Jaipur (AsiaNews) – Potential buyers from Europe, America and the Middle East are queuing up to become India’s new maharajas. More than a hundred of Rajasthan’s forts and castles—once ornate palaces and castles built over centuries, home to Rajput kings and chieftains—are now crumbling and going up for sale across the state at prices amazingly close to or even less than that of a city penthouse. Once great but now impoverished aristocratic families want to rid themselves of properties too expensive to upkeep.
Offers such as these are wetting the appetite of many an Indian expatriate or rich foreigner, who are tempted by Rajasthan’s rich historical heritage to invest in a lucrative business venture.
Gajraj Singh is one seller ready to let go. With no heir to inherit his ancestral property, the 70-year-old owner of Pushkar castle wants to cash in and give part of the money to his adopted son and spend the rest on building a charitable hospital in the district, he told Times of India.
Many Western buyers are excided by the idea of living in a castle surrounded by exotic vegetation, one that is also cheap to buy, but most look to turn old castles into hotels.
This is what happened to Neemrana Fort (built in 1464) which was sold and re-converted into a luxury resort in the early 1990s. This in turn has pushed up the cost of maintaining other similar buildings.
Indeed if Neemrana Fort was sold for almost US$ 24,000, Ajabgarh Haveli, near Alwar, went for almost US$ 190,000.
By comparison a flat in a posh Jaipur neighbourhood can go for prices ranging from around US$ 300,000 to almost US$ 24 million.