Ek Ling Mandir

Lord Shiva is known to have a hundred names. One hunderd and eight in all. 108 is also the number of Upanishads written. Eklingji has been the deity of the royal Mewar family since the time of Bappa Rawal, founder of the Mewar dynasty. Ek means 'one' while ling means 'lingum or the life giving phallic symbol of Lord Shiva'. The patron deity of the Mewar clan is considered the actual ruler of the region while the kings are merely the Dewan (or the Prime Minister) of this God of Mewar, the same way Swami Padmanabha (Lord Maha Vishnu) is for the Travancore royalty in Kerala.

The temple was first built in the year 728AD, however, subsequent changes and renovation work was done later as well. The temple that stands today is not the original structure but the one built on the site of ancient temple. Infact, as later as in the 15th and 16th century, Maharana Raimal too rebuilt and renovated this temple.

The temple complex is located at the banks of Indersagar Lake. Within the walls of the Eklingji Temple, there are 108 shrines built of marble and sandstone. The main shrine has a double storeyed covered platform, a hall with a number of pillars and a flat pyramidal roof with circular knobs. In this main shrine is a four faced black marble statue of Lord Eklingji with Brahma facing west, Vishnu facing north, Shiva facing south and Surya facing east.

Outside the temple are the statues of Nandi, Shiva's bull and Bappa Rawal. Bappa Rawal is shown facing Nandi with his hands clasped. There is another statue of Nandi in silver in the hall of the temple.

Though the temple is mainly dedicated to Lord Shiva, yet other deities are worshipped here as well. Few of the prominent among these are Parvati, Ganesha, Ganga, Kartikeya, Yamuna and Saraswati. Smaller temples dedicated to Amba Mata and Kalka Mata can also be found in the temple complex.

Apni Dhani

A thematic village restaurant in Udaipur, Apni Dhani has it's own charm. Apart from the culinary delights of a restaurant, Apni Dhani tends to highlight the colourful life of the people in rural
Rajasthan. There are various shows arranged to delight the public, but it serves as a window to look at the culture of Rajasthan.

Lake Pichchola

Lake Pichola with exceptional scenic beauty is surrounded by hills, embankments, bathing ghats, shrines and palaces. The lake was enlarged by Maharana Udai Singh II after he founded the
city. He built a masonry dam, known as the 'Badi Pal', and the vast lake is nearly 5km in length and three km wide. The magnificence of the lake is enhanced by beautiful Lake Palaces, Jag Niwas and the Jag Mandir.

Saheliyon ki Baadi

I couldn't find much information about this beautiful garden, which displays its thirst for renovation and prompt restoration. In the outskirts of city, a few kilometers through the banks of the Fateh Sagar, our auto driver took us to this garden. If his stories were to be taken into face value, this garden was designed for the unique purpose of providing a rain-like shower for the princess (he told me the name, but it's now hard to recollect), a a gift from her father Rana Sangram Singh II, who did not want his daughter to be deprived of the pleasure of having a rain shower, in an arid city. Though the driver told us that the shower works purely on gravitational principles and manual operations, I couldn't find a suitable reason to believe it--neither by the way it was designed nor by the altitude it maintains vis-a-vis the level of the mighty Fateh Sagar.

City Palace: More images

City Palace

The City Palace

Largest palace complex in Rajasthan, the City Palace of Udaipur stands tall in glory and honour bearing testimony to the tumultous history it as witnessed. The construction of this great palace consummated a whopping 300+ years. Initially, Maharana Udai Singh built this superb wonder, but the present form of the Palace is the result of subsequent additions by his successors. City Palace boasts of the wonderful blend of Medieval, European and Chinese Architecture.

City Palace comprises 11 wonderful palaces, which were built by different rulers still they resemble each other. With the sheer glimpse of unique paintings, antique furniture and exquisite glass mirror & ornamental tiles work of these palaces, you will get amazed. Manak Mahal (Ruby Palace) has figures of crystal and porcelain. However, Bhim Vilas flaunts a fabulous collection of miniature paintings depicting the real life stories of Radha-Krishna.

The 'Krishna Vilas' is known for the noteworthy album of miniature paintings portraying royal processions, festivals and games of the Maharanas. Moti Mahal (Pearl Palace) is celebrated for its lavish decor while Sheesh Mahal (Palace of mirrors) is known for its breathtaking mirror work. 'Chini Chitrashala' is renowned for its Chinese and Dutch ornamental tiles. 'Dilkusha Mahal' (Palace of Joy) is known for the murals and wall paintings.

Bada Mahal is the exotic garden palace that stands erect on a 90 feet high natural rock formation. Rang Bhawan is the palace that used to contain royal treasure. There are temples of Lord Krishna, Meera Bai and Shiva, located right to the 'Rang Bhawan'. 'Mor Chowk' has exceptional glass mosaics of peacocks, set in the walls presenting the three seasons of summer, winter and monsoon. 'Laxmi Vilas Chowk' is an art gallery with a distinctive collection of Mewar paintings. City Palace has amazing interiors with delicate mirror-work, marble work, murals, wall paintings, silver work, inlay work and surplus of colored glass. The exquisite work of City Palace cannot be bounded in words, so one must visit this palace to capture the real picture of it.

Moti Magri: The Memorial of Great Hero

Pearl Hill: An Ideal Place for an Ideal Memorial

Our initial day in Udaipur began with the local sightseeing. On top of Moti Magri (Pearl Hill), stood the tribute to one of the greatest kings in Indian history, Maharana Pratap of Mewar. The memorial comprises a life-sized bronze statue of Maharana Pratap balanced on his loyal and favourite horse, Chetak. If I decode the style and design of the sculpture, I should consider that the Maharana survived all wars, and his passing away was due to natural causes. Chetak was craftfully sculpted as having his feet on the ground. History teaches us that Chetak gave up his life in the service of his master, while attending to a battle of strategic importance. Situated at the top of Moti Margi or Pearl Hill, the memorial overlooks the Fateh Sagar Lake. If you are a photographer, then you will truly love this place. From the comfortable height of the hill, you can click some of the best pictures of Udaipur city.

Day 1: The capital of Mewar

The initial day was dedicated to sight-seeing and spending time in the city and it's suburbs. The hotel we stayed was adjacent to Lake Pichhola. Our taxi driver mentioned that the lake got it's name just because it is situated in the rear side of the city. (In Hindi, "Peecha" turns out to "back.") . It's only when I had a deeper study of the locality that I learned that the name originally is related to the adjacent village, Pichholi. The hotel we stayed was not in a very happening location, as we learned later, but it definitely had something about it. Our auto driver doubled up as a local guide. The pride of being a subject of Mewar was apparent in his words, but his contempt towards adjacent kingdoms like Marwar and Jaipur (purely due to historic reasons) didnot visibly complement the hospitality he showered on us.

Day 1: Udaipur City

Day 1

Day 0: Leaving Delhi

I admit, I was a little apprehensive of the plan albeit replying in the affirmative to the mail from Puneet regarding the plan for a trip. But it could be great I presumed, since my experience with Puneet was (and still is) great, and I'm sure wherever he goes, he'll definitely find likeminded (creative) people around. And so it went. There was a random exchanges of messages and e-mails, and faster than expected, we had a team of travellers raring to explore the beauty and history of Udaipur.

We boarded the train to Udaipur on the 28th of September 2007, an ideal Friday evening. It didn't take much time for what appeared to be formal meeting to grow to a much personal gathering. We enjoyed the journey every bit, shared the dinner, sang songs, shot pics and videos. Awful moments. We never had even the slightest idea of what is awaiting us in the forthcoming 4 days.

The Journey Begins

Udaipur: Our Newly Found Love

Udaipur, or the capital of the erstwhile Mewar kingdom, is known as the land of lakes. The land of warrior kings, the throne of Mewar was adorned by eminent rulers such as Rana Udai Singh II (whom the city is named after), Maharana Pratap Singh, Maharana Sangram Singh etc. The Mewar dynasty traces its roots to the Sun God. Its history has been a continuous struggle for freedom of religion, thought and land against other Rajput groups as well as the overbearing Mughals and Muslims of bygone eras.

Sisodias, offshoots of the Chauhanas who ruled the Mewar region, were against Mughal dominion and tried every trick possible to distance themselves from them. Udaipur remained untouched from Mughal religious and aesthetics influences and remained so till the coming of the Europeans. Maharana Fateh Singh of Udaipur was the only royalty who did not attend the Delhi Durbar for King George V in 1911. This fierce sense of independence earned them the highest
gun salute in Rajasthan, 19 against the 17 each of Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bundi, Bikaner, Kota and Karauli.

Recently, the Travellers were on a trip to Rajasthan again. It is Udaipur, that was on our radar.
Begining today, here's an account of how it went. Keep watching this space for more

The Trip to Udaipur

The past weekend was a remarkable one. Watch out for detailed reports from the heart of Mewar.

Traveling to learn

It might seem unusual to find people traveling to learn or learning without traveling, and still being called a Traveler? Here's one such group. We have revamped the concept of traveling. Any part of information on the culture/history or architecture is exchanged between two entities (individuals or groups), I'd like to call it traveling, since the basic purpose of my traveling is related to any of these.

These spaces therefore, are to contain more information from these parts, than just travelogues.

Innovation: An Article That Inspired Me

The following was blogged on ZDNet.

Don’t Look Back by ZDNet's Andrew Keen -- How to innovate? That was both the spoken and unspoken question on everyone's minds at the Wall Street Journal's memorable D Conference this week in Carlsbad. How can we radically improve the experience and value of interacting with one's digital device? What is the next chapter in the evolution of information and entertainment technology?

News! news!! news!!!

There are changes happening about Travelers since January 07.

Maharani of Jaipur has moved on to greater career vistas. Also did she change her home. Maddy has a new bike she loves to sport. Sim just quit her job...due to, I think, matters of the heart.

I just moved to a different division. Bins has changed his project.

All's news!

Another Traveler Has Moved Out

It's unofficial now. One of us just chose to move out. It was a career breakthrough for him, and moments of disbelief for us. The group, developed from the roots with a set of values of which he played an active role, is gradually losing its charisma. Apart from being an active Traveler, he was a good sportsman, the opening batsman for the department cricket team, a belt holder in Taekwondo and above all, a person whom newbies lookup for inspiration.

The best face of his that I could never forget was the moments of panic while we were returning from Pushkar to Jaipur, Rajasthan. A couple of our senior friends were over drunk and it was unmanageable to continue the journey with a drug-inflicted driver. With 3 women onboard, it was risky to drop ourselves midway in the highway and riskier still to continue all the way to Jaipur. All the way they kept abusing Naresh, and he maintained his calm. We couldn’t actively support Naresh than provide our moral support, just to keep things under control.

After we just missed an accident (I still feel the shock), we chose to step out of the vehicle there and then. The journey back home was the most memorable one I ever had. We’ll miss you Naresh! Bye for a while.