The Monsoon Palace, also known as the Sajjan Garh Palace, is a hilltop palatial residence in the city of Udaipur, Rajasthan in India, overlooking the Fateh Sagar Lake. It is named Sajjangarh after Maharana Sajjan Singh (1874–1884) of the Mewar Dynasty, who built it in 1884. The palace offers a panoramic viewof the city’s lakes, palaces and surrounding countryside. It was built chiefly to watch the monsoon clouds; hence, appropriately, it is popularly known as Monsoon Palace. It is said that the Maharana built it at the top of the hill to get a view of his ancestral home, Chittaurgarh.
Previously owned by the Mewar royal family, it is now under the control of the Forest Department of the Government of Rajasthan and has recently been opened to the public. The palace provides a beautiful view of the sunset. High in the Aravalli Hills, just outside Udaipur, the Palace is illuminated in the evenings, giving a golden orange glow. The palace was used in the 1983 James Bond film Octopussy as the residence of Kamal Khan, an exiled Afghan prince.
The palace, built with white marble, is located on Bansdara peak of the Aravalli hill range at an elevation of 944 m (3100 ft) above mean sea level, overlooking Lake Pichola from the west about 1,100 ft (340 m) below the palace. The intention of the original planner, Maharana Sajjan Singh, was to build a nine story complex, basically as an astronomical center and to keep track of the movement of monsoon clouds in the area surrounding the palace, and also to provide employment to people. It was also meant to serve as a resort for the royal family.
