Author Topic: Nicholas's visit to South Asia - India & Sri Lanka ( then known as Ceylon)  (Read 22838 times)

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Nayomini

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Hello - I am an avid Romanov fan from Sri Lanka and have always wondered about the visit of Nicholas as Tsarvich to this part of the world. It is documented that he visited Colombo ( our capital city) and of course many cities in India but not many details emerge. Just wondering if anyone knows anything about the visit and details so that I could perhaps check out places he visited here, out of interest of course.

RomanovsFan4Ever

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Hello Nayomini!

Unfortunately I don't have detailed informations about Nicholas's visits in India and Srì Lanka, but I read somewhere that in India he visited some important palaces, included the famous Taj Mahal and the Harimandir Sahib (the Golden Temple).

I will do a search with the hope of finding more informations.


Offline Janet Ashton

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Hello - I am an avid Romanov fan from Sri Lanka and have always wondered about the visit of Nicholas as Tsarvich to this part of the world. It is documented that he visited Colombo ( our capital city) and of course many cities in India but not many details emerge. Just wondering if anyone knows anything about the visit and details so that I could perhaps check out places he visited here, out of interest of course.

Yes, I can help a bit  - after Colombo he went to Kandy where of course he saw the Temple of the Tooth and also the botanical gardens; then on to the hill station Nuwara Eliya to go hunting, via the famous Darawella Club (I am not sure this is the current spelling, but I know for sure it still exists). At Nuwara they stayed in a villa called Queen's Cottage, which is possibly also still called that I think. After that they also hunted at Urudogawatta before going back to Colombo to depart. They were there a week in all, and "they" equals not just Nicholas and George but also Sandro and Sergei, who were with them all week. You should be able to check out some of these places - and by the way, if you do, I'd love to see pictures of the house at Nuwara Eliya!
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you -
Ye are many; they are few.

Alixz

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We have a thread called the Chronology of the Travels of Nicholas II as Tsar and Tsarevich.

Please anyone with information on his travels during his Far East Trip or at anytime during his life help us out!

Alixz

Nayomini

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Thank you Janet, that was very descriptive and far more informative than I thought I would ever find. Thank you again. The house in Nuwara Eliya he stayed in (Nuwara Eliya by the way is known as Sri Lanka's little England, a scenic hill country location) is currently the President's official bunglow (has been since independence) and the Darawella Club still sort of exists. Shall check that out. Of course at the time of Nicholas, these were exclusive haunts of the British Raj and their guests. The Temple of the Tooth and the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens he visited are still the traditional choices for tourists. I wonder if he planted something in the gardens as visiting dignitaries often did. I can check that one out next time I visit Kandy. Orugodawatte you say he visited for hunting is today a bustling area of the city (closer to Colombo than Kandy). I shall set to work on getting you a picture of the Queens House - it is a wonderful bungalow as most British built ones are and is well maintained, up to date. Maybe there are pics of the visit by the Tsarvich inside but with security, it would be difficult to get in. Nevertheless, I shall try. I am so thrilled that Nicholas did visit our part of the world and it means so much. Thanks Janet once again - you seem to know a lot about this part of the world.           

RomanovsFan4Ever

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I wonder if there are some photos of Nicholas during his visit in India and Sri Lanka (Ceylon in that time)...
Since he visited many places there in India, from Bombay (now Mumbay), to Madurai, I'm also curious to know if he visited the famous Khajuraho temple..the "Temple of love", from what I read in the topic about the chronology of his travels, he visited Gwalior, that is in the same state where the Khajuraho temple it's located (Madhya Pradesh now, in that time it was called "Central Provinces" of British India, if I'm not wrong).
« Last Edit: January 26, 2010, 05:31:38 AM by RomanovsFan4Ever »

Offline nena

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I have found the three that Nicholas seeded at Sri Lanka in 1891. (Here).
-------------------
You can here find some photos of Nicholas and GD Georgiy during March of 1891, during visiting Far East, Siam, and Bangkok. :

http://ciama.narod.ru/photoalbum111.html

I can't find some taken at India/Sri Lanka. :-(

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Mathematics, art and history in ♥

RomanovsFan4Ever

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No problem, thank you anyway!
By the way, I have another question...I wonder if Nicholas wrote something about his visit in India on his diary, (I've read that he kept a diary when he was a Tsarevich too), I'd like to know how was his impression about India of that time.
(I'm currently very interested in India's history and culture...).
« Last Edit: January 26, 2010, 05:19:06 PM by RomanovsFan4Ever »

Offline nena

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Young Tsarevich indeed kept diary, since he was nine, up to summer of 1918, without a day missed in it. I have never come across any 1891 extract, except the one during Otsu incident in Japan.
-Ars longa, vita brevis -
Mathematics, art and history in ♥

hikaru

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The fregate "Pamyaty Azova" came to Colombo 31st January 1891.
His cousins's ship's name was "Tamara". They came to Colombo 3rd of January.Nicholas had to spend at Ceylon 3 days, but, spent more.
I know that in India he was accompanied by Sir Donald Mc.Kenji Walliace and Colonel Gerard.


Offline newfan

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Re: Nicholas's visit to South Asia - India & Sri Lanka ( then known as Ceylon)
« Reply #10 on: January 30, 2010, 02:34:37 AM »
there is a book about his travels to East
Путешествіе на Восток Его Императорскаго Высочества Государя Наслѣдника Цесаревича, 1890-1891

RomanovsFan4Ever

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Re: Nicholas's visit to South Asia - India & Sri Lanka ( then known as Ceylon)
« Reply #11 on: January 30, 2010, 04:02:00 AM »
Thank you for the informations!

there is a book about his travels to East
Путешествіе на Восток Его Императорскаго Высочества Государя Наслѣдника Цесаревича, 1890-1891

Do you know if there are some photos on this book, and if it was translated in other languages? (but since I'm planning to study Russian, I can buy the original version anyway, if it's easily available).

Offline newfan

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Re: Nicholas's visit to South Asia - India & Sri Lanka ( then known as Ceylon)
« Reply #12 on: January 30, 2010, 09:41:17 AM »
no its only russian with pictures and sketchech made by the tsarevitch

Offline Janet Ashton

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Re: Nicholas's visit to South Asia - India & Sri Lanka ( then known as Ceylon)
« Reply #13 on: February 01, 2010, 07:04:25 AM »
no its only russian with pictures and sketchech made by the tsarevitch

Just to clarify - the pictures aren't the Tsesarevich's, actually, but are the work of several artists including the trip's official artist, Gritsenko. The book was translated into many languages at the time it was published, the English version appearing between 1896 and 1900 (in two volumes). All versions of the book are now extremely expensive and are classified as rare. People would have to go to a major research library to access one since copies don't often come on the market (even assuing anyone could afford to pay in excess of $1,000 for one book! :-)).
Recently, parts of the book have been translated into English and re-issued - for example, there was one volume called "Tsesarevich Nicholas in Egypt and India", covering his time in those countries, and another which deals with Siam. They seem to have been based on the original German translation rather than Ukhtomskii's Russian text.

Nicholas did decorate his letters to his mother and his sister with sketches of things he saw. His diary entries for his travels are brief at first (using a pre-printed diary), but when he switched into using what is efectively an exercise book (at the begnning of 1891) he started writing more. Unfortunately most of the entries are the usual account of regiments he reviewed and things he killed; he saves most observation for his letters, particularly those he wrote to his cousin Sandro, with whom he was more frank than with his parents.
Despite these bland diaries, I do believe his travels left a deep imprint on Nicholas, even if they basically confirmed him in ideas he had been taught from infancy about government and Russia's place in the world.
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you -
Ye are many; they are few.

hikaru

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Re: Nicholas's visit to South Asia - India & Sri Lanka ( then known as Ceylon)
« Reply #14 on: February 01, 2010, 09:23:27 AM »
One volume per 1000$is very cheap for Russia.
You can not buy this book even for 10000$in Russia now.