Secrets of the Monsoon Palace

Udaipur's Monsoon Palace

The Monsoon Palace sits atop the tallest peak of the Aravalli Hills overlooking Udaipur‘s Lake Pichola.  A road snakes up the side of the mountain to the summit. As exotic as the Monsoon Palace appears, it is in fact an unfinished Maharana’s dream.

Maharana Sajjan Singh had intended to construct a much bigger palace but died before his vision was manifested. Part of his plan for the palace included an extensive order of crystal from F and C Osler in Birmingham - an order that included tableware, furniture and even a crystal bed.  The delivery arrived after his death and no one dared to unpack the boxes, fearing bad luck.  For over 100 years the packing crates languished until finally their contents were revealed.

A sparkling chandelier in the durbar
 hall.  Catch a glimpse of a crystal
4 poster bed from the crystal collection
on display beyond the upper archways

The problem was that much of the crystal furniture had arrived in pieces without assembly instructions.  The Maharana of the day sought out an expert in England to come to India to solve the puzzle - a former F and C Osler employee eventually arrived, even though he was well into his 80s. The task was tackled.

The massive waterfront city palace complex of the Uduaipur Maharanas is now divided into a museum and two luxury hotels with the remainder assigned as the current Maharana’s private residence. 

The ill-fated crystal collection is on display in hallways above the magnificent durbar hall, but sadly not in a way that does the collection justice.

Each garage door revealed
a new surprise

And then there are the Maharana’s cars - an eclectic collection with some unusual retrofits - like the Rolls Royce converted into a jeep!  

1934 Rolls Royce Phantom

The star of the collection is a 1934 Rolls Royce Phantom used in the James Bond movie Octopussy.

In fact Udaipur must have proved the perfect setting for the Bond yarn with its ghats, stately buildings and of course the Lake Palace Hotel that posed as Octopussy's palace.

The seemingly floating Lake Palace
Hotel from the city palace

The hotel was once the Maharana’s summer palace but this too has been divested on a 99 year lease to the Taj hotel group as new business opportunities are sought.

Udaipur waterfront from the
Lake Palace Hotel

And what a magical setting for this romantic hotel, with soft breezes coming off Lake Pichola, the sound of the birds, the striking pink bougainvillea and the sunlight bouncing off the honey coloured buildings ashore.

 
The neglected Monsoon Palace seemed like a melancholy sentinel from times past, watching down on the present day comings and goings of Udaipur.