Conservation strategies and guidelines for Mahalpara in Raigarh princely state

Abstract

The British era is a part of the India’s long history and their influence has been evident on many societal, cultural and structural aspects. In Chhattisgarh, during the British Raj in 1858-1947, the prominent and powerful 14 Zamindari of the region were formed as semi-sovereign Princely states. The fusion of Indian with European style at this time became evident in architectural styles. As with the Mughals, architecture under European colonial rule became an emblem of power designed to endorse the occupying power. The rulers of India’s many princely states found a way to iterate their old glory and also to mark their sovereignty. The research is aimed at bringing out these palaces in the architectural point of discussion. A qualitative research has been done to study the palace architecture of the princely states in Chhattisgarh. The earlier architectural studies were often limited to temples and not much on architectural developments by princely states, built in the early 20th century was looked upon. Under the Central provinces, newer state capitals i.e. Raipur and Bilaspur were formed with infrastructure and developments. Post independence the princely states ended up being small historical towns with untouched and unexplored setting. The outcome of the research is to establish the significance of these palaces,to find the associated values, a comparative study which demonstrates the amalgamation in architectural styles.

Keywords: Architecture, amalgamation, styles, princely state, Rajgonds, Chhattisgarh.