'THIS FAIRY CREATION': THE GARDEN PALACE OF DIG IN RAJASTHAN, INDIA

Author(s): EUGENIA HERBERT

Source: Garden History , WINTER 2014, Vol. 42, No. 2 (WINTER 2014), pp. 201-214
Published by: The Gardens Trust

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24636211

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 EUGENIA HERBERT

'THIS FAIRY CREATION': THE GARDEN PALACE

OF DIG IN RAJASTHAN, INDIA

Dig in eastern Rajasthan, India, is one of the last masterpieces in the tradition of
garden palaces. It fused elements of the past in a highly original creation. Much a
by nineteenth-century European travellers, it subsequently became embroiled in d
about classifying Indian architecture - 'Hindu' or 'Muslim' - in which the integri
garden and palace was largely overlooked. Dig initially seemed to provide a templa
Mayo College in Ajmer, which was intended to define a new imperial style for In
in the end was 'lost in translation'. More recently, Dig's gardens have suffered badly f
neglect and are rarely visited by tourists.

The garden palace of Dig (sometimes Deeg) claims no dramatic site. It does not be
a commanding hilltop like Amber or the Mehrangarh in Jodhpur; it does not loo
over a river like the Red Fort in Agra or as its namesake in Delhi did before the Y
changed its course; it does not rise ethereally out of a lake ringed with mountain
the palace of Udaipur. Rather, it is down a dusty road in an out-of-the-way corn
eastern Rajasthan. Nowadays tourists are rare; few have even heard of it. Nevert
Dig has had its moments of glory and was much admired in its heyday. Lord Flar
Governor-General of India from 1844 to 1848, pronounced its garden 'the handso
I have seen in India'.1 Because the site has been largely appropriated by historia
Indian architecture, obsessed primarily with problems of stylistic classification,
gardens have not received the attention due to them in their own right nor has
complementary relationship with the surrounding architecture been appreciated.
Although often classed as Rajput faute de mieux, Dig is actually Jat, the only exist
Jat garden or palace of any significance. The Jats were an agricultural people w
reputation as fearsome warriors, a reputation shared with most of their neigh
during the 'sanguinary wars' following the death of the Mughal emperor Aurang
1707. The kingdom reached the peak of its power under two dynamic rulers, Sur
(r. 1756-63) and his son Jawarsingh (r. 1764-68). Both showed themselves outsta
generals and able diplomats, skilfully navigating the waters of constantly shifting alli
among Rajputs, Mahrattas and the imperial court in Delhi. Few rulers died in thei
and Surajmal and Jawarsingh were no exception, but for a brief moment they br
Jat armies to the walls of both Agra and Delhi. Their successors lacked the gen
these two rulers, and the Jat kingdom was occupied briefly by a Mughal army in
It finally fell to the British East India Company in 1805, although not without a strug
their stronghold of Bharatpur was known as 'the only fortress in India from whi
British arms were successfully repulsed'.2
Bharatpur was the primary Jat capital, with a secondary capital at Dig, thi
four kilometres to the north (ninety-eight kilometres from Agra and one hundr
26 Ashfield Lane, South Hadley, MA 01075, USA. Email: eugenia.herbert@comcast.net

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 202 GARDEN HISTORY 42 : 2

fifty-three kilometres from Delhi). Over time its rule

Bharatpur and Dig, but they turned to the constructio
last years of Surajmal's reign. The work was complet
great love of ostentatious grandeur. What is particularly
and coherence of the whole but the speed with which it w
almost continuous military campaigning. The two activ
since looted marble and objects from Agra and Delhi a

GARDENS AND PALACES

Dig underscores the integrity of garden and palace, landscape and arc
back in Indian garden history this dates is unknown, but by the sixteent
clearly a central tenet of Mughal garden craft. With its complex of g
Dig is heir to this tradition of symbiosis. It rises immediately adja
Mahal, a massive, asymmetrical structure built by Surajmal's fathe
quite different in style. In a landscape dotted with mandalas, sites sacred
not surprising that the names of some of the pavilions invoke the Hindu
Dig was essentially a secular creation, a pleasure palace fusing indoor
situated on level ground without natural defences - perhaps an act of def
of its builders.
Flanked by tanks (reservoirs) on its western and eastern sides, the
of a series of freestanding structures set around a main garden with
and gardens (Figure 1). These structures contain and frame the gar
enhance the experience of the viewer. The largest of these, the Gopa
roofed building facing a tank on one side and the garden on the other
is two-storeyed on a raised platform with its own water channels an
the river side is cantilevered out over the water, as are two smaller
with curving (bangla) roofs (Figures 2 and 3). These are the Sawan an
named for the monsoon months, so important in the Hindu calend

Site Plan Of Palace-complex, DIG

Figure 1. Layout of Dig garden palace; from Prabhakar Begde, Forts and Pa
(New Delhi: Sagar, 1982), p. 130, pl.
pi. IX

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 THE GARDEN PALACE OF DIG IN RAJASTAN, INDIA 203

Figure 2. Bhadon Bhawan. Photo: author, 2012

Figure 3. Bhadon Bhawan showing cantilever. Photo: author, 2012

on the other three sides of the garden are relatively small, single-storey structures with
flat roofs. The most delicate is the lovely open Suraj Bhawan (Figure 4). Its baluster
columns are of marble embellished with lotus motifs, and the interior is decorated with
painted and pietra dura floral patterns reminiscent of those in the Taj Mahal and other
of Shah Jahan's creations (Figure 5).3 Lord Hardinge understood better than many the
unity of palace and garden. Fie praised the fine mangos surrounding the lake, adding in
the same sentence, 'the architectural details are very minute & their beauty consists in

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204 GARDEN HISTORY 42 : 2

9T\'2

ill

I left Figure 4. Suraj Bhawan.

Photo: author, 2012

below Figure 5. Suraj Bhawan:

i interior. Photo: author, 2012

■I. I M Wi
Mi ^ i^*i > -&

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 THE GARDEN PALACE OF DIG IN RAJASTAN, INDIA 205

their minutiae'. He only lamented, as we may as well, that the attempts to capture the
view with a daguerreotype failed.4
The garden is a classic charbagb or four-part garden.5 It is laid out within the
enclosing walls and subdivided symmetrically with axial watercourses and raised
walkways. Rather surprisingly, the walkways are still elevated well above the parterres,
unlike those of Mughal gardens in Agra and Delhi that have been lowered so much in
restorations that the viewer no longer has the experience of looking down on a carpet
like pattern of flowers and turf. Furthermore, there are numerous cbadars, sloping stone
surfaces, typical of Kashmiri gardens where - on a much larger scale - they channel the
rushing cascade of mountain streams (Figure 6). Here they catch the soaring sprays of
water from the fountains and direct it into the parterres. In the centre, where the water
channels intersect, there is an octagonal pool rather than the typical raised platform or
baradari. This cbarbagh pattern with octagonal central pool is replicated in miniature in
the separate enclosed garden between the Suraj and Hardev Bhawans, which may have
been a zenana garden for the women of the harem (Figure 7). Octagonal pools are not
unique to Dig: they are also found in the Anguri Bagh of Agra Fort and in the Kaseri
Kyari Bagh in the lake below Amber Fort.
Water was at the heart of any Indian garden and Dig surpassed them all. Water in
the tanks to the east and west, reflecting the pavilions rising on their edges; water flowing
through the wide axial channels of the gardens with their central pools and rising from
the five hundred lotus-based fountains; water encircling the Keshav Bhawan and in the
smaller pools of the pavilions - even water running through some of them. What made
Dig unusual, however, were its special effects. The monsoon allusions in the Bhadon
and Sawan were echoed - literally - in the elaborate mechanisms to replicate the sounds

Figure 6. Sunken garden with cbadars. Photo: author, 2012

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 206 GARDEN HISTORY 42 : 2

'% ' l\

Figure
Figure7. Looking
7.toward
Looking
the Hardev Bhawan
toward
from the Suraj
the Bhawan.
Hardev
Photo: author,
Bhawan
2011 from the Su

and sights of the monsoon: water was raised up to

fall as sheets of rain around the open hall at the sam
were agitated by piped water to recreate peels of th
the currents of water from the fountains were inge
with perforated holes attached to a pipeline to prod
of the Gopal Bhawan the water fell in the form of
semicircular projections.6
The monsoon holds a cherished place in Hindu trad
longing, the moment in the Ramayana when Rama
from Ravanna, the Demon King of Lanka, until the
musicians liken the tumult of the rains to the tumu
current in Hindi folk songs. In the Braj-Bbhumi, Dig an
the monsoon with the pastoral idyll of the youthful Kr
Swings also symbolized the monsoon season; Sawa
- is the month for swings: 'It is both pleasant and p
the suffocating heat and dampness that engulfed the
children of all ranks retreated to the swings with their
it was only a rope thrown over the branch of a mango
modest courtyard. In the palace gardens they were m
beautifully decorated white marble swing in front of
some Agra or Delhi garden - Joshi assigned it to 163
the basis of an inscription on the pedestal - and who
garlands of flowers (Figure 8). Here one tasted not only

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 THE GARDEN PALACE OF DIG IN RAJASTAN, INDIA 207

1. - _
I.t I
m
it

J
'■x1

Figure
Figure8. 8.
Gopal
Gopal
Bhawan
Bhawan
with marble
with marble
swing. Photo:
swing.
author,
Photo:
2012 author, 2012

of the swing, but also, if one swung out over the water channel, the refreshing spray of the
fountain below. Rajasthani women still celebrate the monsoon festival of Teej on swings.8
If Dig was a monsoon garden, it was also a moonlight garden, an age-old Indian form
absorbed into Mughal culture (where it culminated in the ill-fated Mahtab Bagh across
the river from the Taj Mahal). Constance Villiers-Stuart, the first and an outstanding
student of Indian gardens generally and of moonlight gardens in particular, had the good
fortune to benefit from consultations with the Maji Sahiba of Bharatpur. The moonlight
garden as Villiers-Stuart described it featured not only white blossoming shrubs grouped
to stand out against darker masses of surrounding trees, but also other shades of colour
whose brilliance was often enhanced by tiny earthen lamps outlining parterres and
platforms. On festive occasions the trees themselves were hung with lights. Plantings
emphasized flowers and trees that were particularly fragrant, their perfumes accentuated
by the monsoon breezes: jasmines, oleanders, champak, maulsari, mango, neem, cannas,
balsams, marigolds, cosmos, amaranth, orchids, roses and lotuses in the ponds. The flat
rooftops of Dig's bbawans were intended as outdoor rooms where one could catch the
cool breezes of evening while revelling in the scents and sounds of the garden: 'There are
few prettier places than an Indian "rains" garden, when the wonderful flowering trees
and creepers are in perfection,' wrote Villiers-Stuart, and the most perfect of these were
the moonlight gardens.9
For those visiting Dig in the first half of the nineteenth century, the experience could
be magical. In 1827 Lady Sarah Amherst, wife of the governor-general, declared Dig the
finest palace she had seen in India: 'It is entirely of white marble [not actually the case],'
she added, 'and situated in the centre of a large and well laid out garden', abounding in
orange groves, flower gardens, fruits and vegetables.10 Bishop Reginald Heber concurred

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 208 GARDEN HISTORY 42 : 2

that its 'palace and gardens are compared to the finest

observed that it was quite a 'new discovery'; although
had only lately 'been at all visited by, or accessible to
surprising given how recently the countryside had been '
Emily Eden, sister of a later governor-general and
found the palace deserted when she saw it in 1839: 'Wh

The gardens are intersected in all directions by founta

at each side of the garden [...] are great masses of ope
was a very pretty sight today, from the crowds of peo
the waters; and the Mahrattas wear such beautiful scarle
silver cords, that they showed it off well.12

Dig also greatly pleased the traveller Baron Leopol

palace situated in a pleasant fruit and flower garden, s
put the number at six hundred) and the splendid view
from the central arcade of the 'Mughal-style palace', that
Canning, wife of the first viceroy of India, painted a view
Bhawan, looking out over the tank.13
Dig continued to delight British visitors throughout th
century. Sir Richard Temple, Lieutenant-Governo
connoisseur of architecture, was effusive in his praise
earth'; in 'its tasteful ornamentation, gracefully refin
our tests to perfection'. In support of this verdict he cite

the finish of detail within the boldness of outline; th

shadows from the projecting eaves; the arrangement o
the exquisitely projecting balconies; the balanced pro
the parts; the combination of straight lines, curves an
stone material to climatic surroundings [all of which] r
of producing beauty.14

Indeed, Temple seemed to rate Dig second only to th

Indian architecture, although he said curiously little about

DIG: HINDU OR MUSLIM, RAJPUT OR MUGHAL?

Like others in this period, Temple was caught up in the debate that consumed students
of Indian architecture in the later nineteenth century, a debate that tended to eclipse
considerations of landscape, namely how to classify Indian architecture. This reflected
British stereotypes as much as reality. Thus, Dig was so superior to anything 'Hindoos'
had produced, that it must have borrowed from the 'Mohammedans' - and yet 'for
all that it is Hindoo, and the Mohammedans have never themselves produced such a
gem'.15 Contemporary (and later) writers tried endlessly (and somewhat pointlessly) to
sort out what elements of style were authentically Indian (read 'Hindu') and what were
Muslim, whether a structure were Rajput or Mughal. James Fergusson, the first to make
a comprehensive study of Indian architecture, struggled as Temple had done to find a
satisfying niche for Dig. It was he who labelled Dig 'this fairy creation'. Its pavilions and
gardens were laid out, he noted, 'with a regularity that would satisfy the most fastidious
Renaissance architecture'. If the complex lacked the massive character of Rajput fortified
palaces, 'for grandeur of conception and beauty of detail it surpasses them all'. While he
ascribed the arcades to Muslim influence, he observed that none was a true arch since

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 THE GARDEN PALACE OF DIG IN RAJASTAN, INDIA 209

the openings were virtually covered by brackets meeting in the centre. What was unique
to Dig, however, was the pattern of double cornices which for extent of shadow and
richness of detail 'surpass any similar ornaments in India, either in ancient or modern
buildings' and had the virtue of providing a double shadow as relief from the oppressive
sun. Oddly enough, he did not mention the clever architectural adaptations that allowed
the flow of water within the pavilions and into the garden.16
Ernest Havell, writing thirty-five years later, described Dig as consisting of 'a number
of detached palatial residences enclosed in a splendid formal garden, with fountains
and watercourses, which were intended to rival in magnificence the imperial palace at
Agra', which the Jats looted in 1765. The Gopal Bhawan combined 'the elegance of Shah
Jahan's palaces with the more robust character of Rajput architecture', but he disagreed
with Fergusson's verdict that it surpassed other Rajput palaces. Indeed, Havell was more
measured in his appreciation of Dig than Fergusson, although he did single out for praise
the cornices that protected the walls from rain and sun. The Gopal Bhawan, he pointed
out, was adorned with foliated Hindu arches rarely found in Rajput palaces. These and
the typical bangla roofs of the water pavilions were the work of craftsmen moving from
court to court, especially after the waning of Mughal patronage.
Havell attacked Fergusson for his endeavour to classify buildings in 'water-tight
compartments according to arbitrary academic ideas of style', for not recognizing that
the history of architecture is more broadly a history of 'national life and thought'. At the
same time, he lamented the belief that 'true aesthetic feeling has always been wanting
in the Hindu mind, and that everything really great in Indian art has been suggested or
introduced by foreigners' - in the case of architecture, this meant primarily the Mughals.
Even the Mughals relied on Indian craftsmen, Indian forms and Indian styles. While
Humayun's tomb might reflect strong Persian influence because of the ruler and his
widow's long exile in Persia, this was no longer the case with the Taj Mahal. Where in the
world, he asked, is there anything like the Taj Mahal? Ironically, in his zeal to demonstrate
the 'Indianness' of Indian architecture, its reliance pre-eminently on Buddhist and Indian
(i.e. Hindu) models, Havell himself resorted to the familiar pigeonholes. Furthermore, he
fell into the all-too-common trap of using religious categories - the religion of rulers and
patrons - to designate artistic styles.17

DIG AND MAYO COLLEGE: SEARCHING FOR AN IMPERIAL STYLE

Such questions were more than academic as the British wrestled with
subject of an appropriate architectural style for imperial India. Rather
was the flashpoint for the heated controversy over the design of Mayo
in the years 1871-78. Proposed by the Viceroy Lord Mayo, it was to be
school for the sons of Rajput princes, modelled on Eton and conveyin
of service inculcated in rising generations of imperial pro-consuls in E
appropriate therefore to incorporate Indian elements in its architectur
and of what sort? Casting about for suitable models, the eyes of colonial of
fell on Dig. As Metcalf observed, Dig 'with its foliated arches, brack
formal gardens' fascinated the British, even if it was impossible to labe
as 'Hindu' or 'Muslim'.18
For years, viceroys, architects and archaeologists haggled over the
college, all contributing opinions about what style was appropriate f
More than just an educational institution, it would mirror the evolvin
post-mutiny Britain with her princely subjects.19 At first Lord Mayo favo
classical simplicity like so many earlier public buildings in India. Then

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 210 GARDÈN HISTORY 42 : 2

mind and had plans drawn up for 'Hindoo' design w

Surely this would be the most suitable for Rajput p
Ironically, when eventually consulted, the princes
earlier 'Grecian' design. At that point, General Alex
the Archaeological Survey of India, dismissed any d
might be the work of an eighteenth-century Hindu
he insisted, belonging in fact to 'the common cla
architecture'.20 In spite of this objection Mayo defe
explained: 'The attraction of this garden palace for
obvious. At once picturesque yet formal, grand but
"tastefully" ornamented without "over-elabora
represented an ideal of graceful refinement.' Ma
great deal to the Mughals: the formal layout of the
of symmetry and elegance of decoration. Still, it re
in his mind.
The debate continued through two more viceroys and the rejection of a number
of plans before the college was finally completed.21 By this time there was a general
acknowledgement that Rajput architecture was historically a fusion of Hindu and
Muslim styles, not just at Dig but elsewhere. More significantly, Mayo College was a
prime example of what became known as Indo-Saracenic architecture: a wilful collection
of design elements confidently - even dogmatically - labelled Hindu and Muslim, and
subsumed in a vision that combined Indian 'tradition' with the modern reality of British
scientific know-how and imperial mastery (Figure 9). Although evoking faint echoes of
Dig, Mayo's Main Building does not at all resemble the Gopal Bhawan.22 And sadly there
is no echo of Dig's sunken gardens with their great mango trees and waterworks, the
fragrance of their moonlight blossoms, enclosed by surrounding buildings. Landscaping

14.
14.Design
Design
for the Mayo
for the Mayo
College,
College,Ajmer, by
Ajmer,
Major C. by Major C.
Mant.
Mant.
21
21
of
February
From
From The The Building News,
Building News,
1879, by courtesy
February 1879, by courtesy
rpf
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ofthe British
the Architectural
British Architectural f
Library,RIBA,
Library, RIB London.
A, London.
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Figure
Figure 9. Design9.
for Design
Mayo College, for
Ajmer; from
Mayo The Building
College,
News (21 February
Ajmer; 1879). from
British
BritishArchitectural
Architectural
Library (RIBA); repr. inLibrary
Thomas R. Metcalf,
(RIBA);
An Imperialrepr.
Vision: Indian
in Th
Architecture
Architecture and Britain's Raj
and(Berkeley:
Britain's
University of Raj
California
(Berkeley:
Press, 1989), p. 76, Univer
fig. 14

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 THE GARDEN PALACE OF DIG IN RAJASTAN, INDIA 211

seems the barest afterthought with no particular plan: in front of the magisterial entrance
to the complex is a roundabout, a circle of lawn edged with low looped metal fencing;
elsewhere there are expanses of lawn, with hedges and clusters of trees and a few
flowerbeds, all overshadowed by an array of playing fields.
Mayo College is a prime example, then, of the search for a suitable imperial style in
later nineteenth-century India and its end product. Since Fergusson's study in 1876, the
focus has been principally on the architecture itself, with rarely more than a perfunctory
reference to the accompanying gardens.23 Cunningham's dismissal of Dig as belonging
to 'the common class of Mahomedan garden architecture' would seem to anticipate the
second-class status accorded gardens up to the present by the Archaeological Survey.
Thus, Joshi, a Survey archaeologist, characterized Dig as 'a retreat based on the luxurious
Mughal ideal of earthly paradise on the one hand and the romantic tradition associated
with the Indian rainy season [...] on the other', but he is much more interested in the
structures of the waterworks than in the finer points of the garden. Even Havell has
nothing to say about Dig's gardens after the introductory sentence.24 And yet in most
cases the two were seen as inseparable, parts of the whole. This was especially true of the
Mughals and the broad swath of India subsequently influenced by them, Dig included.
Small wonder that Villiers-Stuart felt like a voice crying in the wilderness, pleading the
case for the great tradition of Indian garden craft whether Hindu or Muslim.25

THE AFTERLIFE OF A GARDEN

The first of the limited visitors' accounts of Dig date from the early nineteenth
a half-century and more after its creation. Unlike the Taj Mahal, there is no
of paintings or engravings or, later, photographs to follow its permutation
walkways have survived at Dig as they have not in Mughal-style gardens
so that in theory one could look down upon a carpet-like display of fl
Gone, however, are parterres thickly planted with flowers and low bushes,
in regular patterns, sometimes growing at random in the turf, sometimes
by the occasional orange or pomegranate or other blossoming tree. The vi
of horizontal, two-dimensionality has been lost in the present landscaping
quadrants of lawn, flowerbeds mostly hugging the walls or in strips running in
line through the grass, low hedges, with small palm trees and maulsari scat
more venerable giants of trees.26
What has presented a problem in any era has been how to plant for very
seasons, the extremes of climate in northern India. Spring flowers that flourish
months shrivel in the intensifying heat that precedes the monsoons.27 And yet
period when many trees leaf out to come into full bloom during the rainy s
With their central Asian origins, the Mughals had favoured the spring flowers w
they were familiar. Of necessity but with delight they adopted the indigeno
and moonlight gardens. In all seasons, however, a premium was put not o
visual beauty of the garden but also on its appeal to other senses. Scent wou
provided by the fragrant shrubs and trees with their heavy perfumes; sou
and the rushing waters for which Dig was famous; touch by the welcome f
on hot faces. Most Europeans visited in the cooler months - Heber, Amhers
in December or January - so that they would have missed the dramatic splen
monsoon garden. And we are bereft of their descriptions.
On his somewhat quixotic journey following the monsoon northward fr
some twenty-five years ago, Alexander Frater was urged to visit Dig even thoug
a five-hour drive from Delhi: 'It has the most beautiful monsoon pavilion in Ind

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 212 GARDEN HISTORY 42 : 2

Figure
Figure10. Gopal
10. Bhawan
Gopalfrom Bhawan
Gopal Sagar. Photo:
from author,
Gopal
2012 Sagar. Photo:
insisted, with a huge water tank concealed in the roof
hauling leather buckets up from a special reservoir.
exquisite Hindu garden - a night garden, filled with w
moonlight. [...] In a rainless land [the maharaja] crea
A somewhat fanciful description to be sure - in Dig'
from wells by means of the Persian wheel system, with
the work. And of course there was an actual monsoon season even in this arid land.
When Frater arrived in Dig, he was clearly disappointed. He found a tumbledown
little town with pigs roaming its narrow street; he was the only foreigner. His guide had
upped the number of fountains to three thousand and described the dazzling spectacle
when they were all in play: divers swam down to place dyes in the holes feeding the
fountains - 'red, green, blue, yellow [...] all colours of the spectrum'.29 It splashed from
the fountains, cascaded over the arches, created rainbows in the 'polychromatic mists',
with thunder from the lithic balls rumbling overhead. Apparently this does happen once
a year during the Monsoon Festival in August, although the actual fountains number five
hundred. But they do spurt coloured jets of water.
Unfortunately August is not high season for foreign tourists, and the rest of the year
the watercourses are all empty, their fountains conspicuously lifeless (Figure 8). This is,
alas, true of other Indian gardens as well - even the Taj Mahal solved its water problems
only comparatively recently so that at last its fountains could shoot jets of water fifteen
to eighteen feet into the air.30 The bare channels accentuate the melancholy of a site like
Dig whose glory lay in its spectacular waterworks, all the more so since the tanks which
might be some compensation are an unappetizing opaque green (Figure 10). The pavilions
have fared only slightly better. Maharaja Jaswant Singh added ornamental shutters to the
wooden forms of the large doors and windows of the bhawans and provided the Gopal

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 THE GARDEN PALACE OF DIG IN RAJASTAN, INDIA 213

Bhawan with what Sahai tactfully characterized as 'abundant English furniture of every
description',31 meaning mostly heavy, non-descript Victorian (which for some reason are
not allowed to be photographed). True, the residence does boast what must be one of the
last surviving thermantidotes, a large unwieldy machine invented in 1830 that could be
set up on the verandah to force air into the window through a funnel by means of large
metal fans turned constantly by hand.32 Temple's enthusiastic suggestion that 'a school
of architectural design could not do better than send out a class of students to note and
mark this structure' has gone unheeded by later generations of whatever nationality.33
While Dig could conceivably be an attractive add-on to the well-trodden Golden
Triangle of Delhi-Agra-Jaipur,34 it would mean considerable investment. Sprucing up
the garden and maintaining it, to say nothing of adding amenities for Indian and foreign
tourists, would require resources and imagination from an Archaeological Survey of
India already stretched thin in tending the thousands of sites in its custody (3650 in
2011) unless provincial or local agencies stepped in.35 Water would be a serious problem.
Barring such interventions, Dig is probably doomed to its present down-at-heel gentility
for the foreseeable future. This is a pity since there is nothing quite like it. It is not a fort,
not a constellation of tombs or cenotaphs, not a mosque or temple complex. Perhaps the
closest analogue is the City Palace in Jaipur, but the City Palace is very much an urban
complex where gardens have only a secondary role - a far cry from the 'fairy creation'
with its man-made monsoon of torrential rain and crashing thunder, sweet zephyrs and
encompassing scents.

REFERENCES

1 Letter (4 November 1845), in Letters of the First Viscount Hardinge of

B. S. Singh (ed.), The Letters of the Lahore,
First p. 125. The Governor-General's son
Viscount Hardinge of Lahore ... 1844-1847
was a talented amateur artist, accompanying
(London: Office of the Royal Historical Society,
his father and sketching many scenes from t
University College), CS, 4th ser.: 32 1845-46 tour that led them from Calcutta to
(1986),
p. 125. Cf. letter (5 November 1845), p. 127.
Kashmir. For a selection of these reproduced
2 The most complete history is that of the
as lithographs by J. D. Harding, see Charles
nazim of Dig; Munshi Jawala Sahai,Hardinge,
Dig, ItsRecollections of India (London:
History and Palaces (Lahore: Tribune, 1902),
Thomas M'Lean, 1847; repr. Lahore: Sang-e
Mel, 2006). Dig is not included.
quotation on p. 33. For a briefer summary,
see M. C. Joshi, Dig, revd edn (New Delhi:
5 The only detailed description of Dig's
Archaeological Society of India, 2006).
gardens is by Constance Villiers-Stuart,
3 On the architecture of Dig see - Gardens
in of the Great Mughals (Delhi: Cosmo,
1983- [1913]),
addition to Joshi, Dig, and Sahai, Dig Jamespp. 262-3.
Fergusson, History of Indian and Eastern6 Joshi, Dig, pp. 12-13; Tillotson, Rajput
Architecture (Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal,
Palaces, p. 195. Joshi estimated that it would
1967) - a reproduction of the 1910 have
edntaken about a week to fill the tanks and
(original publication 1876); Ernest Binfield
that with all the fountains playing the water
Havell, Indian Architecture, Structure,
wouldand
have given out in a few hours; p. 24.
History, 2nd edn (London: John Murray, 7 Joshi, Dig, pp. 9, 12; Tillotson, Rajput
1927); Prabhakar Begde, Forts and Palaces,
Palacesp. 195.
of India (New Delhi: Sagar, 1982); G.8 H.Villiers-Stuart, Gardens of the Great
R. Tillotson, The Rajput Palaces - The
Mughals, pp. 262-3; Tillotson, Rajput Palaces,
Development of Architectural Style pp.1450-1750
195-6; Joshi, Dig, p. 18.
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987);
9 Villiers-Stuart, Gardens of the Great
Thomas R. Metcalf, An Imperial Vision:
Mughals, Indian
pp. xi, 258ff.
Architecture and Britain's Raj (Berkeley:
10 Lady Sarah Amherst, Journal 5
University of California Press, 1989);
(28Catherine
January 1827); Archives, Amherst College,
B. Asher, Architecture of Mughal India
Amherst, Massachusetts.
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,11 Bishop Reginald Heber, Narrative of a
1992); George Michell and AntonioJourney
Martinelli,
through the Upper Provinces of India:
The Royal Palaces of India (London: Thames
From Calcutta to Bombay, 1824-1825, 2 vols,
& Hudson, 1994); and D. Fairchild Ruggles,
2nd edn (London: John Murray, 1828), II,
Islamic Gardens and Landscapes (Philadelphia:
pp. 372-3. Heber also mentioned pomegranates
University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008).
with their scarlet blossoms growing in other
4 Letter (5 November 1845), in Singh,
gardens of Dig.

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 214 GARDEN HISTORY 42 : 2

12 Emily Eden, Up the Country: 24 Joshi, Dig, pp. 8, 12-13.

Letters
Written to her Sister from the 25 Villiers-Stuart
Upper may have to some extent
Provinces
of India (London: Oxford University Press,
inspired Edwin Lutyens to create a far more
1932 [1867]), letter (10 December effective fusion1839),
of Indian and English styles
p. 352. in the gardens of the Viceroy's Palace (the
13 Baron Leopold von Orlich, Travels in Rashtrapati Bhavan), centrepiece of his New
India, 2 vols (London: Longman, Brown, Green Delhi; Eugenia W. Herbert, Flora's Empire:
& Longmans, 1845), II, p. 76. Hardinge put British Gardens in India (Philadelphia:
the number of fountains at 650; Singh, Letters University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011),
of the First Viscount Hardinge of Lahore, pp. 261-72.
p. 125. The painting is reproduced in Charles 26 Ibid., pp. 207-8; Ruggles, Islamic
Allen, A Glimpse of the Burning Plain: Leaves Gardens and Landscapes, pp. 73-4.
from the Indian Journals of Charlotte Canning 27 This is probably why the Mughal Garden
(London: Michael Joseph, 1986), between of the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi with
pp. 130-1. its glorious display of spring flowers is only
14 Sir Richard Temple, 'Picturesqueness in open to the public from February to early
reference to architecture', TRIBA, 2nd ser., 5 March.
(1889), pp. 53-76 (p. 58). 28 Alexander Frater, Chasing the Monsoon
15 Ibid. (New York: Knopf, 1991), pp. 168, 176-8.
16 Fergusson, History of Indian and Eastern 29 See https://Us.makemytrip.com/
Architecture, II, pp. 178-81. Fergusson's work destination/Deeg (accessed on 25 March 2012).
remained the authority on Indian architecture In 1964 a five-horsepower motor coupled with
for half a century. a centrifugal pump was installed to fill the
17 Havell, Indian Architecture, pp. vii-viii, huge overhead tank and run the fountains of
1-2, 19, 31, 224-6, passim. festivals and other important occasions; Indian
18 Metcalf, Imperial Vision, p. 54. Archaeology. A Review (1963-64), p. 128.
19 Metcalf offers an excellent account of the 30 The Taj's water problems were declared
debates over Mayo College in the larger context solved only in the mid-1950s with the creation
of architecture and imperialism in India; ibid., of a reservoir exclusively for the gardens,
pp. 68-78. the installation of two electric pumps, each
20 Cited in ibid., p. 70. Purdon Clarke, an ensuring about 30,000 gallons of water per
official of the South Kensington Museum, sent hour, and the replacement of old fountain jets
to India to collect Mughal art, came to the with new ones, allowing an increase in the
same conclusion; Purdon Clarke, 'Examples of playing hours along with the more impressive
Mughal art in the India Museum', TRIBA, 2nd spray. By 1977 the Archaeological Survey could
ser., 4 (1888), p. 128. boast that the fountains played regularly in
21 In view of the medievalizing inclinations the morning and evening; Indian Archaeology
of the then viceroy, Lord Lytton, it was lucky (1953-54, 1954-55, 1959-60, 1976-77).
to be spared the Gothic extravagancies so 31 Sahai, Dig, p. 14.
evident in public buildings in Bombay. 32 For a fuller description of the
thermantidote, see Herbert, Flora's Empire,
22 This building is featured on the title page
of Metcalf's book. The clock tower is the most p. 98.
glaringly incongruous feature! For the image, 33 Temple, 'Picturesqueness in reference to
see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayo_College architecture', p. 58.
(accessed on 22 October 2013), 'College 34 It rates a very enthusiastic box of its
own in the Lonely Planet India, 2nd edn
building c. 1895'. Tea is taken in the so-called
Mughal garden - more akin to a great lawn -(Melbourne: Lonely Planet, 2011), p. 129.
of the Main Building after Prize-Giving. 35 Eugenia W. Herbert, 'Curzon nostalgia:
23 Tillotson is a conspicuous exception; landscaping historical monuments in India',
Metcalf, Imperial Vision, pp. 194-6; also Studies in the History of Gardens and Designed
Ruggles, Islamic Gardens and Landscapes, Landscapes, 32/4 (2012), pp. 277-96 (p. 277).
pp. 73-4.

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