The Monmouth inquirer., 1926-01-14

at once suggests what it is-a SPLEEN
did royal zenana (seraglio), with an
expanse of glistening walls set with
small pierced marble grilles.
Jai Singh's Wind Palace.
This is the wind Palace" which
Jai Singh is said to have built for
RAM Comala, his queen, but it is more
probable that it was inspired by his
romantic passion for a Nightingale
throated' Kashmiri girl and his re-
searches in astronomy. The roof court
Of the Wind palace is surrounded by a
lofty open lattice, where the excIu-
sive purdah ladies could 'eat the air.
without their veils-an ideal spot, too,
for studying the consultations while
listening to the sobbing music of the
old-world yina swept by henna=stained
fingertips and to the soft swish of the
silken screens flung outward to the
night breeze.
Only 25 miles from Udaipur, yet a
days journey on horseback or by ele-
plant across wastes of pink sand
strewn with boulders of rose-veined
marble and dusty thorn cactus, is Raj
Samand, another artificial lake, the
munificent work of Rama Raj Singh at
cost of $5,000,OO0, and this, too, at
a time when labor was cheap and the
material lay in convenient quarries.
Like Jai Samand, its waters were
gathered from mountain stream,
and, while not as large in area, it was
far more stupendous achievement
The enormous pressure, due tot 1.-THE
great depth to which the water Would
eventually attain, must have been
foreseen, as the Raj Samand dam
forms an irregular segment of a circle,
extending for nearly three miles. 1T,
also, is of white marble, endless tons
of 1t, all faced and polished. It is
buttressed by thick ramparts of earth,
which, had the builder lived to COM
plete the work, would have been plant
ed with Towering trees to form a
promenade.
Here three terraces of steps de-
scend to the water. On the lower tier
rise four graceful and deliberately
carved Hindu arches, of a peculiar
and distinctive design. Dividing the
expanse of steps, six broad platforms
inclose cool twilight spaces under
meath. Marble terraces extend out
over the water, supporting three
twelve-pillared pavilions, where roy
atty used to sit after the bath. A
walled fortress, with the dome of
white palace rising from the center,
crowns a sloping flat-topped mountain
above the dam. At It's foot is the tenn
pie of Kankroli.
Great Engineering Feats.
These royal builders must have in
herited in no small degree the con-
structive art of their Indo-Aryan fore
bears, to have combined scenic effects
of surprising beauty with practical
benefit to the race. The engineering
feats which converted these vast arid
wastes into fertile rice and grazing
fields inspire additional admiration
when it is borne in mind that the work
WdS OOhC ny manu- AAOOAs
When heavy blocks of marble were
to be carried to great heights, in
clined planes were used, as in the case
of the wagon" shaped stones on
the top of the Dravidian temples of
southern India, which were raised to
their present position by inclined
planes four miles long, constructed OF
stout bamboo.
This part of Mewar seems an en-
chanted region for in the cold season
that is, cold at night and in the
early morning a curious phenomenon
occurs, which the people call see kote,
or winter castles" The lakes, the
marble dams, mountain palaces, tenn
pies, fortresses. and the blue tentlike
Aravalsis appear high up In the cloud
less ether. The visions differ some
what from the ordinary mirage, in
that they constantly fade and gently
reappear, as though on slow-motion
picture screen.
At all times there is something In
the atmosphere here best described
as elusive radiance, which makes
panoramic photography disappointing
Objects at an appalling distance leap
into the field of the camera, while
those in the foreground seem to re-
cede. OF course, the necessity of
photographing at long range and from
great heights anything so extensive
as the marble dams and mountain for
tresses, would naturally distort the
classic outlines Of the one and greatly
reduce the imposing effect Of the
other.