Wonder in marble

Built in 1835 by wealthy zamindar Raja Rajendra Mullick Bahadur, this palatial family home has seen better days. However, several works attributed to Titian and Renoir remain, while Venetian chandeliers, Ming vases, Egyptian statuary, paintings, sculptures, furniture and antique vases accumulated from over 90 countries crowd the enormous, dimly lit rooms that open off deep verandas around an inner courtyard.

Admission to the fabulous palace is free, but visitors need a pass from the local tourism office; if you arrive without one, the guard will let you in for a small fee. A guide (at times, a young boy trying to make some pocket money) is sent with visitors, but it’s pretty much a sham — insist on someone knowledgeable.

It was a nippy day in January when I stepped into the cool interior of the Marble Palace for a spin back to the 19th century. Making lavish use of Italian marble, the deep-pocketed Raja built the palace, which could have been straight out of Gone with the Wind, and typically demonstrated the period’s ostentation and the Rajas’ expensive emulation of haute western civilisation.

Maintenance is not the strong suit of Kolkata, where decrepit but stately buildings are clothed in moss and mildew, and this cavernous, once-grand neo-classical mansion is no exception. It’s now a ghostly stage set (often used by film crews) that only hints at splendours and gala dinners from the days when Kolkata was the capital of the Raj, the second city in the British empire after London.

Descendants of the original owners live in the upper quarters, leaving the lower floors — chock-a-block with inlaid mirrors and memories — open to public. One can only imagine the heirlooms that have been sold off here and there, but look what remains: a Reynolds, a Rubens, a Rembrandt, crystal chandeliers the size of elephants, urns, busts of kings and queens, stone lions, moose heads on exterior walls overlooking overgrown lawns and fountains, enormous baroque ballrooms and billiard rooms, Uffizi-like corridors with inlaid mosaic floors and an empty throne room. Mention must be made of a wooden statue of Queen Victoria which has been carved out of a single tree stump.

Not everyone is impressed though by the remarkable exhibits. In fact, Geoffrey Moorhouse, in his book, Calcutta: The City Revealed, says it looks “as if they had been scavenged from job lots on the Portobello Road (in London) on a series of damp Saturday afternoons”.

A number of festivals are celebrated at Marble Palace, but most noteworthy is the rath yatra. Lord Jagannath is the household deity at Rajendra Mullick’s mansion. The festival was instituted in 1802 by his father Nilmoni, who also built a temple in the adjoining garden. Rajendra Mullick converted the entire estate to a ‘debuttar’ property, ensuring that Jagannath is worshipped with equal fervour over the years with its income.

Hundreds of poor people are fed in the mansion during rath yatra. If a couple of hundred congregate there round the year for meals, the figure quadruples on the big day. Every employee of the estate has his role assigned for the puja. The priest, his helpers, cooks and  hymn-singers are all from families that are in their sixth generation of service to the Lord. The Mullick rath never trundles out on the streets. But people are welcomed into the house, both to view the deity and enjoy the fair that takes place on the occasion.

The days before rath yatra are very busy ones for the Mullick family. The elders in the family decide on bhog (offerings) items and just as Lord Jagannath’s attire changes every day, the menu too is different on each day of the week till Ultarath.

No description of the Marble Palace can end without a mention of its collection of birds. As I ended my tour of the mansion, I was alerted by the screeching sounds made by dozens of parakeets kept in wooden cages. Peacocks, hornbills, pelicans, storks and cranes complete the collection. The menagerie also comprises monkeys and deer. Marble Palace is truly one of a kind!