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We recently took a trip to Gwalior with my parents. Dad’s old regiment is there and he wanted to give them the Iran flag that was lying with him from the UNIIMOG days. We also had a vested interest as the three of us were keen on a tank ride. The Airforce rarely gets an opportunity to ride on a tank, and unlike the aircrafts that we see taking off overhead everyday the tanks still retain a bit of mystique to us. More about the actual ride on my other blog. This post is for the sightseeing part of the trip.

The Scindia Palace has a section made into a Museum and you are welcome to have a look at it after paying the entry fees. Since the palace is still inhabited by the current remains of the royal family you can see a flag fluttering from the pole to indicate that the crown prince is in residence. When we went Jyotirao Scindia Present Crown Prince was in Delhi and so there was no flag, but we saw the mast and heard the tale making us realize that this tradition is still kept alive in the armed forces today. Remember the flag at the AOC or GOC’s house?

We went through the armoury of old with swords, daggers and guns from yore. They were most fascinating to the soldiers with us and the wives just gave it a cursory look. The hunting tales are well preserved along with the stuffed kills and black and white photographs documenting them.

There is a portrait of all thirteen previous kings of the Dynasty in a corridor for your perusal. Imagine being able to trace back your family roots for so many generations and centuries, beats all attempts of us trying to make our family trees. There was also a masterpiece of weaving on display. It was a carpet into which portraits of famous kings from around the world were woven along with an indexed reference and their names all woven in Persian.

Why Farsi you ask, for this marvel had been made in Persia and only one more such carpet exists in the world. That other carpet has the portraits of all the Shah’s ancestors. The Shah I refer to here is the Shah of Iran, the man forced into exile by the religious fanatics who took over Iran from the king. That however is another story and so lets return to this carpet in the Museum which took ten years for a team of weavers to make. It is put up on a wall with a glass casing so the photos didn’t come too clear as light kept reflecting off it.

The next section was the midget queen’s living quarters. The furniture in the bedroom, bathroom and living room was all so designed that the little queen would feel right at home. There was a dry tree on which a display of all her mojaris and shoes were kept. Her portrait on one of the side walls showed her to sport a typical Maharashtrian look. The bindi, style of the sari and even her facial features all corresponding to the Maharashtrian style.

One room was full of Madhav Rao Scindia’s photographs. Literally tracing his full life story from his childhood to his marriage, his children and his political achievements. Made us think of how this man could have been the next prime minister had he not died so suddenly. One photo that I found cute was where he is surrounded by his sisters and the face of a young Vasundhra Raje is peeping out at you.

Then we went on to the part of the palace which is still in use when the royal family entertains on a large scale. The Indian dining room and the Western one are set side by side. The cupboard full of crockery and cutlery is full of gems from all over the world. The Indian side uses a pure silver set for serving and eating that is at least a couple of hundred years old.

The actual glory of the palace is the chandeliers that hang from the ceiling of the Sabah Ghar. The formal court of the king has two huge French Chandeliers each weighing three and a half tons hanging from the ceiling. When the architect was told that these needed to be hung from the roof he told the king that the building will not support seven tons. So the king had a mile long ramp built from the ground to the roof and had eight elephants climb up onto the roof to test it.

When the elephants were all supported by the roof the king ordered the Chandeliers t be put up. Each holds two hundred bulbs and is still in use for formal occasions. The last time was when President Pratibha Patil visited them and stayed on for dinner. The state event was a much celebrated and publicized event in which Gwalior Palace reclaimed a part of its lost glory from the past.

All in all a wonderful visit.