Shimla: Viceregal Lodge

Located on Observatory Hill at the western edge of the Shimla ridge, the Viceregal Lodge was built in 1888 as the residence of Viceroy Lord Dufferin. After India's indepence, it was renamed Rashtrapati Niwas and now houses the Indian Institute of Advance Study.

Built on a high 331-acre site, leveled for the purpose, the lodge is visible from far down the hillside and was intended as a proud symbol of the Empire. Over the portico at the main entrance is a coat of arms with inscriptions above it naming the architect (Irwin), the executive and assistant engineers, and the Earl of Dufferin as the current Viceroy.

For its day, the lodge had state-of-the-art technology. It had its own steam generator, and was the first building in Shimla to employ electric lighting. The lodge also had running hot and cold water, together with a sophisticated system for collecting and storing bath and rainwater, including two tans under the front lawn.

Crucial meetings with Mahatma Gandhi, Jawahartal Nehru and Mohammed Ali Jinnah were held in the lodge during the Indian independence struggle. Negotiation papers during the Partition (India / Pakistan / Bangladesh) were prepared and signed on the table show in the picture above.

In total, 13 different Viceroys stayed at the lodge, starting with Dufferin and ending with Mountbatten. Some loved it, others found it too big and too drafty and couldn't wait to get away from it. Lady Curzon thought it looked ludicrous , Lord Montague said it looked like a "Scottish Hydro" and other thought it resembled Pentonville Prison.

And just in case your were wondering what exactly a Viceroy is --- he is a royal official who runs a country or province in the name of and as representative of the king/queen. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the French word roi, meaning king. His territory is called a viceroyalty. The adjective form is viceregal. And his wife is called a Vicereine (reine being the French word for queen).

The Viceroy was appointed by the British Sovereign to oversee the administration of the British Raj and to conduct relations with the quasi-independent Princely States of india. The Viceroys were largely unencumbered in the exercise of the exercise of their authority and were among the most powerful men on earth in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, ruling over an entire subcontinent and with a large military force at their disposal in the form of the British Indian Army. Alongside the Commander-in-Chief of India, the Viceroy was the public face of the British presence in India, attending to many ceremonial functions as well as political affairs. As the representative of the Emperors and Empresses of India (aka King/Queen of England), the Viceroy served as the Grand Master of the two principal chivalric orders of British India: the Order of the Star of India and the Order of the Indian Empire.

Ok ... I think that's enough history for today ...