Built in 1792 by a British colonial officer and later home to the Khallikote royals, Rambha Palace has been restored into a luxury heritage hotel overlooking Chilika Lake. With architecture rooted in Odia craft traditions and interiors shaped through collaborations with artisans, it offers a rare intersection of history, design, and slow travel on India’s eastern coast.
In 1792, Thomas Snodgrass, the British Collector of Ganjam, Odisha, commissioned a summer retreat on the southern shores of Chilika Lake — Asia’s largest coastal lagoon. Ironically, Snodgrass never got to live there. He built the opulent palace with government funds, leading to his suspension and subsequent return to Britain. In the years after Snodgrass’ death, the palace changed hands many times, eventually becoming home to the Mardaraj dynasty of Khallikote. In the early 20th century, the palace became the birthplace of the Odia ethnonationalist movement when Harihara Mardaraj, then the King, and veteran journalist Nilamani Bidyaratna formed the Ganjam Jatiya Samiti at the Rambha Palace. Today, it is among the East Coast’s most luxurious retreats.
After decades of dereliction, the property has found new life under Himangini Singh, co-founder of Hunch Ventures, and her husband, Karanpal Singh, who set out to showcase Odisha’s rich architectural and craft heritage. Six painstaking years of restoration, led by Sri Lankan architect Channa Daswatte — a protégé of Geoffrey Bawa, one of the most influential Asian architects of the 20th century — honours the building’s architectural complexity. The material choices are deliberately rooted in Odia craft traditions. The eclectic palette celebrates Odisha’s handloom tradition: from native sabai grass transformed into Sri Lankan-style pandan mats and Ikat fabric upholstery to kotpad tribal weaves on walls and ceilings, with dokra metalwork serving as accent pieces.
There are a total of sixteen suites across the estate: eight within the main structure, six in what was once an ice mill and generator room, and two in a secluded Presidential Villa with its own pool. Each suite is dressed in a palette of pastel blues, greens and golds, with Ikat bed runners, colonial four-poster beds and sabai grass basketry rooted in Odisha’s craft heritage. The result is a heritage hotel that feels like a home that has outlasted empires.
Artisans from the Sundarbans in Bengal were essential to this restoration, refurbishing the original terrazzo flooring and 18th-century furniture. The interiors were also complemented with Venetian chandeliers, antique Persian carpets, and metal figurines crafted by Odisha’s Dhokra artisans. A ceiling painting on the second floor by 23-year-old self-taught artist Guru Vinayak Singh Budhwar traces millennia of Odisha’s history in a single sweeping composition.
Outside, French-style gardens lined with Ashoka trees frame the lawns. Irrawaddy dolphins surface in the Chilika Lake, a fifteen-minute walk away. Blackbuck deer, considered auspicious by locals, wander the surrounding fields, adding to the retreat’s natural wonders.
As Indian luxury hospitality moves beyond the familiar terrains of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, Rambha Palace rewards the unhurried traveller who wants not only to stay somewhere beautiful but also to take time to understand why beauty and history accumulate in certain parts of the world.
Learn more about Rambha Palace and reserve your stay here.
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