INDIA FORT EVOKES ERA OF MAHARAJAS.

Byline: Kristin Jackson Seattle Times

In the courtyard of a centuries-old hilltop fort in India, hundreds of men, chanting and sweating in the hot sun, pressed toward a small Hindu temple tucked into the stone walls.

They surged between lines of baton-wielding police who kept order, barely, during a religious celebration at the sprawling Amber Fort in the Indian state of Rajasthan.

Wives and children, waiting their turn to enter the temple, snacked on bananas and sticky cakes. Semi-wild monkeys roamed among them, boldly snatching food from the unwary. Families with a few more rupees to spend clustered around booths offering Pepsi and coconut slices, plastic dolls and garlands of marigolds. In the shade of one booth, a beggar wiggled the stumps of his arms.

Amber Fort

This day in Amber Fort was a snapshot of India, a microcosm of a country swirling in religion and history, near-chaos and kindness.

I had arrived at Amber, a 400-year-old fortress-palace now run by the government and open to visitors, on the third day of a fall trip to India. It was Dussehra, an annual Hindu celebration associated with the vanquishing of demons. And the temple at Amber Fort, with its shrine to a goddess of war, obviously was a place to be.

Amber Fort sprawls across a windy ridge, commanding the semi-desert countryside for miles around. Its battlements and sheer stone walls, more than three blocks long, enclose dozens of rooms and courtyards. The town of Amber clusters at its base, a 15-minute walk down the steep hill on a cobbled path.

The fortress-palace was the stronghold of a succession of maharajas, the royal rulers of Rajasthan who for centuries reigned over the feudal kingdoms that preceded modern India. Much of Amber Fort was built in the late 1500s, although the area has been a stronghold of royalty and Rajput warrior clans since the 11th century.

Amber is one of the most imposing of Rajasthan's palaces, but dozens of other palaces and forts are scattered across this state of northwestern India. Some palaces and smaller family mansions have been turned into museums or schools, but dozens have been converted in recent years to what are called palace hotels or heritage hotels. These hotels give guests the feeling of the princely past of India while providing Western-standard creature comforts.

The palace hotels have helped make Rajasthan one of India's prime destinations for foreign tourists. The state capital, Jaipur, which has some of the most luxurious heritage hotels, can be reached in a half-day by car, train or plane from New Delhi, the Indian capital and gateway to the country for most visitors. The town of Agra, the site of the Taj Mahal, is another half-day's travel away.

Visitors could easily spend two weeks on this ``golden triangle'' of New Delhi-Rajasthan-Taj Mahal. Or they could hit some of its high points in several days.

But the heritage hotels of Rajasthan are luring foreign tourists, especially Europeans and a gradually increasing number of Americans.

``The heritage hotel idea has really just set in recently, and many of the hotels have come in the last three or four years,'' said Sanjay Saxena, director of Indian travel for Geographic Expeditions of California.

``Some palaces or mansions were being run as hotels earlier, but they were really in a pretty poor state and only budget travelers went to them. Now they're being revamped, and the government is encouraging it.''

Some heritage hotels, such as the Rambagh Palace in Jaipur, are spectacularly luxurious with sumptuous decor, fountains, gardens and lavish restaurants. Cost can easily be $150 a night.

In small towns, however, heritage hotels can be found for a fraction of that price. Some of the old family mansions, known as ``haveli,'' have been converted to simple, but atmospheric, hotels that cost $30 a night or less.

At Samode

I found my retreat at Samode Palace, a heritage hotel tucked into the arid hills of Rajasthan about 30 miles north of Jaipur. It's generally ranked as ``mid-range'' in quality and price and costs about $70 a night (still a princely sum in India where the per capita annual income is about $1,300).

To me, Samode Palace felt like a luxurious fantasy of India come true. It was a peaceful and architecturally enchanting hotel where I would have liked to stay for days, not just a weekend.

High walls and an arched gateway protect the four-story palace, which was constructed in the late 18th century and nestles in a fold between steep hills. The yellow-pink stone building is graced with cupolas, quiet courtyards, rooftop terraces, ornately decorated public rooms and antique-furnished guest rooms. One of Samode's public rooms, the Sheesh Mahal, is decorated with intricate glass mosaics, as fine as those of Amber Fort which are considered among Rajasthan's best.

The palace and its garden have been lovingly restored by Yadavendra Singh and his wife, Arpana Singh, a cosmopolitan young Indian couple who run the 35-room hotel. This part of Rajasthan has been under the control of Yadavendra Singh's family for 450 years, and portraits of his ancestors and Rajasthan royalty adorn the walls.

I walked in the hotel's garden, about two miles from the palace and enclosed by 15-foot-high stone walls. Wild peacocks strutted among red-flowered hibiscus plants, and the sweet scent of jasmine bushes drifted through the garden, called Samode Bagh. A 200-foot-long row of fountains, fed from natural springs and wells, cooled the air. Manicured lawns, smooth as putting greens, radiated from a raised stone walkway.

At one end, 50 tent-cabins have been erected for guests. They're tents with a difference - the size of a standard hotel room and with carpeted floors, electric lights, comfortable beds and draped in rich brocades. Each has an attached tiled bathroom and a front porch on which to sip afternoon tea.

On the lawn, a jolly group from the British Embassy in New Delhi reclined in wicker chairs, talking of the next day's cricket match. They sang old English songs late into the starlit night. On the other side of the garden wall, the villagers sang, too.

I fell asleep in my brocade tent amid this blend of Britain and India. And woke up the next day, ready to head back into the turbulence of modern Indian life.

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Photo

Photo: As elephants stand at the ready for those who want to ride, Indian tourists walk through the town of Amber on their way to the fort.

Kristin Jackson/Seattle Times