The Storm will reach Bikaner located 330 kilometres northwest of the Rajasthan state capital, Jaipur late on the 19 Feb’13. The Xtreme Parc Ferme and the end of the torturous Leg 1 will be at The Lalgarh Palace. The heritage hotel built on the Indo-Saracenic style for Maharaja Sir Ganga Singh and named after his father. It is also a residence of the Bikaner Royal Family.
About Bikaner
Formerly the capital of the princely state of Bikaner, It is now the administrative headquarters of Bikaner District and Bikaner division. The city was founded by Rao Bika in 1486 and from its small origins it has developed into the fifth largest city in Rajasthan. The Ganges Canal, completed in 1928, and the Indira Gandhi Canal, completed in 1987, have allowed the farming of crops such as mustard, cotton, groundnuts, wheat and vegetables. Other industries include wool production and the mining of Gypsum, plaster of Paris and bentonite. Bikaner is also famous for sweets and namkeens
Prior to the mid 15th century, the region that is now Bikaner was a barren wilderness called Jangladesh. Rao Bika was the second son of Maharaja Rao Jodha of the Rathor clan, the founder of Jodhpur and conquered the largely arid country in the north of Rajasthan. As the second son of Joda he had no chance of inheriting Jodhpur from his father or the title of Maharaja. He therefore decided to build his own kingdom in what is now the state of Bikaner in the area of Jungladesh. Though it was in the Thar Desert, Bikaner was an oasis on the trade route between Central Asia and the Gujarat coast as it had adequate spring water. Bika’s name was attached to the city he built and to the state of Bikaner that he established. Bika built a fort in 1478, which is now in ruins, and a hundred years later a new fort was built about 1.5 km from the city centre, known as the Junagarh Fort.
Around a century after Rao Bika founded Bikaner, the state’s fortunes flourished under the sixth Raja, Rai Singhji, who ruled from 1571 to 1611. During the Mughal Empire’s rule in the country, Rai Singh accepted the suzerainty of the Mughals and held a high rank as an army general at the court of the Emperor Akbar and his son the Emperor Jahangir. Rai Singh’s successful military exploits, which involved winning half of Mewar kingdom for the Empire, won him accolades and rewards from the Mughal emperors. He was given the jagirs of Gujarat and Burhanpur. With the large revenue earned from these jagirs, he built the Junagarh fort. He was an expert in arts and architecture, and the knowledge he acquired during his visits abroad is amply reflected in the numerous monuments he built at the Junagarh fort.
Karan Singh, who ruled from 1631 to 1639, under the suzerainty of the Mughals, built the Karan Mahal palace. Later rulers added more floors and decorations to this Mahal. Anup Singh, who ruled from 1669 to 1698, made substantial additions to the fort complex, with new palaces and the Zenana quarter, a royal dwelling for women and children. He refurbished the Karan Mahal with a Diwan-i-Am and called it the Anup Mahal. Gaj Singh, who ruled from 1746 to 1787 refurbished the Chandra Mahal (the Moon palace).
Following Gaj Singh, Surat Singh ruled from 1787 to 1828 and lavishly decorated the audience hall with glass and lively paintwork. During the 18th century, there was internecine war between the rulers of Bikaner and Jodhpur and also amongst other thakurs, which was put down by British troops. Under a treaty of paramountcy signed in 1818, during Surat Singh’s reign, Bikaner came under the suzerainty of the British, after which the Maharajas of Bikaner invested heavily in refurbishing Junagarh fort.
General Maharaja Sir Ganga Singh, who ruled from 1887 to 1943, was the best-known of the Rajasthan princes and was a favourite of the British Viceroys of India. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India, served as a member of the Imperial War Cabinet, represented India at the Imperial Conferences during the First World War and the British Empire at the Versailles Peace Conference. His contribution to the building activity in Junagarh involved separate halls for public and private audiences in the Ganga Mahal and a durbar hall for formal functions. He also built the Ganga Niwas Palace, which has towers at the entrance patio. This palace was designed by Sir Samuel Swinton Jacob, the third of the new palaces built in Bikaner. He named the building Lalgarh Palace in honour of his father and moved his main residence there from Junagarh Fort in 1902. The hall where he held his Golden Jubilee (in 1938) as Bikaner’s ruler is now a museum.
Sir Ganga Singh’s son, Lieutenant-General Sir Sadul Singh, the Yuvaraja of Bikaner, succeeded his father as Maharaja in 1943, but acceded his state to the Union of India in 1949. Maharaja Sir Sadul died in 1950, being succeeded in the title by his son, Karni Singh (1924-1988). The Royal Family still lives in a suite in Lalgarh Palace, which they have converted into a heritage hotel.