Phul Bagh

Madhukar Shah, in contrast to his son Bir Singh Deo, was an aesthete, a recluse and a religious man. He was also very fond of hydraulics. Near the Ram Raja Temple, but sequestered from it by a high wall, he created the delightful water pavilions and formal gardens of the Phul Bagh.

Animal-powered water-wheels filled reservoirs from where the water flowed in channels atop the perimeter walls to spout out of fountains, cascade down small artificial falls, drizzle from the ceiling of a Monsoon Pavilion and pour into a huge, wine-glass shaped, stone cup. The hydraulics no longer work and the Monsoon Pavilion is be¬ing used as a school but visitors can still marvel at the ingenuity of a mild-mannered man who could cre¬ate such cool retreats four centuries before Willis H. Carrier invented the air conditioner.