I am delighted to introduce this much-awaited book on The City Palace Museum. It is the first of its kind from Udaipur and is the result of the participation and efforts of a host of professionals and academicians associated with our Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation.
Preface
At the outset, I wish to thank all of them for their endeavour to understand the history of Mewar through the tangible heritage enshrined in The City Palace Museum—its architecture, painting and sculpture—and sharing it with global and Indian audiences in the 21st century. In this preamble my humble attempt is to write about the spirit and ethos of Mewar, what has been termed as our ‘intangible heritage’. It also carries a host of messages for new audiences who will be reading this book. I hope they will connect with the concept of custodianship as a form of governance and with ‘living heritage’ as a movement which is bridging the past with the future. Both these concepts have the power to meaningfully impact our worlds; and are keeping alive value systems that have been integral to our way of life, our Indian civilization, in fact. Custodianship is a unique value system received in trust from Maharishi Harit Rashi by the founding father of our House of Mewar, Bappa Rawal, in 734 AD. We, as descendants, are proud to be upholding this cherished and time-tested principle of governance in every age. Mahatma Gandhi in the early 20th century, during the freedom struggle, spoke about trusteeship in society. He wanted to inspire the wealthy and privileged to use their financial resources for the benefit of all people. In Mewar, the concept of trusteeship or custodianship, as distinct from ownership, had been internalized almost 1300 years earlier. Custodians are caretakers, safe-keepers, or as some have said stewards; they are not owners. As a Custodian, it becomes my self-motivated and voluntary duty to preserve and pass on what I have received in trust to my successors. There is an enormous sense of responsibility towards the task, but there is little or no ‘ownership’.
