01Suraj Mal’s water palace
Badan Singh, first raja of the Jats of Braj, made Deeg his seat in the 1720s and built the old palace and fort. His son Suraj Mal, who ran the works at Bharatpur, laid out the new palace at Deeg as a garden between two tanks, Gopal Sagar and Rup Sagar, with pavilions around them: Gopal Bhawan, Suraj Bhawan in white marble, Kishan Bhawan, Nand Bhawan, and the Keshav Bhawan, a monsoon pavilion where water running through channels in the roof falls like rain while hidden stone balls rolled by water sound like thunder. A tank on the roof fed the fountains of the gardens below.
02The battle of Deeg
In 1804 Raja Ranjit Singh of Bharatpur gave shelter to Yashwantrao Holkar, then at war with the Company. On 13 November 1804 Holkar’s infantry and guns met a British force under General Fraser outside Deeg; Fraser was mortally wounded, and Holkar’s men fell back into the fort. The British stormed the fort in December. Early the next year Lake failed four times to take Bharatpur itself. Today the palace is protected by the Archaeological Survey of India, and on a few festival days, such as Holi, the tanks are filled and the fountains run again in colour.
The life of this place
- 1720sBadan Singh makes Deeg the seat of the Jat raj.
- 1750s–1760sSuraj Mal builds the palaces and water gardens.
- 13 November 1804Battle of Deeg between Yashwantrao Holkar’s army and the British.
- December 1804The British storm and take Deeg fort.
Deeg is about 35 km north of Bharatpur. Ask locally for the dates when the fountains are run.
