Heritage Hotels

HERITAGE HOTELS IN RAJASTHAN

Spread across the erstwhile princely state of Rajasthan are a large number of palaces and estates that were once home to families that ruled over India.

These bastions of history, bristling with memories, some pleasant others less so, seats of intrigue, of coronations, royal residences where durbars were once staged, were abandoned with the passage of time as modern, independent India surged ahead on the road to progress.

Since the government had withdrawn the privileges granted under the privy purse, maintaining these magnificent properties, each individually created over centuries, adorned with the best paintings and furniture, and representing different periods of architectural history, were in danger of falling to ruin, even though most continued to serve as residences for the former members of the royal families.

Of the 22 princely states and innumerable thikanas or seats of residence of the aristocracy, a small clutch of them have been converted into heritage hotels. These former royal residences, which members of the family have continued to inhabit for generations all together, are repositories of a gracious lifestyle, a way of living that has all but passed into the realms of fantasy.

With their recent conversion into hotels, though they have managed to keep their flavour as medieval homes intact, these once-forbidden deras have opened their doors to the world. And in doing so, they have ensured that the properties continue to be maintained in a befitting manner, and that a way of living that was losing ground to the 21st century, has been preserved for a little while longer.

In the process, the families, the family retainers whose ancestors once served within these royal portals, have continued to find employment. And a slice of history that would otherwise have been irretrievably lost, continues to survive. With one difference: You too can now be a part of it!

HERITAGE HOTELS IN THE REST OF INDIA

The 'Heritage Hotel' concept may have originated in Rajasthan but it has since spread throughout India. All over India you will now find glorious little hotels that have been resurrected from ruins and converted into historic treasures.

Many property owners who still inhabit their ancestral homes could no longer afford their upkeep and rather than let them go to ruin, they decided to open their doors to the public by converting them into mostly small atmospheric hotels. These tend to be located in small rural villages and give you a chance to really get to the heart of the country and its people.

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