In 1567 , Maharajah Udai Singh, the
ruler of the kingdom of Mewar in Rajasthan,
shifted his capital from Chittorgarh
to a new city, Udaipur for security
reasons. The city was built on the slopes
of a hill and on the banks of Lake Pichola.
Even today, life in the ghats adjoining
the lake continues as before. Here the
sacred and the mundane co-exist. An
architectural vocabulary based on gates,
narrow streets, interspersed by intimate
courtyards - which might contain a small
shrine or a well - and overhanging balconies
and platforms in front of each house,
promotes contacts between neighbors,
creating an extraordinary community
feeling. The traditional houses in the
city as well as the palace, with their
courtyards and terraces at various levels,
are perfectly adapted to the hot, dry
climate of the region. But the palace’s
originality lies in the way its walls
encase the hill around which it is built.
This explains why the palace has a garden
at its topmost level. The accord with
nature is carried further in the pleasure
palace of Jag Mandir, on an island in
the midst of Lake Pichola, where Shah
Jahan was given asylum when he rebelled
against his father, the Mughal Emperor
Jahangir. Its ethereal ambience probably
inspired Shah Jahan to conceive the
Taj Mahal.
A
voice over narration accompanies images
of the city as it is today, inter-cut
with occasional miniature paintings
that either illustrate historical events
or architectural concepts. Local folk
music as well as classical North Indian
music has been used to evoke the Rasa
of this unique city. |
