Bhuj: Gujarat Part 12

Gujarat

India

 This post covers day 12 of a 14-day journey around Gujarat, following our circuit of Rajasthan last year. Smaller than Rajasthan, Gujarat is about the size of the Island of Great Britain and has much the same population.

5,000 years ago, Gujarat was a centre of the Indus Valley Civilization and subsequently played its part in most of the major north Indian empires. When Islamic invaders reached northern India in the 9th century Gujarat held out until 1300 when it became part of the Delhi Sultanate.

Day 12 was spent in Bhuj, the capital of the huge District of Kutch in northern Gujarat

An independent Muslim sultan seized power in 1391and Gujarat maintained its independence until becoming part of the Mughal Empire in the 16th century and later the British Empire, though local rulers of a patchwork of Princely States had considerable autonomy. At independence in 1947 Gujarat was part of the State of Bombay, becoming a state in its own right in 1960.

With a long coast line facing the Arabian sea, Gujaratis have been sea farers and international traders for millennia.

Gujarat is the home state of both Mahatma Gandhi and the current Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

-o00o00o-

Bhujiya Fort

At breakfast we had the restaurant to ourselves, but there was ample choice on the buffet. After idlis and chutney (me) omelette (Lynne), parathas and fruit we were ready to do Bhuj.

Bhuj was founded in 1510 by Rao Hamir, the 10th of the Jadejas, the Rajput dynasty who had ruled the Kingdom of Kutch since 1147. His son Rao Khengarji I made Bhuj the capital in 1549. Bhujia Fort, on the hill over looking the city, was started during the reign of the 19th Jadeja. Rao Godji I (1715−19) and completed by his son Maharao Deshalji I (1718–1741). About this time most raos and rajas (kings) were being upgraded by the Mughals (or upgrading themselves) to maharaos or maharajas (great kings).

Bhujiya Hill and fort overlooking the city of Bhuj

By the late 18th century forts were giving way to palaces, but even so Bhujia was attacked six times, sometimes by the Mughal Viceroy – from 1590 the Jadejas had reluctantly recognised the supremacy of the Mughal Emperor - sometimes in Jadeja in-fighting, and finally in March 1819 by Sir William Keir. By then the Mughals were on the back foot and Kutch was on its way to becoming a Princely State under British ‘protection’.

Aina Mahal and Prag Mahal, Bhuj

Around 1750, not wishing to miss out on the comfort of a palace, the extravagant and somewhat unstable Maharao Lakhpatji built the Aina Mahal. In 1865 Maharao Pragmalji II – generally a more conscientious and less extravagant ruler - commissioned a new palace. His Prag Mahal was designed by Colonel Henry St Clair Wilkins who was responsible for many other buildings in British India, most notably Frere Hall in Karachi.

Vijay picked us up after breakfast and L drove us a short distance into central Bhuj and swung into a courtyard with the sad looking Aina Mahal on one side…

Aina Mahal, Bhuj

…and the pompous Prag Mahal on the other.

Prag Mahal, Bhuj

The 7.7 magnitude ‘Bhuj Earthquake’ of 2001 damaged both palaces severely. Almost 20 years on the Aina Mahal remains in poor condition; the Prag Mahal looks much better but there is work yet to do.

Wilkins' buildings have a recognisable style. He liked little towers with pyramidical roofs, reminiscent of Georgian churches....

The Prag Mahal with a small earthquake damaged tower with pyramidical roof

…and clock towers with pointy tops, making both his hospital and synagogue in Poona look churches….

Prag Mahal clock tower

We watched a school group being marshalled by their teachers so they could make safe ascents and descents of the clock tower’s narrow stairs. It is always good to watch professionals at work.

Calm control by teachers who know exactly what they are doing
Prag Mahal clock Tower

Gujarat Tourism describes the Prag Mahal  as slightly out of place at the far western edge of India, [and would look] more appropriate in France. Have they been to France?  It has also been called Indo-Saracenic with a Romanesque twist (for the best of Indo-Saracenic, see the Maharajah’s Palace, Mysore in Bangalore to Mysore, 2016). I think it looks like a Victorian boy’s boarding school.

Part of the interior is open, and it was as stiff and formal as the outside. The main hall was vast…

Main Hall, Prag Mahal

… smaller (cosier?) spaces resembled committee rooms…

Smaller room in the Prag Mahal

…. and the stuffed lion would have looked better in the wild.

Stuffed Lion, Prag Mahal
We saw live Asiatic Lions a few days before at Sasan Gir

Inside the Aina Mahal

Despite its poor condition and the heaps of surrounding rubble, the Aina Maha is, in part, still open.

Aina Mahal, Bhuj

We entered past the carriage of a long dead ruler…

Carriage, Aina Mahal, Bhuj

…and a sign on a cracked wall suggesting a possible explanation for the cracks.

The reason for the Bhuj earthquakes - elsewhere in the world it might be different

Beyond is a suite of rooms which, despite the delft tiles, owed far more to the Indian heritage of the rulers than their desire to copy western tastes.

Inside the Aina Mahal

If it had been up to me (and if it is possible), I would have concentrated on restoring the Aina Mahal rather than the ugly Prag Mahal.

Anisde the Aina Mahal, Bhuj

The Sharadbaug Palace

The Prag Mahal and Aina Mahal sit on one side of Hamirsar Lake, the Sharadbaug Palace on the other, Bhuj may be a small city, but has plenty of palaces.

Dry Hamirsar Lake with the Prag Mahal clocktower visible on the far side

Unfortunately, it does not have plenty of water. The artificial lake was built by Rao Khengarji I (1548–1585) and named after his father Rao Hamir, the city’s founder. Kutch is arid and the ground water salty, so decades were spent building tunnels and canals to bring in fresh water. The lake dried up after the 2001 earthquake which prompted some long overdue repairs. These were successful, and the lake overflowed in 2003, a cause for celebration and rejoicing. Recent failed monsoons have led to it again drying up.

The palace itself sits in a pleasant garden…

Sharadbaug Garden. I know it is only a bougainvillea, but it's an impressive bougainvillea

 …but is not currently open.

Sharadbagh Palace, Bhuj

Instead, passing through an 8th century portal beneath a flowery arch took us to a modest single storey pavilion, stuffed with the treasures of the kingdom.

Pavilion, Sharadbaug Gardens

Unfortunately, most of the treasures are also stuffed. The animals, tigers mainly, stand in cases beside photographs of the shooting parties that killed them. In hunter gatherer times a man's first reaction on seeing a wild animal was to chase or stalk it and then kill it; we can call that survival. Many acted the same way in the 19th century but they called it sport. Across the world there are still people, largely men, who hunt, in the belief that killing compensates for some deficiency in themselves, I call that barbarity.  The photos were meticulously captioned, and we were surprised to find tiger hunts were still being organised as late as the early 1960s. No photographs were allowed inside – perhaps from a sense of guilt.

Tea with the Prince of Kutch

The Coat of Arms of Kutch, 1893

As we walked back across the garden Vijay said ‘Would you like to have tea with the prince?’ Previously Vijay had asked if we would like to meet ordinary rural people in their own homes (see Meeting the Locals), and if we would like to have tea with the High School Principal (Gondal), apparently his influence covered the entire social spectrum.

‘If he’s at home,’ he added, pulling out his phone. A quick call established that the prince, who lives on the Sharadbaug Estate, was indeed at home and receiving visitors so off we went. Vijay had known him since they were children, he said, when the prince had been ‘very naughty.’

Maharao Madansinhji of Kutch

Maharao Madansinhji, the 34th Jadeja ruler of Kutch came to the throne when his father died on the 26th of January 1948. The previous August, on behalf of his sick father, he had signed the Instrument of Accession taking Kutch into the Union of India, but as that did not take effect until the 4th of May 1948 he was, for 67 days, the last hereditary ruler of Kutch. He retained his title, if not his powers, until 1971 when the Indian government abolished all titles.

Maharao Pragmulji III of Kutch

When he died in 1991 his son inherited the courtesy title of Maharao Pragmulji III. As Pragmulji has no issue (and is in his 80s) his younger brother Maharaj Shri Hanwantsinhji is expected to succeed. We went to have tea with Kunwar Pratap Singh, Hanwantsinhjis second son. He is listed as third in line of succession, suggesting his older brother has no male heir, so he will inherit the courtesy title if he outlives his brother, and his eldest son will eventually inherit either way.

The information above is the product of an hour's hard googling, I knew none of it as we walked across the estate to the Sharadbaug Homestay, yes the prince runs a B&B. On the Homestay website he looks every inch the Indian aristocrat, although there may be a look of discomfort in his eye…

Kunwar Pratap Singh and Ranisaheb Shalini Kumari of Kutch in formal mode on their website.
I hope they don't mind me borrowing this

….which is entirely absent in a casual setting. An amiable bear of a man in tee-shirt and crocs, he and his wife are the ideal homestay hosts, relaxed and informal with their guests, while sending their younger son – a university student, when not pressed into service as a waiter – running round to provide us with tea and biscuits.

And here looking much more relaxed dressed as normal people, Sharadbaug Homestay, Bhuj
If the prince and I stood sideways our profiles would be identical - although that is nothing for either of us to be proud of.

They showed us round the homestay - two rooms in the main house, two more built round the garden which is being further developed.

A room in the Sharadbaug Homestay. All have private bathroom, AirCon, TV etc etc

We chatted of this and that. There were questions I would have liked to ask; the couple’s views on the place, if any, of former local royalty in modern India would have been interesting, but we had only dropped in for a casual cuppa and it would have been rude to start interviewing our hosts.

Dabeli – The Bhuj Burger

Taking our leave, we located L who drove us back towards our hotel. Vijay had told us about the dabeli – he called it the Bhuj burger – earlier, and as we passed a dabeli stall (not that we would have known it) he suggested we try one.

Dabeli stalls, Bhuj. The cow has nothing to fear from burgers in vegetarian Gujarat

The dabeli is a Kutch original, though it has become popular street food across much of India; its similarity to a burger starts and ends with it being served in a bun. Being Gujarati, it is, of course, vegetarian, being cheap it is a variation on the mashed potato sandwich – we ate mashed potato in a dosa in Ahmedabad Market on Day 2 – and being Indian it is so much more than that. The man behind the counter made up our dabelis, spiced mashed potato mixed with various other ingredients (including, surprisingly, pomegranate) from the tray at the bottom, spicy peanuts from the top and tamarind chutney were all stuffed into a pav bun.

Ready to make our Dabelis, Bhuj

Then he gave the pav to his mate to heat on the tawa,….

The chap on the tawa does not look that interested, dabeli stall, Bhuj

….top and bottom.

Dabelis on the tawa, Bhuj

Then we retreated inside the stall and ate, and very good it was, too. Vijay took the photo but declined to join us in the dabelis, ‘too spicy for me,’ he said. I had never heard an Indian say that before, and we thought they were only just on the hot side of medium.

Eating in the seating area behind

Vijay grabbed a tuk-tuk for the short trip back to our hotel.

Tuk-tuking back to our hotel, Bhuj

Baraat - the Groom's Wedding Procession, Bhuj

We arrived in the middle of a baraat, the groom’s procession to his wedding, our first in Gujarat, though they were a regular feature in Rajasthan last year. The groom rides a white horse with, traditionally, a nephew or young male cousin aged 2-8 sitting in front to him. Times change, even in India, and in this case the gig went to a female relative. Friends and relatives march along, some dancing in front of the horse. There is always music, blaring loudspeakers are pushed along behind the groom, and there is at least one drummer; volume of noise is important.

Baraat, Bhuj

Some grooms look happier than others – maybe for some the short-term problems of a novice horseman briefly outrank thoughts of long-term happiness, for others…. This bloke looks like the cat who is about to get the cream. If the bride waiting at the end of the procession, feels the same, then all will be well.

The groom rides confidently

The dabeli had been lunch, and as Bhuj is a warmish place – in March the average daily high is 35° - we hid from the midday heat, going out later for a walk and to do some shopping.

A Walk in Bhuj

The streets of Bhuj are hot, dusty and scruffy. I love places like this, they appeal to a side of my personality that often remains hidden, though not in India.

Bhuj

I liked the man on the plinth, though I have no idea who he is, the inscription is in Gujarati, one of many scripts I cannot read.

Memorial to somebody, Bhuj

I cannot resist a picture of milk churns – I failed to notice their disappearance at home until twenty years after it happened and it still upsets me.

Milk churns, Bhuj

We walked towards Desalsar Lake; a Muslim funeral procession crossing the end of the road was heading in the same general direction.

Towards Desalar Lake, Bhuj

Bhuj has many man-made lakes harvesting rainwater, most of them around 500 years old and in poor condition. Desalsar will be one of two used to pilot a development plan and major clean-up. Unfortunately making plans is easy, finding the money to carry them out is another problem. At present the view across the lake to Shree Khodiyar Mata Temple is hardly memorable, but at least there is water in the lake.

Desalsar Lake, Bhuj

But by looking down rather than across, and without moving my feet, I had a vista of feral dogs and rotting refuse. Much as I love India, I am not an uncritical admirer. Grandiose (and unaffordable?) plans are fine – but with the right will this could be sorted in a couple of weeks at minimal cost.

Feral dogs and rotting refuse, Desalsar Lake, Bhuj

As we returned to the hotel we encountered the funeral procession again. Three more weddings and we could have won a cardboard cut-out Hugh Grant.

Muslim funeral procession, Bhuj

Dinner at the KBN

Our hotel restaurant was good enough, but we were tired of dining alone, so we had asked Vijay for a recommendation. He suggested we cross the road to the KBN. It turned out to be another hotel, but after passing reception and going up one floor in the lift we found a restaurant crammed with diners.

The food was of a similar standard, but the atmosphere was far better. Like most restaurants in Gujarat it was vegetarian, we had a paneer curry and a vegetable dish washed down with sweetened lime-soda – always the drink of choice in dry Gujarat.

Dinner at the KBN restaurant, Bhuj

But we have a foreigners’ liquor licence and a legally acquired stash, so afterwards we returned to our hotel room for a nightcap of Chennai distilled Old Monk rum.

11-Mar-2019

Swaminarayan Mandir, Bhuj

Next morning, before leaving Bhuj, we visited the Swaminarayan Temple near the south east corner of the dry Lake Harmirsar.

Entrance to the Swaminarayan Temple, Bhuj

On Friday we had visited the Swaminarayan Temple in Gondal. I wrote about the Saint (or is it God?) who founded this Hindu sect at the start of the 19th century, and the schisms that followed his death in the Gondal post.

The Swaminarayan Temple, Bhuj

The Bhuj temple belongs to the same BAPS group as Gondal, both temples are newish and the surroundings, polished marble and well-watered grass, are entirely litter-free.

The swaminarayan temple, Bhuj

The damaged temple in 2001
Photo by Around the Globe

The original Bhuj Mandir was built in 1822, one of 6 constructed during the lifetime of the founder. That temple was all but destroyed by the 2001 earthquake.

The BAPS foundation seems remarkably well funded and where restoration of the Prag Mahal is incomplete, and the Aina Mahal hardly started, the damaged temple was swiftly demolished and this new one built on an adjacent site.

Inside the Swaminarayan Temple, Bhuj

Although the temple is not identical to Gondal’s a certain sameness is inevitable; in both, the carved marble and pietra dura are beautiful.

Inside the Swaminarayan Temple, Bhuj

The cobra necklace and third eye suggest the god in the garden is Shiva.

Shiva in the garden of the Swaminarayan Temple, Bhuj

Most Hindus primarily worship either Vishnu or Shiva, while Swaminarayan saw Krishna as the centre of the Hindu trinity, but all the gods must be respected. With that thought we left Bhuj and headed north towards Hodka.

Gujarat

Part 1: Ahmedabad (1) Liquor Licences, Mosques and Tombs
Part 2: Ahmedabad (2) A Stepwell, Gandhi and a Thali
Part 3: Meeting the Locals
Part 4: Siddhpur, Patan and Modhera
Part 5: Salt and Wild Asses in the Little Rann of Kutch
Part 6: Blackbuck National Park, Velavadar
Part 7: Bhavnagar
Part 8: Palitana and the Temples on Shatrunjaya Hill
Part 9: A Lion Hunt and a Visit to Junagadh
Part 10: Gondal
Part 11: Gondal to Bhuj
Part 12: Bhuj
Part 13: To the Great Rann of Kutch, Craft Villages and a Salt Desert
Part 14: Going to School and Other Entertainments in the Great Rann of Kutch