Udaipur Cityscapes| उदयपुर नगरदृश्य

[Jai]

X-posted from the SSC Cityscapes forum

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Hi

Udaipur is a city of 350,000 in southern Rajasthan state, India,
situated around two large, glistening lakes with the beguiling old
city nestled on the edge of the larger Lake Pichola. It is
surrounded by smaller lakes with buildings built directly onto the
shore, on the numerous islands, and even on artificial islands.

It was the ancient capital of the Mewar Kingdom and is known
as the Jewel of Mewar. Much of the current city of Udaipur was
built in 1559 ACE by Maharana Udai Singh. The legend goes that
Maharana Udai Singh came upon a hermit while hunting. He blessed
the King and asked him to build a palace right there and it would be
well protected, and Udaipur was thus established.

Udaipur became a powerful Rajput state under British rule, and
became known by the British, thanks to Kipling, as "the Venice of
the East", on account of its lakes, canals, architecture and beauty.

It is a popular tourist town and is the origin of an entire style of
Rajasthani "desert" architecture. Most of the numerous Rajput-
era palaces have been converted into some of the worlds best hotels



^ A view of Udaipur and Lake Pichola from the Monsoon Palace,
located on the Aravalli mountain range outside the city, the
Maharaja's former residence.



^ Standing on the banks of Lake Pichola, are massive series of
palaces built from a period commencing from 1559 A.D. The largest
of these is the City Palace,



^ The balconies of the palace provide panoramic view of Jag Niwas
(Lake Palace Hotel), Jag Mandir on one side and the city of Udaipur
on the other.



^ The courtyard is the best place to view the facade of filigreed
balconies and ornate cupola-topped towers of the palace. Inside the
palace, now primarily a museum, is an extravagance of ancient elegance



^ The Palace is surrounded by gardens and museums.



^ The Ghats (steps) of the palace lead down into the lake.






^ The palace ghats can be seen clearly during this especially
dry off-monsoon season. Note the red sandstone-based clay unique
to the region and the shells from Lake Pichola which Udaipur is
famous for.






^ The Jaga Mandir is another island palace in Lake Picholia. Note the famous elephants with trunks in salute to its visitors



^ It is also known for it's beautiful garden courtyard.



^ Udaipur's famous Lake Palace, originally known as the Jag Niwas, is
held to be among the most beautiful palaces in the world.



^ Inaugurated in 1746, the Jag Niwas took 3 years to build. Nothing but
Marble is used in the composition of this palace



^ The palace gardens contain some of the rarest and most fragrant roses
in the world. The palace is full to the brim with priceless miniatures,
paintings, artificats and photographs from the Maharaja's collections.



^ The palace was also featured in the James Bond film Octopussy








[continued below!]

[Jai]

^ Fateh Sagar Lake, located north of Lake Pichola has the popular garden island, Nehru Park. It is among the numerous lakes that surround this town.



^ The Jagdish Temple, built in 1651 by Maharana Jagat Singh I is located in the heart of the 17th century Udaipur city.



^ The temple enshrines a beautiful black stone image of Lord Vishnu



^ The Temple is built in the Medieval Desert Rajasthani style of Western North Indian temple architecture



^ The monsoon Palace overlooks the city



^ The Lal Ghat is the quintessential backpacker haven with affordable hotels overlooking a central courtyard filled with plants and tables for socializing



^ Lake Pichola from Udai Kothi hotel.



^ Udaipur is known as Rajasthan's Romantic City. The huge number of well-maintained gardens dot the courtyards, parks and islands of the city.






^ The city literally abounds with gardens and lakes






^ Udai Villas is a new development on Lake Pichola. It comprises over 30 acres of gardens, fountains and buildings in traditional Rajasthani architecture.


















Regards,
Jai

simply awesome pics for awesome place!

[Fusionist]

beautiful place

[Azhagan]

awesome pictures....

[centralized pandemonium]

Amazing.

[Azhagan]

^ The monsoon Palace overlooks the city

this kutty is cute....

[nithin]

http://www.home.zonnet.nl/gsindia/Pa...rDakterras.htm

a nice panorama i found of udaipur


and heres a bonus, nice picture gallery of india:

http://www.roshtas.com/trip/

[Jai]

[del]

[Jai]

Hi guys

I have reuploaded the photos to Imageshack. Luckily, I'd saved them on my HD.

Can anyone else view the reupped images? They are red x's to me, and can only be seen if copy-pasted in the address bar

[Jai]

Expunging more photos from my HD:


^ Devi Garh Palace, located on the hills overlooking Udaipur, is now one of the best hotels in India



^ The Seal of the Royal Family of Udaipur

[drwho]

awesome pics Jai

check out Gul Chotrani's pictures from Udaipur,Nikon D70 in action

here
http://www.pbase.com/gbc/udaipur

[sona]

Great Pictures. The palace garden looks really pretty. Keep posting more pics of udaipur palace.

Sona

[Jai]

tippy top

Anyone have any more photos of Udaipur?

[Cov Boy]

yeah great pics! Love em.

I hope parts of the palace can be restored as soem parts are in a sorry state but wondeful anyway.

[Mahratta]

Udaipur is beautiful! More beautiful than Venice imo because I love Rajput architecture!

Does anyone know what regular Udaipur homes look like? Is it like Venice where they are all old and beautiful?

[Unconsciousfocus]

Wow, so beautiful

[IndiansUnite]

Copyright lc82lc82



Pichola Lake
Copyright Zé Eduardo...

[rajesh jagetia]

Nice Udaipur pictures.

[Vizag Vintage]

Astounding ! How great that the royal visionaries of a bygone era made the desert bloom for future generations to marvel. I hope the current inhabitants continue to maintain the city.Certainly one for my travel wishlist.Thank you,Jai,for your contribution.