The History Musical

What looks like a dilapidated structure here is a stage for the famous Light and Sound show in Udaipur. Conducted every evening at Moti Magri, this show has a pre-recorded voice&sound track and lights to capture the mood of the sound. And when it starts in the darks of evening, this dilapidated structure turns into something magical bringing the essence of Rajputana alive!

This show lasts for about an hour and you do not realize the absence of human actors till the very end. For the people who love excerpts from history and those who understand Hindi, I would surely recommend this one.

Go Green

This is Udaipur indeed. I really took a while to get over the preconceived notion of Udaipur is a Rajasthani desert city and hence it has to have miles of sand dunes all over!

Hardly a day I spent in this city and I think I loved it the most of all the cities I visited on my tour.

Hakim Khan Sur Pathan

Moti Magri also proudly hosts the statue of Hakim Khan Sur Pathan, one of the trusted men of Maharana Pratap. Hakim Khan was a descendant of Sher Shah Suri of the Afghan region and joined Pratap to avenge the fall of his forefathers by the mughals.

Mughals were destroying several Hindu temples among other anti-Hindu activities and Rajputs were fighting Mughals to save Hindu religion. I guess the blessing (or curse) of diversity to India dates really back in history. Where Hakim Khan Sur Pathan of Afghan region was accepted as ‘our man’, a mughal, Akbar was not accepted as a ruler of Hindusthan.

But wasn’t Akbar born and brought up in this very Hindusthan? How was he a less ‘our man’ than a Afghani? And why did Mughal rulers who wanted to rule a Hindusthan start anti-Hindu activities? History sure has some interesting puzzles for everyone.

Maharana Pratap

One of the most beloved names in the history of freedom struggles in India. This 16th century gentleman never approved Akbar – the ruling Mughal Emperor of that time as the Emperor of India. And hence there was no question of approving Akbar as the ruler of Rajputana. Maharana Pratap was probably the only Maharana who spent most of his life without an actual kingdom, fighting Akbar through the Aravali mountain ranges in Rajputana.

A raised front leg of Chetak – probably the only horse from the history whose name is remembered by generations suggests that Rana Pratap’s demise was due tot the injuries received in the battleground. Moti Magri is memorial to Maharana Pratap. If you dig a little deeper into history, you will realize why this man served as an inspiration to the leaders and freedom-lovers of the coming generations.

Descendants of the sun

Rajputs from Rajasthan belong to the Sun Dynasty and hence are proud of their forefathers listed in the history that dates back to many many centuries.

Every royal household usually houses a few decorative emblems of Sun. I shot this one at Moti Magri.

Royal Emblems

Carvings in the stone can be found all over Rajasthan. But if you expect them to be several centuries old then they have to be looked for in the palaces or the old haveli structures.

The one in the picture above, which is installed at Moti Magri, looks fresh. I am sure it is not older than a couple of decades and was carved when Rajasthan government probably developed the Moti Magri as a tourists' spot.

Climbing the past

These steps take you to Moti Magri - The memorial of Rana Pratap, probably the most beloved Maharana of Rajasthan. Situated on a small hill, this memorial gives you a fantastic view of Fateh Sagar surrounded with lush green greenery.

Climbing these few steps suddenly connect you with the pieces of glorious history of Rajasthan written in adventure, desires, persevarance and blood of course.