Notes on the Geography of Peninsular India: Udaipur City

Udaipur has other monuments of perhaps greater interest than its palaces--the Mahasati funeral memorials, for example--but we look here at daily life in the old city.

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The entry through the Chandpol or moon gate. The view here is from the bridge across the stream issuing from Pichola Lake.

Turning 90 degrees to the right: Swaroop Sagar, the channel leading to Fateh Sagar, a 19th century lake. The Lake Palace is in the background, on the right.

The crowds were in abundance because heavy rains had just brought the lake back to life.

There was a general air of jubilation, in part because the town's tourist industry depends on a lake with water in it.

At the Gangaur Ghat, verses from the Ramayana were sung in hopes of procuring more rain.

Back from the water, the city is full of narrow lanes.

A view over those lanes from the top of the City Palace.

The characteristic blue is said to be a recent innovation, replacing the traditional white.

Although this area has been built-up for centuries, construction continues.

The question arises: how are bricks and other building materials brought to the site?

Here, along with ubiquitous cattle, is your answer: donkeys.

Returning after a delivery.

Where streets are wide enough, more modern methods can be used.

Still, there's always a limit to just how modern those methods will be: in this case, concrete is being head-loaded up a rough ramp to the building site.

Tourists, gathering to watch, were shooed away by an annoyed contractor.

At a city market: a cartload of bangles for sale.

Basket weavers.

Around the City Palace, the economy is very heavily oriented to tourists.

Outside of town, there's a very different world: half the people of Udaipur District are said to live in villages that can only be reached on foot.

The countryside is laced with miles and miles of dry-course stone walls.