Pichola, and it meanders along for a good 2.5km. Most tourists find it difficult to find the best photo spot in the palace—every backdrop is prettier than the other. The many galleries in the palace display all that the Maharanas of Mewar owned—from the brocade and chiffon of generations of maharanis to the angrakhas of the men, jewellery, paintings and the sculptures. There are musical instruments, armoury, silverware and crystal ware. A silver palna (cradle) and the silver mandap made for the wedding of princess Padmaja in 2011 also find a place.
The palace is a mini empire of Arvind Singh Mewar. Shriji, as he is affectionately called, was four years old when his grandfather Bhupal Singh, the 74th Maharana of Mewar, was at a crossroads. Bhupal Singh said on April 18, 1948: “My choice was made by my ancestors. If they had faltered they would have left us a kingdom as large as Hyderabad. They did not. Neither will I. I am with India.” And, Mewar became the first princely state to merge with the state of Rajasthan, and then became part of India.
The royal life in Udaipur, however, remained large, with pomp and show, silver and gold, chiffon and brocade. When Shriji was 12, his father, Bhagwat Singh, received an invitation from prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru to visit the Red Fort. The Maharanas had “resolutely upheld an ancient vow of their family never to enter Delhi so long as it remained in the hands of a foreign power”. Bhagwat Singh went because the foreign rulers had gone. “The effect of his visit was a powerful inspiration to free India, an endorsement of the supreme prize of Independence,” said British historian Brian Masters, author of Maharana— The Story of the Rulers of Udaipur.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة August 20, 2017 من THE WEEK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة August 20, 2017 من THE WEEK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
The female act
The 19th edition of the Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Festival was of the women and by the women
A SHOT OF ARCHER
An excerpt from the prologue of An Eye for an Eye
MASTER OF MAKE-BELIEVE
50 years. after his first book, Jeffrey*Archer refuses to put down his'felt-tip Pilot pen
Smart and sassy Passi
Pop culture works according to its own unpredictable, crazy logic. An unlikely, overnight celebrity has become the talk of India. Everyone, especially on social media, is discussing, dissing, hissing and mimicking just one person—Shalini Passi.
Energy transition and AI are reshaping shipping
PORTS AND ALLIED infrastructure development are at the heart of India's ambitions to become a maritime heavyweight.
MADE FOR EACH OTHER
Trump’s preferred transactional approach to foreign policy meshes well with Modi’s bent towards strategic autonomy
DOOM AND GLOOM
Democrats’ message came across as vague, preachy and hopelessly removed from reality. And voters believed Trump’s depiction of illegal immigrants as a source of their economic woes
WOES TO WOWS
The fundamental reason behind Trump’s success was his ability to convert average Americans’ feelings of grievance into votes for him
POWER HOUSE
Trump International Hotel was the only place outside the White House where Trump ever dined during his four years as president
DON 2.0
Trump returns to presidency stronger than before, but just as unpredictable