I drove in on a ticket of 300 rs for the car and 155 for myself to the white lone fort on the hill. It’s not popular like its well-maintained cousin where the tour guides lurk like hawks, looking for people like me, taking them in groups and saying with a smirk, this was the bedroom of the queen.
No. This was Sajjangarh. It had the serenity and the silence of neglect. But then, it was made to track the clouds of the monsoon. Curiously, I started reading the photo frame carrying the Maharana of Mewar, Sajjan Singh’s dp and bio.
He ruled for 9 years, worked for approx. 8 years and during that little more than 5-year government plan period, he widened existing roads, built a new road from Udaipur to Nathdwara, laid water pipelines, repaired water tanks, desilted Lake Pichola and strengthened its dam.
He established new government departments to deal with accounts, forestry and public works.
He established a high court which was completely independent of the executive. Who does that!
He was born 2 years after the revolt of 1857. He must have grown up hearing the stories, I thought. What effect could that have had on him?
He undertook reforestation activities, built gardens and set up a zoo for public recreation, adopted new tech. During his time, Udaipur became the second Municipality in the country, after Bombay.
Maybe this is too much information but there is a book I want to read, “Veer Vinod“.
The Maharana’s contributions to education and history include the commissioning of the court poet and historian Shyamaldas to write a comprehensive history of Mewar resulting in the publication of Veer Vinod.
He also established the Sajjan Vani Vilas Library with Shyamaldas as the curator. Where is this library?
I found the gazette that proudly stands as proof of bestowing the honour of Knight Grand Commander upon him in 1881.
I feel proud. I didn’t even know him. History and Literature of India is here, with us, only if we see with open eyes.
Veer Vinod (Hindi): https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.347953?view=theater