RANJIT’S SVAASA, AMRITSAR

A heritage boutique spa ksveli, Ranjit’s SVAASA is a tribute by a wife to her late husband. The over 200-year-old ancestral haveli has been restored, offering boutique rooms and suites and an award-winning holistic spa in the holy city of Amritsar. The warm, personalised service with ancient architecture sciences and the fact that it is the first property in Amritsar with rainwater harvesting and solar heating, and also its usage of vaastu and age-old healthy cooking practices add up to a holistic experience.

USP – It was the erstwhile guesthouse of the late Rai Bahadur Rattan Chand Mehra, O.B.E., who played a key role in establishing the international dry port of green tea and wholesale market within the walled city of Amritsar that exists and runs till date. He also played a pivotal role in the management of the Harmandir Sahib (before the formation of the SGPC) and the local town planning outside the walled city.

HERITAGE PICK – There is a story that after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Rattan Chand Mehra was called upon by the British government to come to the Town Hall and change the statement in favour of General Dyer as his word held more weight than the entire city of Amritsar. In return, he would be knighted and the family would gain immense wealth and much more. He refused. On the day he died, the entire city downed its shutters in tribute. He was proud of his ancestry and said that when he saluted the British it was with a cat’s-eye ring turned inwards so that he was saluting his own lineage. His portrait with the ring on his little finger still hangs in the corridor of Ranjit’s SVAASA.

BLENDING HISTORY WITH LUXURY – You enter into the Time Corridor, lined with photographs going back eight generations. The suites at Ranjit’s SVAASA are named after ancestors with the Rattan Chand Suite being the most lavish. Where once stood the cowshed and the horse stables is the renowned SVAASA Spa—Hibiscus Pavilion. The young staff is personally selected by Abhimanyu Rattan Mehra. The concept of Ranjit’s SVAASA, created by Rama Ranjit Mehra, is of a home away from home.

PRIZED ARTEFACT – The beautiful silk hand-woven Persian carpet It was made by a craftsman who only made four of a kind. He presented it to the late Ranjit Rattan Mehra for help extended in his hour of need.