Water Stories From Rajasthan: World’s First River-Linking In Mewar Region In 1890 – Analysis
Rare photographs from archives of The City Palace Museum, Udaipur reveal hidden histories: Commemorating International Museum Day 2025
It is fascinating and awe-inspiring when archival photographs reveal historic stories hidden within its visual; the stories unfold, providing contemporary viewers with layers upon layers of meaning and significance. The archival photograph of 1890 is a case in point where the first story begins: on 13 August 1890, a delegation led by Prince Arthur, the Duke of Connaught and Strathearn was visiting Udaipur. Prince Arthur, the third son of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, was the Commander-in-Chief of the Bombay Army. The photograph (a gelatin silver print, reprinted from the original glass plate negative c. 1920) depicts the visiting Duke and the reigning Custodian of State of Udaipur-Mewar Maharana Fateh Singh at the centre; the young Maharaj Kumar Bhupal Singh of Udaipur is seated on a chair on the right, with an alert attendant behind him. A special Durbar (Court) was held in honour of the visiting dignitary, the nobility of State of Mewar and Court officials can be seen, along with the British officials accompanying the Duke of Connaught.
The Durbar was held at the iconic Mor Chowk or Courtyard of Peacocks, deep inside the Mardana Mahal (Palace for the Royal Men) of The City Palace, where peacocks aesthetically created from glass-inlay work adorn the open-to-sky venue. The Maharana is said to have developed a cordial relationship with the Duke, as the dignitary sent across a gift of horses upon his return. These details are provided in the 2014 publication of Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation (MMCF) titled ‘Long Exposure – The Camera in Udaipur 1857-1957’.
Unidentified photographer. Photo credit: The City Palace Museum, Udaipur
Now begins the second story: To commemorate his visit, Maharana Fateh Singh requested the Royal dignitary to lay the foundation stone of a dam at Devali near Udaipur. The Maharana, in honour of Prince Arthur, named the dam as ‘Connaught Dam’. A feeder canal called ‘Chikalwas feeder’ was constructed to divert the surplus rain water of Ahar river towards the Devali Talab now being renovated. The 200-year-old Devali Talab had seen disuse and destruction. Prince Arthur, in turn, requested the Maharana to rename the lake as ‘Fateh Sagar’ to cement their friendly ties. Prince Arthur also complimented a British engineer Campbell Thompson working on the project. Today, 135 years after the historic event, the entire project is referred to as the world’s first river-linking project.
When in 1933 the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was founded in the US, as part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal. Campbell Thompson who worked on the Udaipur projects, migrated to the US and was employed by TVA. No wonder it is being said that the microhistory of water resource management in Udaipur and Mewar region is filled with fascinating dots waiting to be joined together for these stories to unfold.
Water conservation
“It’s a unique example of water conservation and management anywhere in the world,” said Dr. Narpat Singh Rathore, former professor of geography, Mohan Lal Sukhadia University, Udaipur. Dr Rathore should know best: he has spent decades researching and documenting watershed management, river diversion and river linkage in the region of Mewar over the last seven centuries.
Dr Rathore’s paper on ‘Water Resource Management: A study of the world’s first man-made river links, river diversion and micro watershed of Udaipur basin’ lists the eight linkages: Goverdhan Sagar to Lake Pichola; Lake Pichola is linked to Doodh Talai, Amarkund and Kumharia Talab with channels; Kumharia Talab is linked to Rang Sagar; Rang Sagar, in turn, has link channels to Amar Kund and Swaroop Sagar; it is Swaroop Sagar that overflows into the Fateh Sagar through the eighth link channel.
The story begins with Maharana Lakha who, in today’s terminology, was instrumental in watershed area planning. Between 1382-1385 CE, Lake Pichola was constructed across the Kotra or Sisarma river. It has a total water body area of almost 7 sq. km. “It is the creation of a natural asset,” said Dr Rathore, “the city of Udaipur gets defined by Lake Pichola and successive generations of Maharanas of Mewar provide more lakes, in fact more lifelines for the city from the 14th to 20th centuries.”
Udaipur, explained the soft-spoken professor, is actually a network of eight man-made lakes which have given the heritage city its character and sustainability. Well, that is why Udaipur is known as the ‘city of lakes’, the Venice of the East.
Confluence of rivers
Geography has played an important role in these micro-historical feats in Udaipur and the region of Mewar in southern part of Rajasthan, the north-western state of India. Udaipur basin is located on the ‘great India water divide line’ at the confluence of four rivers, i.e., Ahar, Morwani, Amarjok and Kotra (Sisarma) that flow through the well-defined Girwa region along eastern slopes of south-central Aravallis, one of the oldest mountain range of the world.
Girwa means ‘girdle of hills’ and the Udaipur basin is saucer-shaped in the form of a valley, surrounded by Aravalli hill ranges. “Metamorphic rocks of the region ensure that there is no underground leakage or seepage of water from these lakes,” said Dr Rathore. Ahar is the only major river that flows through this region, originating from the hills of Gogunda, flowing for 30 kms and joining Udai Sagar lake in the east. The construction of Connaught Dam in 1890 assumes significance when known how highly erratic and uncertain is the rainfall every year.
“Erratic rainfall is only one of the challenges we face in the 21st century,” said Dr Rathore. “Explosive population growth, encroachment of lake-beds and rapid urbanization have compounded the problems that a heritage city like Udaipur faces, year after year,” he said.
The technical story
It is S Girikumar, a senior art conservator, who takes us through the third fascinating story: of the photographs, their archiving, restoration and exhibition. In ‘Long Exposure – The Camera in Udaipur 1857-1957’, he explained, “The collection in The City Palace Museum archives begins at an exciting period in the history of photography. It was a time when there was no organised industry catering to the needs of the practice. Practitioners prepared their own plates, sensitising just before exposing and processing immediately after. Processes were constantly tweaked to suit the conditions under which they worked. The images in the collection take one through the evolution of various processes and formats and throw light on the finer technical aspects of the practice of photography as well as prevailing socio-economic conditions.”
The majority of the images, said Girikumar, are albumen prints (where the emulsion on the paper was made from egg-white), contact printed from wet collodion glass plate negatives. This was the negative-positive pair of processes prevalent at that time. The fine particle size of the image-forming silver and the fairly short exposure enabled the wet collodion plates to record sharp negative images. These negatives on a transparent glass plate had to be contacted printed under sunlight, as the light sensitive material used (silver chloride) was not sensitive to artificial light.
By the early 1880s, gelatin had replaced albumen as the image-carrying emulsion in print materials. All the 19th century gelatin images, Girikumar pointed out, were gold toned with a pleasing appearance ranging from pinkish brown to warm greys. The gelatin surface is easily identified by an ‘orange peel’ appearance. The portrait of Maharana Fateh Singh, seated on the throne with lion motifs, is a carbon print with a reddish tone; it is a unique image both in terms of its tonal effects as well as size.
As always with conservators, their clarion call is invariably about restoration, safety and ensuring that collections do not deteriorate. “Photographs are the most sensitive of all materials found in an archive, demanding extreme care in their handling, exhibition and storage,” said Girikumar who spared no effort to bring the archive to life.
The City Palace Museum archive has collections of photographs taken by prominent photographic studios based at Calcutta and Simla; an assortment of studios whose works are represented include Bourne & Shepherd, Hurrychund Chintamon, Ritter, Herzog & Higgins, Lala Deen Dayal, J. Cowell, K.L Syed, Devare, besides Udaipur-based photographers and studios run by Mohanlal, Pannalal and Shrimal to name a few, said Dr Mayank Gupta, CEO of the Foundation who has coordinated efforts of professionals and their agencies to ensure the archival collection makes its progress in the 21st century.
“My heartiest congratulations and best wishes to the teams of professionals – be it conservation experts, photographers, art historians, archivists and museologists – who given their best to The City Palace Museum to bring the archival photographs to life. On International Museum Day, I take pride in acknowledging their continuing contribution as our Museum continues to grow, flourish and share its living heritage with visitors from far and near,” said Dr Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar of Udaipur, chairman and managing trustee of the Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation which manages the Museum. There couldn’t be a happier and more positive note to end these hidden histories within the stories of photographs.
