Place · island palace · India
Jag Mandir, Udaipur
Also known as Jag Mandir Palace, Jagat Mandir, Lake Garden Palace, Gul Mahal
Jag Mandir is a palace on the southern island of Lake Pichola in Udaipur, built by three Sisodia Maharanas of Mewar and completed by Jagat Singh I (1628–1652), after whom it is named. Its Gul Mahal, a domed sandstone pavilion crowned by a crescent, was developed to house the Mughal prince Khurram, the future Shah Jahan, who lived here in 1623 while in revolt against his father. The royal family used the island as a summer resort.
- Function
- Authority & administration
- Patron dynasty
- Sisodia (Mewar)
- Confidence
- Mixed / layered
- Location
- 24.567, 73.678
Worth knowing
Eight carved stone elephants guard the landing, their damaged trunks since replaced in polystyrene. In 1857 Maharana Swaroop Singh sheltered European families from Neemuch here, and in 1983 the palace was a location for the James Bond film Octopussy.
About the place
Placed at the coordinates given on the Wikipedia article.
Wikipedia's article gives two start dates, 1551 and about 1616, both under Maharana Amar Singh, with Karan Singh (1620–1628) continuing the work; completion under Jagat Singh I is not disputed.
Connections (3)
- Site withinUdaipur
Jag Mandir occupies one of the two natural islands of Lake Pichola, at its southern end, in the city of Udaipur. Maharana Udai Singh II enlarged the lake with dams in 1560 and built his new capital and its City Palace on the shore; the island palace, completed by Jagat Singh I, served the Mewar royal family as a summer resort and a place for parties, and it is still reached only by boat from the Bansi Ghat jetty.
- Site adjacencyLake Palace, Udaipur
Jag Mandir and the Lake Palace, Jag Niwas, are the island palaces of Lake Pichola, and boats to Jag Mandir leave from the Bansi Ghat jetty next to the Lake Palace; the eight carved elephants at Jag Mandir's landing face the Lake Palace across the water. The two were built a century apart as royal retreats on the lake Udai Singh II enlarged, Jag Mandir finished under Jagat Singh I by 1652 and Jag Niwas under Jagat Singh II in 1746.
- Historical linkShah Jahan
In 1623 the Mughal prince Khurram, the future Shah Jahan, lived at Jag Mandir while in revolt against his father Jahangir. According to Wikipedia, the Gul Mahal, the island's first structure, was developed to house him: a yellow sandstone pavilion with three domed chambers one above another, a crescent fixed on its dome and walls inlaid with onyx, jasper, cornelian and jade. A Rajput court's shelter for a rebel Mughal heir left a Mughal-style pavilion at the heart of a Mewar palace.
Sources
Wikipedia, "Jag Mandir Palace", "Lake Pichola".
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