Visiting Rajasthan's Amber Fort

toptraveller - Wednesday, June 6, 2007 - 06:08 Tags: General Visiting • History

Amber Fort and ElephantsMy visit to the best preserved and most famous of India’s fort and palace complexes, the Amber Fort, was part of a private tour, an unusual choice for me. India is inexpensive, and as a determined budget traveler, I can afford there what would be incredible luxuries in more expensive countries.

In Jaipur, at the eastern edge of Rajasthan, after visiting the Maharajah City Palace Museum, I got in to an auto-rickshaw and found myself talking to a knowledgeable young man named Shek who spoke fluent and clear English. By the end of the ride I had hired him to take me on a private day tour that would include the fort complex.

Amber Fort

Shek picked me up the next day, and we headed off to Amber, about eleven kilometers away. As we approached, I could see the imposing structure of the fort high on the hill above us. Below the fort, mahouts bathed their gaily painted elephants in the shallows of the lake, which sat next to the road. The animals that had finished their ablutions played in the water, swimming, ducking their heads and lifting them to make a huge splash, or spraying water with their trunks.

In the parking lot across the river from the fort, I learned I had three transportation options for the journey up the hill.
Option 1, I could walk, an option I quickly rejected.
Option 2, I could ride an elephant.
I rejected that as quickly as I had rejected the walk. I’d ridden an elephant before. The howdah never felt secure, and I spent most of the trip waiting for it to slide to one side, dumping me on the ground. Eliminating elephants left me with option 3, paying for a Jeep ride.

The driver would take me to the entrance, and pick me up after two hours. I wanted to go in the auto-rickshaw, but Shek assured me there was no way he could take me up. I assumed that was because of some licensing agreement, or maybe a kickback arrangement, until we started up the hill. There really was no way his little three-wheeled vehicle could have managed the incline. Nor was there any way I would have made it on foot. And this time I definitely would have fallen off the elephant.

Elephant and Mahout BathingThe visit still required a lot of climbing. Indian forts and palaces are complicated, with multiple levels, unexpected stairways tucked into corners, and blind turns that open into balconies. In addition to stairways, the Amber Fort also has a system of ramps designed to deliver goods and meals to various rooms and levels. I preferred the ramps to the stairs, partly because they were all interior, and out of the sun.

The pattern in moving about these buildings is to go through a room or two, then climb to another level. Eventually you become isolated, usually on a terrace, and the only choice is to head back down, often into another section of the building, just to start climbing again.

Amber Fort was started in 1592, replacing an older structure, then modified during the next one-and-a-half centuries. Inside the fortification walls are palaces, temples, and gardens. The main courtyard is bound by these buildings and is large enough to have elephants walking around the perimeter path. Tourists thus have a less expensive and probably less frightening ride than that up the steep road to the top. On the flat path, the brightly colored howdahs looked relatively secure. The elephants seem immense, though, viewed in this enclosed space.

I went into the first building, a temple, then took a short break for a drink and a snack before starting my exploration of the fort and palaces. I clambered up and down staircases and ramps, and turned into every room, no matter how small, Of course I found myself thoroughly lost. I just continued up, knowing that the only other direction that really mattered was down.

Because of the heat of summer, the rooms on the higher levels were constructed with open sides to catch any breezes that might arise. Some were decorated with murals and stylized paintings, and others had walls covered in mosaic tile. Kitchens and other utilitarian rooms were usually closed in and whitewashed.

Vaulted Mirrored Ceiling - Amber Fort - IndiaThe mirrored rooms were the most spectacular. The walls and ceilings were covered in mosaics made of small mirror fragments. I watched as a guide held a lighter above his head. The tiny flame reflected all over the walls and the vaulted ceiling. He explained that we were in a dining room that was used only at night. Imagine it lit with hundreds of candles and oil lamps, each flame reflecting off the walls and ceiling, he told us. I did, and immediately wanted to be giving a dinner party in a room just like this, even though I don‘t have a house, and don‘t really like to entertain. It sounded so enchanting.

Eventually I reached the highest level, which was fairly empty, and looked down at the gardens below. In the distance, I could see the elephants bathing, the whole setting surrounded by hills.

I descended slowly, taking a different route, and suddenly stumbled on a closed section, where construction workers were taking a break from their labors. They were surprised to see me, too, but didn’t object as I wandered around, looking at the work they were doing.

On another level I peered through the carved filigree screens, wondering what it would have been like to live behind them. The women’s quarters were separate and hidden from the world. But, in the space surrounding their secluded rooms, behind their openwork barriers, they could observe the happenings of the household. Sitting behind the fretwork, they could retain their privacy, while spying on a life they couldn‘t enter.

Once back down I strolled around the gardens, then found my jeep driver waiting for me in the courtyard. I begged another half hour, and used it to explore the gardens in the next courtyard.

Back in the parking lot, I sipped chai and chatted with Shek and some of the drivers about what I had seen. Then I started to look forward to the rest of the tour.

Temples, Gardens, Shopping, and a Water Palace

After lunch, we stopped at a temple and gardens that are famous, not for their history, but for the Indian films they have appeared in. Shek took me to the temple, where I could look down on the gardens, and avoid the entrance fee. Unless you knew the movies involved, he explained, the tour would be meaningless, as it consists of pointing out where the wedding scene from a famous movie was shot., or where a character in another movie met his death.

We then had the obligatory factory tour, where I watched long bolts of cloth being hand-printed, and took advantage of the opportunity to shop. I enjoyed the whole show, with yards of silk floating through the air as the various fabrics were spread on the floor for me to examine.

The staff folded my purchases into amazingly small packages. It’s too bad they can’t be around every time I had to cram everything into my backpack. I watched carefully, but couldn’t figure out the secret.

Water Palace, Jal Malal, IndiaThe water palace, Jal Malal, served mainly as a summer residence. It stands in the middle of a lake, which was used as its cooling system. The lower level is below the water line and totally enclosed. In the summer heat, the rooms were dim, and cooled by the surrounding water. The upper level was only used in the evenings or occasionally during the winter. My photographs were all taken at what photographers call the golden hour, when the sun is low in the sky and everything takes on a glow. The reddish gold building and its shimmering reflection floated in the water like a beautiful illusion.

The next stop was to be a special spot to watch the sunset over the city, but I begged off. I was tired, sleepy, and suffering from visual overload. I needed to rest, and process all that I had seen. Shek professed guilt that I wasn’t getting full value for my money, but I finally convinced him that I was more than happy with my day and with my tour. Once inside my room, I plopped down on my bed, elevated my feet, and tried to imagine a life hidden behind walls, in mirrored rooms.