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The Amar Mahal Palace was
planned by a French architect, in 1862. However, it was not built until
the 1890s. Maharani Tara Devi, wife of the late Maharaja Hari Singh (son
of Raja Amar Singh) lived in this palace till her death in 1967.
Subsequently, her son Dr. Karan Singh and his wife Mrs. Yasho Rajya
Lakshmi converted the palace into a museum to house rare books and works
of art, with the objective of “Encouraging artistic talent, to establish
fine arts centre and to collaborate with other like minded institutions
for promotion of Indian arts”. For this purpose, they transferred the
palace property to a trust named as the “Hari-Tara Charitable Trust”.
Dr. Karan Singh, voluntarily
surrendered the Privy Purse paid to him by the Government of India as a
former ruler of Jammu, one of the Princely state of India, and used the
funds to set up this museum named in memory of his parents. The museum
was inaugurated by the late Mrs. Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India,
on April 13, 1975. To promote the stated objectives, the Trust arranges
guided tours, book readings, lectures, film shows and hobby classes and
other visitor friendly activities in the Museum. Scholarly exchanges,
workshops and exhibitions are also regular features held by the
Trust.The Dogra-Pahari paintings displayed in the museum were creation
of the second half of the 18th century in Jammu and Himachal Pradesh of
the Kangra school of art. To quote the words of Dr Karan Singh, the Raja
behind the setting up of the Museum, “The whole effect is to transport
one into a fascinating miniature world with its own aura and ethos”.
Amar Mahal is situated on the right bank of the Tawi River, on a bend of
the river, in Jammu. Jammu, once a princely city, is also famous for
forts, palaces and temples. The Sivalik Hills or ranges to the north of
the Mahal, on the left bank of the river, provide a grand view, with the
Tawi River flowing in between, draining the valley. It is well located
adjoining the heritage hotel known as the Hari Niwas Palace Hotel, in
the heart of the city, on the road to Kashmir.
The palace built in red sandstone with red bricks is in a picturesque
environment on a hillock overlooking the Tawi river valley. Built in the
European castle style, the palace has sloping roofs with turrets and
tall towers. When built during the reign of Raja Amar Singh, it was the
tallest building in Jammu. The imposing building has long passages on
three sides, which are covered by sloping corrugated tin roofs. The
passages are supported on columns with wooden framework. The first floor
of the palace building has French windows with connected balcony. The
top floor has a bay window. The windows also depict triangular
projections in classical Greek architectural style, which are fitted
over ornate false columns.
Only four rooms of the palace are open depicting Pahari paintings of
Mahabharata epic scenes and royal memorabilia. A golden sofa of the
Dogra rulers, weighing 120 kg in pure gold, embedded with golden lions
at the corners, is housed in a hexagonal room in the museum, which is
viewed only through glass covered window panes as the main door is kept
locked for security reasons. The art works of some of the renowned
Indian artists like M.F. Hussain, J.Swaminathan, G. R. Santosh, Bikash
Battacharjee, Ram Kumar, Laxman Pai are also on display in the museum.
In one of the galleries,
paintings of Hindu epic stories such as of Nala Damayanti (a set of
forty-seven miniature paintings) are depicted. Modern version of the
Dashavatara paintings (ten avatars of Hindu god Vishnu) are also
displayed in a separate ante-chamber in the Museum. These are unusual
modern art set of paintings. Family portraits of the Dogra rulers of
Jammu and Kashmir are on display in the Durbar Hall at the entrance
gallery. In the first and second floors, a few chambers house the
library, which has a collection of rare antique books (25,000) on
religion, philosophy and political science to fiction.
An exclusive chamber in the museum, once the living quarters of the
Maharani (later called the Maharajmata) Tara Devi, is conserved and
exhibited in its original form where a silver bedspread, period
furniture, photographs, the decoration of the Crown of India which was
presented to her in 1945, her personal items of clothing and the unique
Victorian bath room are on display.
How to
reach
Nearest airport is Jammu Airport (also known as Satwari Airport (IATA: IXJ, ICAO: VIJU))
is a civil airport in Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India.
One can easily reach Amar Mahal Palace from the city by taking local Buses,
Rickshaws, Tongas and Taxis.
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