The little known Taj of Bhopal

If you thought that the Taj Mahal is only at Agra in Uttar Pradesh, you would be way of the mark. This is so as there is a palace by that name and though it is as not as well known as its Agra counterpart, this too is a architectural masterpiece.

If the Taj at Agra was built by the Mughal Emperor, Shahajahan, as a resting place for his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, this Taj was built as a residence.

Work on the Agra Taj commenced in 1632 and it was completed some twenty years later in 1653. This residence, also called the Taj Mahal, was built over a thirteen year period between 1871 and 1884.

Estimates of the cost involved in the construction of the Taj vary as Shahajahan spared no effort or money in constructing what he wanted to be a fitting memorial to his wife. If the Taj is today among the seven wonders of the world and a UNESCO recognised monument, no such honor is invested on the other Taj, so much so that it is in ruins.

This is the Taj Mahal, a residence built by a Begum in Bhopal. Though it is located besides the Taj-ud-Din mosque, it is among the least visited monuments of  Madhya Pradesh. Coincidentally, the name of the Begum who built this palace was Sultan Shah Shah Jahan, the Begum of Bhopal.

The Taj Mahal at Bhopal was built at a cost of Rs. 30 lakh and when completed it was one of the largest palaces of the world built at the time.

The building was originally named Raj Mahal or the royal palace. The then British Resident of  Bhopal was so impressed with the architecture that he suggested to the Begum that it be renamed the Taj Mahal of Agra.

The Begum, who was the eleventh ruler of Bhopal and reigned between 1868 and 1901, accepted the suggestion and the palace was renamed to Taj Mahal. The Begum ordered a three-year-long celebration called Jashn-e-Taj Mahal after the completion of the building.

After the partition of India in 1947, Nawab Hamidullah Khan allowed Sindhi refugees to stay in the palace. The refugees stayed on in Taj Mahal for four years, before shifting to Bairagarh and it was during this time that it suffered some damage.

Though some members of the royal family of  Bhopal stayed at the palace, they gradually moved away, as they had no money for the repairs. By 2008, large parts of the palace complex had collapsed.

The palace was declared a state heritage monument by the State Government in 2005 and the State Archaeology Department carried out restoration in parts. However, it was denotified in 2011 and the government now plans to transfer the property to the tourism department for its development as a heritage hotel.

What sets aside this building from others of its ilk is that it has British, French, Mughal Arabic and Hindu influences on it.

The palace is built in Indo-Saracenic style and it is huge. It contains 120 rooms- all different from one another in colour scheme and decoration-and eight large halls.

Besides, the palace had a hall of mirrors called sheesh mahal and the savon bhadon pavilion, which is a fountain like structure that simulated the effect of rain. This is 50 feet by fifty feet structure in the courtyard.

The main entrance is a seven-storied structure. The palace was part of a complex of buildings along the three lakes that includes the Benazir palace, which was the begum's summer palace, and the Taj-ul-Masjid mosque, which is one of Asia’s largest mosque.

The entrance dome of the palace was so large that a 12-horse buggy could turn under it with ease. The Begum would alight from the coach here as she observed purdah.

The palace of a thousand doors

Talk of Lalbagh and the Botanical Gardens of Bangalore flash across your mind. The Lalbagh Gardens were started by Hyder Ali sometime in 1760 and subsequently developed by Tipu and after his death on May 4, 1799 by the British. 

However, there is another Lalbagh and this one is not a park but a locality of  the historic town of  Murshidabad in West Bengal. It is separated from Rajshahi district by river Padma.

The Lalbagh of Murshidabad has no botanical but historical importance. When Prince Farrukhsiyar of the Mughals came to Murshidabad from Dacca, he was assigned a palace at Lalbagh. Today, there is no trace of  the palace.

However, the Lalbagh here is home to one of the most outstanding pieces of architecture-the Hazarduari Palace ort the palace with a thousand doors.

This palace, a three stories structure, is situated on the eastern bank of the river Bhagirathi or Padma and it derives its name from its thousand real and false doors. It has 900 real doors and 100 structures that resembles doors but are not. They are all imaginary. They were built so that if any predator and enemy tried to enter the palace and escape, he would be confused between the false and real doors, and by that time he would be caught by the Nawab's guards.

The palace was earlier known as the Bara Kothi. It has 114 rooms.

This palace is the chief object of attraction in Murshidabad and it has so much of history that it would takes realms of pages and days to even narrate it.

The enclosure within which the palace is situated is also called the Nizamat Fort or Nizamat Kila. It was built by Nawab Nazim Humayan Jah of Bihar, Bengal and Orissa during 1829-1837 A.D. Now, Kila Nizamat refers to the campus where the palace is located along with the several other monuments such as Nizamat Imambara, clock tower, Madina mosque, Chawk Masjid, Bacchawali Tope, Shia complex, Wasif Manzil and two Zurid mosques.

Tourists call the Hazarduari Palace the Nizamat Kila or the Kila Nizamat The foundation for the palace building was laid by the Nawab on August 29, 1829 in presence of the then Governor-General of India, Lord William Cavendish Bentinck. The construction of this building was complete in December 1837 AD.
The concrete bed on which the foundation stone of the palace was to be laid was built so deep that the Nawab had to use a ladder to descend down. The suffocating atmosphere created due to the large number of people which stood surrounding them and the depth made the Nawab’s wife to faint. At last, after she was helped up, the foundation stone was truly laid and was declared to have been well.
The Hazarduari complex, in all, occupies 41 acres and when the palace was built it just cost Rs. 20.5 lakhs. The Palace has 114 rooms and eight Galleries. The architect was Colonel Duncan McLeod of the Bengal Corps, who also personally supervised the work.

The palace is now a museum which houses priceless paintings, furniture, antiques and other valuable artifacts. The most famous exhibit is the mirror and the chandelier.

The Palace museum has twenty galleries containing 4742 antiquities out of which 1034 has been displayed for the public. The antiquities include various weapons, oil paintings of Dutch, French and Italian artists, marble statues, metal objects, porcelain and stucco statues, farmans, rare books, old maps, manuscripts, land revenue records, palanquins mostly belonging to eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a bamboo from Assam and other objects.  The Durbar Hall of the palace which houses the furniture used by the Nawab has a crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling. It is the second largest chandelier in the world, after one in Buckinmgham Palace. It was gifted to the Nawab by Queen Victoria.

Another attraction is the two pairs of mirrors in the museum. These mirrors are placed at an angle of 90 degrees in such a way that one cannot see ones own face but others can see the face. The mirrors  was used by the Nawab to prevent his enemies from harming him. They were kept at a place so that the enemy cannot see his face and the Nawab could see the face. This is also called the magic mirrors and they are displayed just outside the gallery on the landing leading to the upper floors.

In the entrance porch of the palace there are two carriages, of which one is a camel carriage and the other is a Victorian carriage. Both of them were used by the Nawabs.

The lobby has photographs of several buildings of historical importance and also a huge stuffed crocodile and a thick bamboo from Assam.

Gallery no. 1 and 2 also known as Armoury wing and they house weapons like knives, guns, pistols, revolvers, cannons, lances, spears, shields, bows, arrows, rifles. Some of the weapons are inscribed with verses from the Quaran.

The Jamadhara and a bifurcated sword known as Zulfikar are associated with Mir Quasim. There are swords that belong to Alivardi Khan and his son Siraj-ud-Daula. The dagger with which  Muhammad i-Beg killed Siraj-ud-Daula can also be seen.

A huge cannon known as the Dutch cannon can be seen here. It was gifted to Alivardi Khan by the Dutch Government in 1745. It is also called Mir Madan Cannon. Mir Madan was a trusted lieutenant of Siraj-ud-Daula who died in the battle of Plassey in 1757.

Gallery no. 3 is the gallery containing royal exhibits. It houses several paintings and objects of silver and gold and several statues each of historical, political and religious importance. The gallery has been divided into three parts such as the Suthest royal exhibits which houses and exhibits huge oil paintings of the Nawabs such as the painting of Nawab Nazim Humayun Jah by Hutchinson and that of Nawab Nazim Feradun Jah by B. Hudson. One of the most renowned objects is an ivory palanquin used by Zebunissa, the daughter of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb (1658–1707).

The next section is called the central royal exhibit, which displays several objects such as a silver Kamal howdah, an ivory Tanjam or sedan chair belonging to the Mughal Emperor Shahajan. The south west royal exhibit houses several traditional objects like palanquins, statues and paintings.

Gallery no. 4 is also known as the landscape gallery. It has paintings of several landscapes. It has replicas of the Statue of Liberty, bronze statues of knights, and famous paintings like the Scotch Warrior by G. Campbell, Scene of Thirty Years of War by Jorgenson.

Gallery no. 5 is the British portrait gallery. It has busts of the Governor-Generals of India and agents of the East India Company like Cornwallis, Bentinck, A. Thompson and others. All the paintings, except that of Caulifield, is by Hudson. The painting of  Caulifield is by Hutchinson.

The staircase leading to the upper portico of the palace is perhaps the biggest of its kind in India. Gallery no. 6 is known as the Nawab Nazim gallery and it contains portraits of the Nawabs of Murshidabad. It also has several brass objects.

Gallery no. 7 is the Durbar Hall. It is the center attraction of the palace museum. It is circular in plan and has four doors at the cardinal points, including fake doors. The hall also has a vaulted roof with the crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling. It was presented to the Nawab by Queen Victoria. Earlier when there was no electricity the chandelier was lit by 1001 candles; at present it is lit by 96 bulbs.

The hall also displays the royal silver throne which was used by the Nawabs to sit on, a Durbari Hookah and marble candle stands.

Gallery no. 8 is the Committee Room, on the left side of the Durbar hall. It exhibits the silver throne of Feradun Jah, an ivory sofa, and an oil painting of the Durbar Hall with Feradun Jah on the throne surrounded by high ranking British officials.

Gallery no. 9 is known as the Billiards Room. It has two billiards tables with their accessories, a pietra dura marble chess set and four remarkable paintings like the that of Colonel Duncan McLeod by Hudson. McLeod was the architect of this grand palace.

Gallery no. 10 is the portrait gallery of the Dewans and Nazirs. This gallery also displays several vases, chandeliers and furniture.

Gallery no. 11 is known as the Prince portrait gallery. This gallery displays paintings from the Nawabs' family album portraying the infancy and various other moods of the Nawabs. There are also several marble statues, cut-glass melons, vases, metal horses, porcelain bear.

Gallery no. 12 is known as the Western drawing room. It exhibits several items of  western furniture, decorative lamps, clock items and so on. It has paintings of King William, Lord Curzon by Wolic.

Gallery no. 13 is known as the Archive gallery. It has several archives of the Nawabs’ rule and also on the palace. It also has several letters, farmans (royal orders), documents, manuscripts in Arabian and Persian belonging to the Nawabs and Mughals.

Some of the documents speak about the administrative power of the Nawabs. There are letters like those written by Lord Minto to Lord Hastings and a royal order by Mughal Emperor Shah Alam.  It also has several valuable and old manuscripts written in Urdu    and Persian, including the Ain-i-Akbari by Abul Fazl. At the end of each page of Ain-i-Akbari, ornamental works with the smallest brush and pen are visible on the corners of  each page. It also has a library known as the Nizamat Library which has about 12,000 books.

Gallery no. 14 and 15 is known as the periodical gallery I and II. These two galleries are used to periodically display several objects used and brought or manufactured during the reign of several Nawabs. These include Humayun Jah's collection of rare dining plates, there are also some green plate which would shatter if poisoned food was served; others include several landscape oil paintings, an ornamental silver dressing table, floral and geometric motifs and so on.

Gallery no. 16 is known as the central landing or the Main Hall. It exhibits several oil paintings. One artifact is a silver trowel with an ivory handle used by Humayun Jah to lay the foundation stone of the building.

Gallery no. 17 is called the North-east landing first floor. It exhibits several paintings. The gallery is renowned for the beautiful statue of a European lady.

Gallery no. 18 is known as the North-west landing first floor. It  exhibits several paintings like the Swiss Landscape, City of Venice.

Gallery no. 19 is called the Painting Gallery and it houses paintings like the Holy Family by Franceso Renaldi, Cleopatra Cinderella by T. Young and so on. A must see is a needle work on a carpet which portrays a seated Queen Victoria with two babies, and a litho print of Humayun Manzil, another palace of Humayun Jah.

Gallery no. 20 is known as the religious objects’ gallery. It exhibits several objects used for religious purposes, like in Muharram and Eid.

Srirangapatna as Buchanan saw it

Though Tipu Sultan died just over two hundred years ago, he has continued to generate interest among both Indians and foreigners. He is one person you can either love or hate. Ignore him you cannot as he has emerged as a controversial figure with people taking diametrical opposite views on him.

While he is generally looked upon as a man who opposed the British, the Mandya Iyengars to this day point out to the massacre of their ancestors by Tipu and the same goes for the people of the Malabar in Kerala and Catholics of Mangalore.

The recent controversy over naming of a university after Tipu has further widened the chasm between those who love and respect Tipu and others who see in him a bigot who persecuted Hindus, was a mercenary and one who tried to put down the legitimate Wodeyars of Mysore.

Many of the news and articles on Tipu today are coloured by extreme views and there are few pieces which can be described as dispassionate and disinterested portrait of the Tiger of Mysore.

One of the few accounts of the life and times of Tipu and his favourite island city of Srirangapatna is by Francis Buchanan.

Dr Francis Buchanan, later known as Francis Hamilton but often referred to as Francis Buchanan-Hamilton (1762-1829) was a Scotish physician who made significant contributions as a geographer, zoologist and botanist while in India.

The standard botanical author abbreviation Buch.-Ham. is applied to plants and animals he described, though today the form Hamilton, 1822 is more usually seen in ichthyology and is the preferred fishbase.

He conducted a survey of  the then Mysore Kingdom in 1899, just an year after Tipu was slain in the fourth and final Anglo-Mysore war in Srirangapatna on May 4, 1799.  

Much of the social, religious and anthropological details of Mysore State, including Canara and Malabar, are contained in the Mysore survey that he undertook for several months.

The results of the survey were published in his “A Journey from Madras through the countries of Mysore, Canara and Malabar”, where he has devoted an entire chapter-the second-to Srirangapatna and another to Bangalore.

Buchanan says he came down to Srirangapatna from Madras via Vellore and Bangalore. He reached Srirangapatna on May 18, 1800 and the next day he had an interview with Purnaiah, whom he calls Purnea, the Dewan of the Raja of Mysore (Wodeyar) and during the Prince's minority, the chief administrator of his Government.

Buchanan was provided with the services of a Brahmin who had orders to accompany him everywhere.

In his short description of Purnaiah, the writer says he is a from Coimbatore and that his native is Tamil but he speaks Kannada, Marathi, Mussalaman (Urdu) and Persian. He says the Dewan is called Sri Mantra.

However, he says Purnaiah wielded less power than Mir Sadiq, the confidant of Tipu who finally betrayed him.

Buchanan was in Srirangapatna from May 20 to June 5 and he says he took in everything remarkable in Srirangapatna and its neighbourhood.

He begins his description of the island fortress by describing the Cauvery and the stone bridge which elicits his admiration. He then goes on to talk of the need to construct one more bridge and says discussions are on to share the expenses between the British and the new Raja-Mysore Wodeyars.

He says the new bridge would cost 16,000 pagodas.

He then goes on to describe the Ramghanatha temple which he says is of  “much higher antiquity” than the town itself.

Buchanan went around the fort and he describes them as immense, unfinished, unslightly and an injudicious mass of building. Tipu, he says, seems to have a too high opinion of himself and did not consult the French while building the fort.

He then speaks of an inner fort with several traverses which Tipu himself defended. Here, Buchanan pays tribute to the Sultan. He points out that the English could advance slowly and that Tipu retired slowly, defending his ground with obstinacy. He then described how Tipu inadvertently got himself boxed inbetween the two forts but there is not much description on how he was killed.

Then follows several paragraphs of how the Englishmen and others pillaged, plundered and ransacked Srirangapatna.

He says women came out of their homes and stood in groups on the streets to avoid being raped or harassed. The last remnants of Tipu’s army fled to the Jamia masjid and other places and when they staggered back the next day, they were attended to by English doctors.

For Buchanan, the city of  Srirangapatna is poor and its streets narrow. The streets are more confused than anywhere else, he says. Nobody was allowed to own property here and Tipu allotted quarters and withdrew them at his will.

The houses are hot and inconvenient. Many of the chiefs fell at Siddeswara and then at the storming of Srirangapatna. Some were pensioned off by the company while others joined service with the Nawab of Arcot.

He then jumps to Mysore and says how Tipu planned to construct a fort. When the siege commenced, work on the fort stopped and there were sheds or huts for workmen which was where the young Wodeyar was enthroned.

He says the throne to Wodeyar was presented by the East Indian Company and that Col Close was the Resident on whom the young Prince relied a lot.

Buchanan makes a reference to the Dalwais and the role they played to help out the Wodeyars against Tipu. He then claims that Mir Sadiq, on orders from Tipu, had imprisoned the Wodeyars in their palace in Srirangapatna and that Mir Sadiq had stripped the Royals of all their jewels and ornaments.

He claims that when Srirangapatna was stormed, none of the royals had an idea of what had been going on.   

Buchanan then again comes back to Srirangapatna and talks about the palace of Tipu which he describes as a very large building surrounded by lofty walls of mud and stone and which outwardly is of “mean appearance”.

He found that some of the handsome apartments in the palace have been converted into barracks for the troops.

Tipu’s private apartments formed a square, in one side was the rooms which he used. The other three sides were occupied by warehouses in which Tipu deposited a vast quantity of goods for he acted not only as a Prince but also a merchant.

These goods, Buchanan says, were sold at a much higher prices by the Amildars and Tipu thus gained huge profits. “The three sides of the square are now  occupied by the sons of the Sultan -five of them-who are not yet removed to Vellore. They are well looking boys and are permitted to ride and exercise themselves in the square when they are so desirous”.

The apartment most commonly used by Tipu was a large lofty hall upon front and on the other three sides shut up from ventilation, In this, he was wont to sit and write, and plan many schemes.

The principal front of this palace also served as a revenue office and it was also the place from where Tipu showed himself to the populace which gathered below.

The entry to his private quarters was through a strong narrow passage where he had chained four tigers.

Within this was the hall of Tipu Sultan into which very few persons, except Meer saheb, were admitted. Behind this was his bed chamber which communicated with the hall by a door and two windows. The door was strongly secured from the inside and a close iron grating defended the windows.

The sultan, lest any person fire on him, slept on a hammock, which was suspended from the roof by chains. In the hammock were a pair of swords and a pistol. The only other passage from this private quarters was into the Zenana or women's apartments. Buchanan says there were 600 women, when the palace was taken by the British troops.

Outside Srirangapatna are two other palaces which are now occupied by the Resident and Commandant of the British forces. The gardens are laid out at considerable expense. He says the palace at Lalbagh is the handsomest building he has ever seen. Near to it is the mausoleum of Hyder where Tipu is buried.

Buchanan also discounts the native estimate that Srirangapatna had nearly five lakhs people within its fortifications. He counted the number of houses and says the number would not exceed a few thousands.

Buchanan them once again made his way to Bangalore and from Bangalore he travelled to Doddaballapur, Chikaballapur, Nandi Hills and Mangalore.  

In Bangalore, he visited the Lalbagh and he leaves a short description of the gardens. He credits Hyder with the founding of Bangalore.

Buchanan’s accounts are fairly accurate and his description of Srirangapatna and its surroundings are a testimony to the painstaking job that he carried out at the behest of the Governor-General Wellesley.  

The monk and a monarch

It was November 1892 and the Dewan of Mysore, K, Seshadri Iyer, had fixed an appointment for a monk with the reigning Wodeyar monarch, Chamaraja Wodeyar.

The young monk had come along with six other colleague to Mysore on an invitation from the Dewan who had met them at Bangalore.

The Dewan had been attracted by the language and scholarship of the monk who had stayed in Bangalore in Majestic and given discourses in Vedanta.

The monk stayed in Mysore from November 9 to November 24. He had been initially been put up at the Nirajnana Matha before being asked to shift to the Dewan’s house on Seetha Vilas Road in Mysore.

The Dewan had personally arranged for an interview with the monarch and the monk impressed the royal with his knowledge and fluency. Overcome by his magnetic personality, the monarch-Chamaraja Wodeyar-insisted that the monk stay for a few days in the Palace itself as a State guest.  

During his stay at the Palace, the monarch made every effort to make the monk’s stay comfortable. He also had a range of discussions with the monk over various topics, including religion, philosophy and even statecraft.

One day, both the Dewan and the monk went to the private quarters of the monarch.

The Monarch humbly asked the monk what he could do for him. The monk did not say anything but he began expounding the mission of his life. As the monk became more and more involved in describing his mission, the monarch and the Dewan found themselves spellbound under the oratorical skills of the handsome and erudite ascetic.

The monk covered a variety of issues and said India’s real wealth was its rich culture, history and philosophy. What India now needed was a push in science and technology. India, the monk said, had enough of religion and philosophy to give to the West. “I am, therefore, going to America to give them our religion and philosophy”, he said. “In return, the West must help us improving our social and economic condition”.

The monarch was not only taken aback by the eloquence of the monk and his stirring ideas, but also by the bold and frank manner in which he had expressed himself. He immediately offered to bear the expense of the trip to America. The monk refused politely.

The monk spent several days at the Palace and when the time came for him to leave Mysore, the monarch and the Dewan were unwilling to let him go. “Stay for some more days, they both urged the monk.

The monk pointed to the unfilled task that he had to address immediately and once again urged them to let him go. The monarch then asked for a souvenir. He said he would record the monk’s speech.

The monk agreed and so the monarch decided to record his speech for posterity. The device to record voices then wad called a phonograph and the monarch had the finest device of the age. The monk spoke into the device and even today it is preserved in the Mysore Palace.

The phonograph still survives but the voice has dulled and is at times indistinct. But one cannot fail to note the sincerity and strength of expression that still comes across even after more than a century of its recording.

Another aspect that is worth mentioning here is the enduring friendship between the monk and the monarch. When in Chicago, the monk wrote to the Monarch. And when the monarch died,  the monk, who was in America, mourned his loss.

The monk is none other than Swamy Vivekakanda, who is often described as the greatest Indian of the twentieth century.