The Aina Mahal () is an 18th-century palace that is located next to the

Prag Mahal The Prag Mahal is a 19th-century palace located next to the Aina Mahal in Bhuj, Gujarat, India. History Prag Mahal is named after Rao Pragmalji II, who commissioned it and construction began in 1865.Bhuj Bhuj () is a Municipality and District Headquarters of Kutch District in the state of Gujarat, India. Etymology According to legend, Kutch was ruled by the Nāga chieftains in the past. Sagai, a queen of Sheshapattana, who was married to Kin ...

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The palace was built by Rao

Lakhpatji Rao Lakhpatji, also known as Lakhaji, was the Rao of Cutch belonging to Jadeja Rajput dynasty, who ruled Princely State of Cutch as a regent from 1741 to 1752. Later succeeded his father Deshalji I in 1752 and ruled until his death in 1760. ...

of Kutch State around 1750. Lakhpatji's master craftsman

Ram Singh Malam Ram Singh Malam was a navigator, architect and craftsman from 18th century Kutch region (now Kutch district, Gujarat) of India. When his ship got wrecked on a voyage, he was rescued by a Dutch ship which brought him to Holland. He learned sever ...

designed the palace in the local style and decorated it in the European style with glass, mirrors and tiles. The palace had two floors; the first floor has the Audience Hall, the Pleasure Hall, the Hall of Mirrors and the State Apartments, and the second floor has the ante-chamber, Darbar (Court) Hall and Marriage Hall. The building has been converted into a museum which includes a "europeanerie" collection that includes clocks, wares, mechanical toys, paintings and pictures.

History

The Aina Mahal was built by Rao

() in around 1750. The chief architect and designer of the palace was

, who lived in Europe for 18 years and mastered several European craft and architecture skills. The construction costed 80 lakh (8 million) koris or about lakh (2 million); equalling three years of the state revenue in that period. In 1830, Englishwoman Mrs Postnas visited the palace and noted her impressions in her memoir ''Cutch'' (1839). She remarked on the "motley and incongruous mélange of ornament" in a room illuminated with large candles where she found six musical clocks playing at once among jelly glasses and old vases. The palace was converted into a museum in 1977. It was damaged in the 2001 Gujarat earthquake and part of the building was restored and now houses the Aina Mahal Trust Museum.

Architecture

The Aina Mahal is located near

delftware Delftware or Delft pottery, also known as Delft Blue ( nl, Delfts blauw) or as delf, is a general term now used for Dutch tin-glazed earthenware, a form of faience. Most of it is blue and white pottery, and the city of Delft in the Netherlands ...

tiles and the marble walls are decorated with mirrors that are separated by gilded frames. The walls are also decorated with fitted shelves on which glassware and ceramics were displayed. The rooms were illuminated by hanging candelabra and

chandeliers A chandelier (; also known as girandole, candelabra lamp, or least commonly suspended lights) is a branched ornamental light fixture designed to be mounted on ceilings or walls. Chandeliers are often ornate, and normally use incandescent li ...

with shade of

Venetian glass Venetian glass () is glassware made in Venice, typically on the island of Murano near the city. Traditionally it is made with a soda–lime "metal" and is typically elaborately decorated, with various "hot" glass-forming techniques, as well as ...

. The pillars and roofs are decorated with golden mouldings and other ornamentation, and spaces between pillars and walls are filled with triangular mirror compartments. The first floor has the Audience Hall, the Pleasure Hall, the Hall of Mirrors and the State Apartments. The second floor has the ante-chamber, Darbar (Court) Hall and Marriage Hall.

Collection

First floor

Near the entrance of the first gallery is a long and wide scroll painting depicting a royal procession of Maharao Pragmalji II. The scroll is dated 1876 and is signed by its painter Vadha Juma Ibrahim. The collection is an early example of "europeanerie", an 18th-century obsession with European things among Indian nobles. The collection includes English, French and Dutch chiming clocks, glassware, ceramics, chinaware, mechanical toys, celestial globes, arms,

palanquin The litter is a class of wheelless vehicles, a type of human-powered transport, for the transport of people. Smaller litters may take the form of open chairs or beds carried by two or more carriers, some being enclosed for protection from the el ...

, costumes, furniture and items associated with court life. There is an operational pendulum clock that is synchronized with the

Hindu calendar The Hindu calendar, Panchanga () or Panjika is one of various lunisolar calendars that are traditionally used in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, with further regional variations for social and Hindu religious purposes. They adopt a ...

in a collection made in Bhuj by Morarji Lakhamshi Soni in 1839. The museum has a large collection of paintings, including some acquired by Ram Singh Malam during his visits of Europe. The subjects of the paintings in the State Apartments include British, Flemish and Italian personae including Rana Ranjit Singh of Mewar, Raja Bakht Singh of Marwar and Empress Catherine the Great. It also includes 18th-century prints of ''

A Rake's Progress ''A Rake's Progress'' (or ''The Rake's Progress'') is a series of eight paintings by 18th-century English artist William Hogarth. The canvases were produced in 1732–1734, then engraved in 1734 and published in print form in 1735. The series ...

'' by

William Hogarth William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraver, pictorial satirist, social critic, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like ...

and related moralizing series. There are paintings depicting the courts and portraits of the royals of Kutch including some with Mughal influences. Occasionally, real gems were incorporated on the surface of painting in areas depicting jewellery items such as ear-rings and necklaces.

Hira Mahal

File:Aina Mahal5.jpg, Sword and buckler of Maharao File:Aina Mahal3.jpg, Maharao's bed with golden legs File:Aina Mahal4.jpg, Mirrors in the bedchamber File:Aina Mahal6.jpg, Mirrors and paintings in the bedchamber The Hira Mahal (royal bedchamber) is located in the centre of the first floor of Aina Mahal next to Hall of Mirrors and its reception. It measures and contains one of bed of Maharao Lakhpatji whom, according to legends, used to use a bed for a year and then auctioned it off after ordering the new one. His beds were purchased with state funds and the proceeds of the auctions paid for his other entertainments for a year. His last bed has pure golden legs; this is kept along with his buckler and a diamond-studded sword that was presented by the Mughal Emperor Alamgir II in the 18th century. The bed is surrounded by more than twenty-seven large mirrors inlaid with gold flowers and semi-precious stones, and framed in

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

Baroque style The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

guilt frames. The floor and walls surrounding the exterior of the Hira Mahal are covered in cloth panels of Kutchi silk ''aari'' embroidery fabrics while its ceilings, pillars and doors are covered in mirror-work and guilt wood-carvings.

Fuvara Mahal

The Fuvara Mahal (Pleasure Hall) is located adjacent to the Hira Mahal. Except for the narrow corridor along the walls, the whole chamber is a pleasure pool with a central, raised, square platform that can be approached by on three sides via narrow aisles. The pool was filled with water using siphons and pumps. The pool includes fountains can cast spray in patterns and cool the air. The corridor is lined with pillars that surround the pool and support the ventilated roof. The capitals of these pillars are decorated with Chinese-style carvings. The throne in the centre of the platform was surrounded by water sprays and fanned from above. Maharao held his courts in the Fuvara Mahal. The chamber was illuminated by hanging candelabra and is decorated with Chinese-influenced, 18th-century glass paintings.

Second floor

An exterior staircase leads to the second floor, where the courts were held. In the ante-chamber, Mughal ''

farman Farman Aviation Works (french: Avions Farman) was a French aircraft company founded and run by the brothers Richard, Henri, and Maurice Farman. They designed and constructed aircraft and engines from 1908 until 1936; during the French national ...

''s (royal decrees) issued between 1617 and 1658 by Shah Jahan, Jahangir and Dara Shikoh that are mostly addressed to Rao Tamachi () are displayed. A ''farman'' dated 20 April 1617 issued by Jahangir praises the rulers of Kutch for their help in the conquest of Gujarat. Another ''farman'' dated 8 April 1657, issued by Shah Jahan and addressed to Gujarat Sultan

Muzaffar Shah III Shams-ud-Din Muzaffar Shah III was the last sultan of the Muzaffarid dynasty who nominally reigned over the Gujarat Sultanate, a late medieval kingdom in India from 1561 to 1573 though true powers were exerted by his nobles. Mughal Emperor Akba ...

and Rao Tamachi. Another ''farman'' dated 6 March 1657 asks Rao to pay due respect to the governor of Surat, Ali Kunwar Beg. A ''farman'' dated 6 December 1657 issued by Dara Shikoh asks Rao to visit his capital

Agra Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra i ...

and prepare for his visit to Bhuj. In another ''farman'' dated 28 January 1658, Dara Shikoh asks Rao to capture a rebel named Qutubuddin who had attacked Kutch during his visit and offers his help. The Darbar (Court) Hall has a silver throne with 19th-century gilt wooden chairs. There is a marriage hall that was built in 1884 for Maharao Khengarji III (). Weapons are exhibited on the walls and a perfume sprayer is placed in the centre of the hall. A door of the palace that is decorated with inlaid ivory and gold was made at the cost of 400 koris by a carpenter named Madho in 1708 during the reign of

Pragmalji I Rao Pragmalji I was the Rao of Cutch belonging to Jadeja Rajput dynasty, who ruled Princely State of Cutch as from 1698 to 1715. He established current lineage of rulers of the state in 1698. Life Rao Rayadhan II died in 1698. Rayadhan had th ...

. The collection also includes Mahi Maratib, a golden fish that was part of the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

Cutch State Cutch, also spelled Kutch or Kachchh and also historically known as the Kingdom of Kutch, was a kingdom in the Kutch region from 1147 to 1819 and a princely state under British rule from 1819 to 1947. Its territories covered the present day K ...

; it was gifted to Maharao Lakhpatji by the

Mughal Emperor The Mughal emperors ( fa, , Pādishāhān) were the supreme heads of state of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Mughal rulers styled t ...

during his visit to

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

. There are artistic rulers' horoscopes that are drawn in the local Kamangari painting style; the -long horoscope of Rao Pragmalji II dated 1839 is believed to be the longest horoscope in the world.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* {{cite book , last=Rushbrook Williams , first= Laurence Frederic, year= 1958, title=The Black Hills: Kutch in History and Legend: a Study in Indian Local Loyalties , publisher= Weidenfeld and Nicolson , location=London , pages=140–142 , oclc=314891065 , author-link=L. F. Rushbrook Williams Bhuj Palaces in Gujarat Royal residences in India Rajput architecture Tourist attractions in Kutch district Museums in Gujarat Buildings and structures completed in 1750