Amar Mahal Palace: House of Dogra history and the golden throne!
Jammu, June 03: Amar Mahal, is a palace made of red sandstone depicting grandeur of an erstwhile royal Dogra era located at the most scenic place of Jammu between Shivaliks and River Tawi with a view of the entire eastern part of Jammu including the majestic Tawi and hills on the other side of the Tawi, mesmerizing the visitors with its sheer beauty of the French-chateau style of architecture and the unique location of the palace.
The palace which was once the residence of Raja Amar Singh was converted into a museum after the merger of the J&K state with India and houses not only the rich history of the state but also the rare golden throne weighing a whopping 120 kgs of pure gold besides an art gallery and a big library.
The scenic background of the place enhances the beauty of this palace manifolds. The stunning sight of River Tawi flowing below and the Shivaliks in the north makes one’s heart beat fast and leaves the visitor gushing about the beauty of the palace.
The place is already a known tourist destination and a visual treat to the all categories of the tourists while the richer ones or the international tourists can have some relaxing moments too with its adjoining star heritage hotel with the name of Hari Niwas palace that is actually a part of the Amar Mahal Palace complex.
The place is easily approachable located on the Jammu-Srinagar highway and also reachable through local transport like auto rickshaws, mini buses etc.
The star attraction of this museum is the golden throne of Jammu, weighing a whopping 120 kgs, done up in pure gold. The art collection here is also quite impressive, with paintings of M F Hussain and Laxman Pai on display, among other famous Indian contemporary painters. Another interesting aspect is the Pahari paintings displayed here, depicting tales from the Mahabharata and other folklore, especially those of Nal Damyanti. The museum also organises heritage walks around the complex to give detailed insights into the history of Jammu and surrounding cities.
Amar Mahal Palace was built in the nineteenth century for Raja Amar Singh, a Dogra king by a French architect on the lines of a French Chateau. The palace was donated to the Hari-Tara charitable trust by Dr. Karan Singh for use as a museum. It has many exhibits including a golden throne, Kangra miniature paintings, a library of 25,000 antique books and many rare art collections.
The palace was the last official residence of the Dogra dynasty, and a large collection of portraits of the royal family are also on display in the Museum.
Amar Mahal is situated on the right bank of the Tawi River, on a bend of the river. Jammu, once a princely city, is also famous for forts, palaces and temples. The Sivalik Hills or ranges to the north of the Mahal, on the left bank of the river, provide a grand view, with the Tawi River flowing in between, draining the valley.
The Amar Mahal Palace was planned by a French architect, in 1862. However, it was not built until the 1890s. Maharani Tara Devi, wife of the late Maharaja Hari Singh (son of Raja Amar Singh) lived in this palace till her death in 1967. Subsequently, her son Dr. Karan Singh and his wife Mrs. Yasho Rajya Lakshmi converted the palace into a museum to house rare books and works of art, with the objective of “Encouraging artistic talent, to establish fine arts centre and to collaborate with other like minded institutions for promotion of Indian arts”. For this purpose, they transferred the palace property to a trust named as the “Hari-Tara Charitable Trust”. Dr. Karan Singh, voluntarily surrendered the Privy Purse paid to him by the Government of India as a former ruler of Jammu, one of the Princely state of India, and used the funds to set up this museum named in memory of his parents. The museum was inaugurated by the late Mrs. Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, on April 13, 1975. The Trust arranges guided tours, book readings, lectures, film shows and hobby classes and other visitor friendly activities in the Museum. Scholarly exchanges, workshops and exhibitions are also regular features held by the Trust. The Dogra-Pahari paintings displayed in the museum were creation of the second half of the 18th century in Jammu and Himachal Pradesh of the Kangra school of art. To quote the words of Dr Karan Singh, the man behind the setting up of the Museum, “The whole effect is to transport one into a fascinating miniature world with its own aura and ethos”.
Built in the European castle style, the palace has sloping roofs with turrets and tall towers. When built during the reign of Raja Amar Singh, it was the tallest building in Jammu. The imposing building has long passages on three sides, which are covered by sloping corrugated tin roofs. The passages are supported on columns with wooden framework. The first floor of the palace building has French windows with connected balcony. The top floor has a bay window. The windows also depict triangular projections in classical Greek architectural style, which are fitted over ornate false columns.
Only four rooms of the palace are open depicting Pahari paintings of Mahabharata epic scenes and royal memorabilia. A golden sofa of the Dogra rulers of pure gold, embedded with golden lions at the corners, is housed in a hexagonal room in the museum, which is viewed only through glass covered window panes as the main door is kept locked for security reasons. The art works of some of the renowned Indian artists like J.Swaminathan, G. R. Santosh, Bikash Battacharjee, Ram Kumar, are also on display in the museum. In one of the galleries, paintings of Hindu epic stories such as of Nala Damayanti (a set of forty-seven miniature paintings) are depicted. Modern version of the Dashavatara paintings (ten avatars of Hindu god Vishnu) is also displayed in a separate ante-chamber in the Museum. These are unusual modern art set of paintings. Family portraits of the Dogra rulers of Jammu and Kashmir are on display in the Durbar Hall at the entrance gallery. In the first and second floors, a few chambers house the library, which has a collection of rare antique books (25,000) on religion, philosophy and political science to fiction.
An exclusive chamber in the museum, once the living quarters of the Maharani (later called the Maharajmata) Tara Devi, is conserved and exhibited in its original form where a silver bedspread, period furniture, photographs, the decoration of the Crown of India which was presented to her in 1945, her personal items of clothing and the unique Victorian bath room are on display.
In totality this Mahal is a must visit place to time travel through the great Dogra history and artistic talent and the rare period items besides the adjoin Heritage hotel that soothes the nerves after a hectic day. In short it is a tourists’ visual treat in Jammu. (Compiled with inputs from Wikipideia and other tourism and history related sites)