This 16th-Century Palace is One of India’s Hidden Treasures

Hello, AD. I'm Manvendra Pratap Singh.

And I'm Janaki Kumari.

We welcome you to the magical Garh Palace here in Bundi.

[Indian classical music]

The Garh Palace, built by the Hada Chauhan Rajputs in

the 16th century is one of Rajasthan's hidden treasures.

The Palace complex perched on the hillside,

overlooks the city of Bundi is a succession of separate

but overlapping structures,

added to and modified by different rulers

over the different centuries.

The Palace is best described by Rudyard Kipling

who said, It's a palace as men build for themselves in

uneasy dreams, the work of goblins rather than of men.

[Indian classical music]

The most remarkable feature

of the palace are its frescoes.

Each painting, each wall, and each room has a story to tell.

And each room is a reflection of the era

and the history, the time period that they were painted in.

For example, The Chhatar Mahal where we are right now.

There's a lot of use of gold in all the paintings

that goes to show that the state

of Bundi was in a very prosperous position.

We are currently in the Badal Mahal.

This is the most well preserved room in

the whole Garh Palace, housing India's finest frescoes.

The paintings in this room use complex

and sophisticated technology, such as the use

of Mica sheets, attached to the surface of the paintings

to create a reflective surface

such as water, metal, or glass.

The bright cobalt blue is Lapis Lazuli,

which is a Persian semi-precious stone.

It was ground mixed with a binder and then applied.

It's exciting for me to carry out this restoration

of this beautiful structure built

by my ancestors and the people of Bundi.

Sometimes it does get overwhelming thinking about the scale

of things and the intricacies involved.

But then I think about how this space was created

400 years ago and that serves as motivation for me.

My connection to Bundi is through my grandmother,

who was the princess of Bundi.

She herself loved to paint and just to honor her passion

it would make me the happiest.

Centuries of neglect, bat infestation

and water damage made it difficult to access

and stabilize certain parts of palace

that were structurally compromised,

making areas hazardous to enter.

This is the Baradari of the Chhatar Mahal.

I've personally been involved in restoration

of these frescoes.

We have managed to restore them in

a traditional manner using earth colors

and natural minerals and vegetable dyes.

Sustainability here for us,

not just means ecological care,

but also cultural continuity.

And we hope that people are inspired when they visit

the Garh Palace by its dream-like architecture

and the intricate paintings.

We really hope that you all fall in love

with the magic of Bundi.

[Indian classical music]