Goa, Sept. 17 -- Anil Purohit

It's easy to miss Shivtirth Palace on the road snaking past Nagesh Maharudra Temple in Ponda. Set back from the narrow village road, the palace sits back in a stately building enclosed by a compound that shares an access with the adjoining Nagesh temple. However, the moment you step through the entrance and take a spacious corridor skirting a large open courtyard, past a Lord Ganesha and Goddess Gauri installations on a raised waist-high arched platform supporting pillars with painted murals of flowers, lion, and soldier, you're soon brought up short in surprise at a display of a large armoury comprising of a variety of vintage guns and swords.

It becomes evident you're face to face with a royal armoury. An...