TOURIST PLACE OF JAIPUR:- JAL MAHAL PALACE

JALMAHAL (WATER PALACE):-

• Overview

Jal Mahal (meaning “Water Palace”) is a palace located in the middle of the Man Sagar Lake in Jaipur city, the capital of the state of Rajasthan, India. The palace and the lake around it were renovated and enlarged in the 18th century by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Amber.
The urban lake gets filled up during the rainy season; over the years, once the reservoir became full during rainy season, it got covered with Hyacinth. During this period only the red stoned palace became approachable by boat and through a causeway and presented a spectacle on the way to Jaipur city from Delhi.

• History

In the past, at the location of the lake, there was a natural depression where water used to accumulate. During 1596 AD, when there was a severe famine in this region there was consequent acute shortage of water. The then ruler of Ajmer was, therefore, motivated to build a dam to store water to overcome the severe hardships caused by the famine to the people inhabiting the region. A dam was constructed, initially using earth and quartzite, across the eastern valley between Amer hills and Amagarh hills. The dam was later converted into a stone masonry structure in the 17th century. The dam, as existing now (see picture), is about300 metres (980 ft) long and 28.5–34.5 metres (94–113 ft) in width. It is provided with three sluice gates for release of water for irrigation of agricultural land in the down stream area. Since then, the dam, the lake and the palace in its midst have undergone several rounds of restoration under various rulers of Rajasthan but the final restoration in the 18th century is credited to Jai Singh II of Amer. During this period, a number of other historical and religious places, such as the Amer Fort, Jaigarh Fort, Nahargarh Fort, Khilangarh Fort, Kanak Vrindavan Valley were also built in the vicinity of the lake. All these places are now linked under a tourist corridor of road net work.

• The Palace

The Jal Mahal palace is considered an architectural beauty built in the Rajput and Mughal styles of architecture (common in Rajasthan) providing a picturesque view of the lake (from the Mansagar dam on the eastern side of the lake that acts as a vantage point for viewing the lake and the valley), and the surrounding Nahargarh (abode of the tigers) hills. The palace, built in red sandstone, is a five storied building out of which four floors remain under water when the lake is full and the top floor is exposed. The rectangular Chhatri on the roof is of the Bengal type. The Chhatris on the four corners are octagonal. The palace had suffered subsidence in the past and also seepage due to water logging, which have been repaired under the restoration project undertaken by the Government of Rajasthan.

On the terrace of the palace, a garden was built with arched passages. At each corner of this palace semi-octagonal towers were built with an elegant cupola.

The restoration works done in the palace in the past (10–15 years back) were not satisfactory and an expert in the field of similar architectural restoration works of Rajastahn palaces carefully examined the designs that could decipher the originally exisitng designs on the walls, after removing the recent plaster work. Based on this finding, restoration works were redone with traditional materials for plastering. The plaster now used consisted of an organic material of a special mortor mix of lime, sand and surkhi mixed with jaggery, guggal and methi (cummins) powder. It was also noticed that there was hardly any water seepage, except for a little dampness, in the floors below the water level. But the original garden, which existed on the terrace had been lost. Now, a new terrace is being created based on a similar roof garden exisitng on the Amer palace.

• Visitor Information

The Jal Mahal palace within the Man Sagar lake is accessible from the Jaipiur-Delhi National Highway No 8, over a road distance of 4 kilometres (2.5 mi)) from Jaipur. Delhi is a further 273 kilometres (170 mi)) away.

Jaipur city being centrally located in Rajasthan, the National Highway No.8 not only links to Delhi but also to Mumbai. NH No.11 is a road link of 366 kilometres (227 mi)) from Bikaner to Agra via Jaipur. The lake is 8 kilometres (5.0 mi)) from Amer palace on the Amber - Mansagar dam road to the north.
Jaipur is well connected by rail to all the major cities and towns of India. Jaipur is on the broad-gauge and meter gauge network of the Indian Railways and has direct trains on the broad gauge network to all major cities in Rajasthan and India. The city is also connected with a metre gauge rail route with Sri Ganganagar, Churu andSikar within the state. One of India's most famous and luxurious trains, The Palace on Wheels, originating from Delhi also makes a scheduled stop in Jaipur.
Jaipur has well connected domestic air links with Jodhpur, Udaipur, Aurangabad, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Goa, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Indore, Bangalore, Mumbai, Surat and Raipur, Lucknow, Gorakhpur. Jaipur's Jaipur International Airport (IATA: JAI, ICAO: VIJP) is situated in its satellite town of Sanganer and offers sporadic service to Muscat, Sharjah, Bangkok and Dubai.