Today I went on an adventure! It was just like Indiana Jones, but without the whip…or the brave adventurer.
I woke up hoping to eat some leftover food from my meal last night…but it was half nibbled…therefore I have come to the conclusion that the room has mice!
My adventure this morning was up the hill towards Bundi Palace, which, according to Rudyard Kipling is
the work of goblins rather than of men.
Or, if you read the quote on the actual building ‘…the work of cobbling…’
I am amused that a lot of the English signs and menus are slightly incorrect. My personal favourites that I have come across are Lonely Planet being referred to as Lonely People and Coke being referred to as Cock!
Bundi Palace sits high on the hillside above the town, with the Taragarh Fort sitting above it. Bundi Palace was created in 1607-31 during the reign of Rao Raja Radan Ji Heruled and then it was added to by his successors. To get to the Palace you walk up a series of steep slopes complete with cobblestones and sprouting grass: slippery and agony on the knees, the way up is a killer, the way down is a killer. I spent most of the time on the hills bracing myself incase I fell over!
Getting into the Palace you’re faced with a massive gate, The Elephant Gate (no prizes for guessing what this gate was for). It has an arch high enough to get Elephants through and is decorated with, yes, you guessed it, carvings of Elephants! I thought it was pretty impressive.
As you go through the gate you are brought into a large courtyard and then you head up the stairs to the Ratan Daulat (Hall of Audiences), with its white marble coronation throne and murals on the walls. Quite a lot of the rooms are closed off and left to the bats, it makes me sad that this amazing building, which could totally be rejuvenated and restored, has hardly any money going to it and that it’s left to deteriorate and forgotten about. The whole time inside, I saw only about three people.
I wanted to get up to the Taragarh Fort, which was actually easier said than done: getting to it requires braving the semi-jungle plant life, trekking up an incredibly large hill all at the same time as fending off the monkeys! In the end, after a long time trying to get through -and a few monkey-teeth-bearing incidents – I found some others wanting to get up there and the group of four of us paid for a guide!
We didn’t really need him as by the time we had found him, paid for him and then returned inside to the realm of the monkey, there weren’t actually any monkeys in the way! Nevertheless, the group trekked up the back-breaker of a hill (really it could have been classed as a mountain), through the monkeys and up to the most incredible, overgrown and ramshackle Fort ever…seriously…it was like something out of ‘The Jungle Book’ or ‘Tomb Raider’. The guide kept telling me to stop wandering off into the plants and dark rooms for fear of snakes, but I would say that it’s totally worth it, as the views and pictures are AMAZING!
The group spent a long time (over an hour) at the Fort and I would say that it was one of the most interesting places that I have been to so far.
The Fort has a large main entrance complete with spikes on the gates at varying heights to stop the different animals that might be ridden to ram the gate: Horses and Elephants. The archways have large covered balconies above: this is where the women would sit and greet the men as they came either into the fort to prepare for wars or back after the battles. They would sing and throw rose water and flower petals over the procession of men.
Inside the fort there are two entrances: One large main archway, leading into the Maharajahs part of the fort and further to the soldier’s quarters and then a smaller archway through which the women would use to get to their quarters.
Further into the fort there were three bathing pools: One large pool for the Maharajah, one pool for the soldiers and one pool for the ladies. The ladies pool had a little balcony looking out over it so that the Maharajah could watch them bathing…what a perv! Speaking of the Maharajah, the one that was around during the heyday of Taragarh Fort had 64 wives…64!!! What a player! I cannot imagine what one must do with 64 wives, but it must have kept him very occupied…though apparently he didn’t have any children…
Finally, we had a little wander around Chitrasala, a small 18th Century Palace, with a quaint little garden and pretty stone balconies.
After a lot of photographs and learning about the history of Bundi, I took a wander around the town, going out of the walled city and into the market area. I found one of the old step wells, but couldn’t get into it as it was all locked up.
Whilst eating dinner in one of the Havelis, I noticed a Cow in the doorway! I thought that this was rather funny and was quite shocked when, instead of shooing the Cow away, like it thought the owner would do, he gave the Cow a Chapatti! The cow stood in the doorway and chomped upon the Chapatti and when it finished, looked at the man as if to say “more”…the man then got a large stick and tapped it on the side gently until it left!
I must have looked quite shocked because the man then turned to me and explained: The first Chapatti of the day is given to the cows that wander the streets.
I’m hoping to get the train in the morning, to Chittorgarh. It leaves Bundi at 8.38am and takes about 4 hours…I’ve not been on any trains in India yet, so I hope it’s exciting!
Powered By Fondant Fancy 