Looking at these ancient palaces in Rajasthan – the outside, the insides – every detail thought of, produced with perfect attention, love, harmony, I can’t help asking what happened to humanity in the modern world.

Is the “best” we can produce now are the similes of the ugly Trump Towers? How can we take a natural landscape and build over it an ugly mall, Walmart or a sprawling faceless subrurb? Where are the human esthetics that created these combinations of landscape and structure you see here in these glorious ancient palaces? Not only do they not destroy the view, they actually add to it, complete it. It is as if the landscape was waiting for the human hand to bring out some hidden element, a secret embodied inside…

That is true not only for grandiose structures such as these Indian palaces, but also to rural villages world-over that are built into the landscape, and to old city buildings world-over, where attention was given to details and esthetics.

A turbaned Punjabi guy I met on the grounds explained to me that, indeed, the palace was built according to astrological and numerological rules so it will have the best energy. As the air comes in, so it goes out, he said.

The gate

 The Elephant

And the palace is, indeed, very powerful and yet also delicate, cozy, accomodating to the soul. In particular the views over Lake Pichola are magnificent. 

Palaces on Lake Pichola

The arichtectural magnificence of the Palace

So much history here too. Little did I know. Just a vague idea about maharajas. The splendor, art, intricacies, details. Strangely, if I understood correctly, there is a “private sector” to the palace where a king still lives. Amazing. You can read about “who owns India’s palaces” here. 

City of Udaipur viewed from palace