If someone asked you to picture a royal palace, you’d probably imagine glittering chandeliers, ornate thrones, portraits of moustachioed kings, and stories of battles won by men. Sawantwadi Palace, however, tells a different story. Sitting in all its glory in Maharashtra’s Konkan region, this 270-year-old palace is one of the state’s last living royal residences and the ancestral home of the Sawant Bhonsle family. In our Palaces In India segment, we recently got rare access inside the palace, and while the secret chambers, royal heirlooms and centuries-old traditions are fascinating, it was one unexpected discovery that completely stole the show.
Inside The Darbar Hall That Honours Royal Women
The heroes of this palace are, quite literally, the queens. Walk into the magnificent Darbar Hall, arguably the most significant room in the palace, and you’ll notice something gloriously unusual. Instead of being dominated by portraits celebrating generations of kings, the space is lined with portraits of royal women. The room beautifully tells you that the women of this family weren’t standing in the background while history unfolded, but were helping write it.
Then comes the moment that genuinely makes you stop. Mounted across the palace are hunting trophies, including imposing tigers and an incredibly rare black panther. Most visitors make the same assumption. Surely these were hunted by the kings. Spoiler: they weren’t.
The palace reveals that many of these animals were brought down by the ranis themselves.
Tigers And Black Panther Were Hunted By The Queens
Displayed with immense pride is a rare black panther hunted in 1933 at Mahadevgad by Himmat Baiji. Read that sentence again. A royal queen, a black panther, 1933!
That single story is enough to dismantle generations of assumptions about what royal women were expected to be.
These weren’t women remembered only for jewels, etiquette or ceremonial appearances. They hunted! They possessed remarkable skill, courage and authority at a time when society rarely imagined women occupying such spaces.
The palace never tries to convince visitors that its women were extraordinary. It simply presents the evidence and lets history speak for itself.
That history stretches back even further than many people realise. The Sawant Bhonsle lineage predates the Maratha Empire itself, making this one of the region’s oldest and regalest royal families. Today, the younger Prince and Princess, both trained at the Culinary Institute of America in New York, have returned home to preserve the family’s legacy while bringing fresh ideas to it.
Alongside handwritten recipes dating back to the 1700s, they continue traditions surrounding the 400-year-old Dashavatar Ganjifa art, royal Konkani cuisine, and cultural practices that have survived for centuries.
Watch the full Palaces In India episode on the Curly Tales App and the Curly Tales YouTube Channel.
Cover Image Courtesy: Internal
FAQs
Why is Sawantwadi Palace famous?
Sawantwadi Palace is known for being one of Maharashtra's last living royal residences, its rich Maratha heritage, Dashavatar Ganjifa art, and the remarkable legacy of the Sawant Bhonsle family.
Who hunted the black panther displayed at Sawantwadi Palace?
According to the palace, the rare black panther displayed there was hunted by Himmat Baiji in 1933 at Mahadevgad.
Where is Sawantwadi Palace located?
Sawantwadi Palace is located in the Konkan region of Maharashtra, in Sindhudurg district.
