Kota & Jhalawar
A Kotah Miniature
from the personal
collection of Maharaj
Abhimanyu Singhji. |
The sharp contrast and diversity of Rajasthan is, at times,
unnerving. A mere 14 miles separate Bundi
and Kota... yet they seem to be two different worlds. While we had
been transported back to the medieval times in Bundi, we were
brought back to the present by Kota.
One of Rajasthan's premier industrial centres, Kotah (as it was
known earlier) has lost some of its olden-day character. Yet, the
traces of its glorious past can be seen in the City Palace and
Fort overlooking the mighty Chambal river, Jag Mandir (a poor
man's Lake Palace of Udaipur) and Brij
Vilas Palace Gardens.
The blossoming of the Kotah school of paintings was an important
milestone in the history of medieval Indian art.
 Excursions:
Kota is the key to a fascinating and largely undiscovered
Hadoti region of Rajasthan.
You could take a scenic drive through the Darrah
Wildlife Sanctuary to Jhalawar and its
environs to see the ruins of Chandravati, one of
India's most ancient towns; the Sun Temple of
Jhalarapatan, which is reminiscent of the famous Sun
Temple at Konark and the unusual Gagron Fort,
situated in the midstream of a river!
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