Why Dungarpur's palaces are different
Left untouched: the royal family moved to Udai Bilas in the twentieth century, and the old palace was never turned into a hotel, so its interiors survived almost as they were.
Among the best preserved: historians of Rajasthani painting rank its murals and glass work among the finest surviving in any palace in the state.
- Town founded
- Traditionally 1282, by Rawal Vir Singh
- Juna Mahal owner
- The former royal family
- Visits
- Arranged through Udai Bilas Palace
- Watch list
- World Monuments Fund, 2014
- Best months
- October to March
- On a watch list: the World Monuments Fund placed Juna Mahal on its 2014 Watch, a sign of both its value and its fragility.
- Still a family property: it is not a museum with ropes and labels. Visits are arranged through Udai Bilas Palace.
- Quiet: very few travellers come this far south, so you may have the rooms to yourself.
- Two palaces, two moods: the dense, painted fortress of Juna Mahal and the open, lakeside calm of Udai Bilas.
The elder branch of Mewar
The Ahara Guhilots: the rulers of Dungarpur belong to the Guhilot clan of Mewar and trace their line to Bappa Rawal. Their own tradition holds that they are the elder branch.
Vagad: in the twelfth century Samant Singh, eldest son of a ruler of Mewar, carved out a kingdom in the southern hills.
- The founding: by tradition, in 1282 Rawal Vir Singh took the land from a Bhil chieftain called Dungaria, who gave the town its name.
- The shrine: Dungaria's two wives became sati on his death, and their shrine is still kept in a wall of Juna Mahal, honoured by the royal family for centuries.
- An uncomfortable story: our guides tell it plainly, because the relationship between the Rajput rulers and the Bhils is the deepest thread in Vagad's history.
- Khanwa: in 1527 Rawal Udai Singh died fighting beside Rana Sanga against Babur. His lands were divided, and his younger son founded Banswara.
- The last ruler: Maharawal Lakshman Singh came to the throne as a boy in 1918, enlarged Udai Bilas in the 1940s and went on to a long public career after 1947.
Juna Mahal, the old palace on the hill
Built over six centuries: the first palace dates from around the town's founding, and successive Maharawals added rooms, floors and courtyards into the nineteenth century.
Pareva: the blue-grey local stone that turns almost green in certain light, quarried in the district and carved here for centuries.
- Juna means
- Old
- Storeys
- Seven, on a high stone platform
- Built
- Late 13th to 19th centuries
- Stone
- Pareva, the local blue-grey stone
- Allow
- A long, unhurried morning
- Made to slow attackers: narrow passages and steep stairs that will still slow you. Wear shoes with grip.
- Rising room by room: each floor feels like a different century, with the most intimate and richly decorated rooms higher up.
- Light through small windows: the reason the colours have survived, and the reason you need a small torch.
Room by room inside Juna Mahal
The murals
What they show: court life, festivals, battles, hunts, gods and goddesses, and the love stories of Krishna.
- The painter: much of the finest work was done by an artist named Devji between 1864 and 1875. Some earlier panels are unsigned.
- Look for: ladies on swings, the Maharawal on horseback, processions of elephants, a monkey in a tree and a servant half asleep in a doorway.
The Shish ka Kamra, the room of glass
What it is: a room where thousands of fragments of mirror and coloured glass catch the light from a single window.
- Who made it: Devji also worked in cut-glass inlay.
- Restored: between 1883 and 1886 two brothers from Udaipur, Nathu and Chhagan, restored parts of the palace, including this inlay and the audience hall.
The Am Khas
- What it is: a hall added by Maharawal Udai Singh II that served for both public and private audiences.
- Beside it: a small chamber inlaid with glass.
The Chini Gokhada, the Chinese balcony
- What it is: a balcony decorated with 144 English blue-and-white Willow Pattern plates.
- Why it delights: a reminder that Rajput palaces were never sealed from the world, and that a Maharawal could fall for Staffordshire china.
Later touches
- 1939: Maharawal Lakshman Singh brought the artist Kanhaiyalal from Nathdwara to touch up paintings on the ground floor.
- Why it matters: the palace was cared for by its own family and painters, not restored by outsiders, so its layers are all its own.
How to visit Juna Mahal well
Book through the palace: visits are arranged through Udai Bilas Palace. Let us book yours.
Go in the morning: the light through the small windows is softest then.
- Keep the group tiny: the rooms are small and the stairs narrow. We never bring large groups.
- Bring a torch: for the darker rooms and stairs.
- Never touch the paint: oils from fingers damage centuries-old surfaces.
- Ask about photography: ask before using flash or a tripod, and respect a no.
- Allow time: a long morning at least. This is not a palace to see in an hour.
How to read a Rajasthani mural
Start with Krishna: blue skin, a peacock feather and a flute. Look for him with the cowherd girls, dancing in a circle or hiding their clothes by the river.
Find the ruler: usually larger than everyone around him, with a halo or a parasol, on horseback, on an elephant or seated in durbar.
- Read the seasons: dark clouds and lightning mean the monsoon and longing. Swings in the trees often mean Teej.
- Follow a procession: elephants, horses, musicians and banners, often running round a room like a frieze.
- Look for the small jokes: painters loved a sleeping guard, a cheeky monkey or a cat stalking a bird in the corner.
- Notice the colours: mineral reds, yellows and greens, and gold that glints when the light moves.
- Compare schools: our page on miniature painting explains how the courts of Mewar, Bundi and Kota each painted differently.
Udai Bilas Palace, on Gaib Sagar
On the water: one wing, built of blue-grey pareva, rises straight from the lake.
Three parts: the Raniwas, the queens' quarters; Udai Bilas itself; and the Ek Thambiya Mahal.
- Built
- Mid-19th century, by Maharawal Udai Singh II
- His reign
- 1846 to 1898
- Enlarged
- 1940s, three new wings
- Today
- Heritage hotel and family home
- Ask for
- A lake-facing room in the old wing
- A family home: still lived in by the former royal family, and run as a heritage hotel for many years.
- Collections: a museum named for Maharani Manhar Kumari, opened in 2015, and the family's objects throughout the rooms.
- The Mews: the family's classic and vintage cars. See our page on vintage and classic cars.
- An honest word: a room of old hunting trophies from the days of shikar belongs to another era, and some guests choose to skip it.
- Stay here: our Udai Bilas Palace guide describes the rooms and the rhythm of a stay.
The palace of a single pillar
The name: ek thambiya means of one pillar. It is also called Krishna Prakash.
What it is: a small, many-storeyed pavilion rising from a courtyard.
- The carving: sculpted pillars, panels, ornate balconies and friezes, with musicians, dancers and gods worked into the stone.
- The stone: pareva again, which carves crisply and takes on a soft sheen.
- When to look: early morning for soft light, late afternoon for deep shadows in the carving.
- Compare it: with the carved stone of the Dilwara temples or Ranakpur, and you see how far the pareva sculptors of Vagad could go.
Gaib Sagar, the lake at the palace door
On the banks: a complex of temples to Shrinathji, the child Krishna.
Across the water: the Vijay Rajrajeshwar temple, dedicated to Shiva and Parvati.
- At dawn: bathers, worshippers, washermen and fishermen.
- Winter birds: cormorants, egrets, herons, ducks and kingfishers, sometimes painted storks and spoonbills.
- How to watch: walk the bund with binoculars, or stay on a palace terrace with your tea.
- In the evening: lamps come on at the Shrinathji temples, a lovely end to a day in Juna Mahal.
Pareva, the stone of the palaces
What it is: a fine blue-grey stone quarried in Dungarpur district.
Its colours: grey in the noon sun, almost green in some lights, nearly black when wet in the monsoon.
- Why carvers love it: it takes fine detail, which is why the pillars and balconies of Udai Bilas are so crisp.
- A living craft: local sculptors still carve images, panels and small pieces.
- A visit we arrange: a carving workshop where you hear the stone ring under the chisel. Read about the artisans we work with.
Temples and shrines around Dungarpur
Deo Somnath
- What: an old Shiva temple of pale stone on the Som river, usually dated to around the twelfth century.
- When: late afternoon, when the stone turns gold. Under an hour from town.
Galiakot
- What: the shrine of Syedi Fakhruddin on the Mahi, one of the most important pilgrimage places of the Dawoodi Bohra community.
- Etiquette: visitors are welcome with respect and modest dress.
Baneshwar
- What: temples at the meeting of the Som and Mahi, linked to the saint Mavji.
- The fair: the great Bhil gathering in the month of Magh, January or February. See the Baneshwar Fair.
Banswara
- What: Dungarpur's sister town, about two hours east, with the islands of the Mahi and the Tripura Sundari temple.
- Read: our journal on Banswara, the city of islands.
Two days among the palaces
Day one, Udai Bilas
Morning: leave Udaipur after breakfast and arrive by lunch.
- Afternoon: rest, then the Ek Thambiya Mahal and the Mews.
- Evening: walk the lake shore as the temple lamps come on, then dinner on the terrace. A private palace dinner suits this terrace perfectly.
Day two, Juna Mahal
Morning: Juna Mahal with a guide, room by room.
- Midday: lunch and a swim.
- Late afternoon: Deo Somnath on the Som river for the golden hour.
With a third night
- Choose: a long day in Banswara, or Galiakot and a weekly village market, before driving on to Ahmedabad or back to Udaipur.
Eating at the palace table
Family recipes: ask for dishes from the old royal kitchen, slow-cooked dals, sweets with ghee and dry fruit, and laal maas with its red chilli.
Vagad food: makki ki roti, thick maize bread, with dal, green chilli and garlic chutney or buttermilk kadhi.
- Winter: sarson ka saag and fresh jaggery. After the monsoon, corn cobs roasted on charcoal at every roadside.
- Vegetarian and Jain guests: eat extremely well, and cooking without onion and garlic is easy on request.
- The terrace: dinner over Gaib Sagar as the temple lamps come on is one of our favourite evenings in the south.
- More dishes: our Rajasthani food guide.
What most visitors miss
The sati shrine: the small shrine to Dungaria's wives in the wall of Juna Mahal, still honoured, and the key to the town's story.
The plates up close: ask to look closely at the Willow Pattern plates of the Chini Gokhada. Each repeats the same Chinese-style scene of a willow, a bridge and a pagoda, made in England.
- The old town lanes: the streets below Juna Mahal are best walked, with small temples and houses of pareva stone.
- Dawn on the bund: walk the lake embankment before breakfast, when washermen and fishermen are at work.
- A weekly haat: a rural market where Bhil families buy and sell grain, silver and cloth. Go with a guide and buy something.
- The Ek Thambiya Mahal at night: under soft lights, the carving looks entirely different.
Before you go
Book Juna Mahal ahead: through Udai Bilas, and plan it for a morning.
Pack a torch and good shoes: the old palace has dark stairs and worn stone.
- Dress modestly: for the temples and Galiakot, shoulders and knees covered, with a scarf.
- Ask before photographing people: especially at village markets. A no is final.
- Don't hand out gifts to children: if you want to give, ask us how to do it properly.
- Pack for humidity: light cotton, a hat, and mosquito repellent after the monsoon.
- Give it two nights: in Dungarpur the second day is always better than the first.
Getting there and when to go
From Udaipur: an easy morning's drive south. See our Udaipur guide.
Between states: the best place to break the drive between Rajasthan and Ahmedabad.
- From Udaipur
- About 110 km, 2 to 2.5 hours
- From Ahmedabad
- About 3.5 to 4 hours
- Nearest airport
- Maharana Pratap Airport, Udaipur
- Best months
- October to March
- Greenest
- July to September
- October to March: warm days, cool nights, a full lake and winter birds.
- April to June: hot and humid. A brief stay only.
- July to September: heavy rain and an astonishing green, though some rural roads become difficult.
- On our journeys: Dungarpur is one of the three heart stops of our offbeat Rajasthan journey, with Bundi and Chittorgarh.
Who will love Dungarpur's palaces
Art lovers: if painted walls make your heart beat faster, Juna Mahal is one of the great rooms of Rajasthan.
Guests who like a home, not a hotel: at Udai Bilas the family portraits are of the people who live upstairs.
- Photographers and birders: dawn on Gaib Sagar, and the dim gold light of Juna Mahal.
- Repeat visitors: those who have seen Jaipur and Jodhpur often find Dungarpur a revelation.
- Not for you if: you want famous sights, shopping and nightlife. Dungarpur is small and provincial.
- Companions: Bundi for its painted Chitrashala and Chittorgarh for its great fort. Read our Dungarpur guide for the whole town.