Aman Nath (born 1950) is an Indian historian, writer, hotelier, and architectural restorer. He is the co-founder and chairman of Neemrana Hotels, a chain of heritage properties in India, and is widely credited with pioneering the restoration and adaptive reuse of historic ruins into heritage hotels.
Early Life and Education
Aman Nath was born in 1950 in New Delhi, India. His family migrated from Lahore to Delhi following the Partition of India in 1947. He completed a postgraduate degree in medieval Indian history from St. Stephen's College, Delhi University.
Career
Nath began his professional career as a copywriter and graphic designer in advertising. He was one of the youngest founding members of INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage), established in 1984. He later served as the arts editor for India Today magazine and curated "Art Today," the India Today group's art gallery in Connaught Place, New Delhi, for seven years.
In 1981, while researching a book on Shekhawati painting and frescoes with Francis Wacziarg, a former French diplomat, Nath first encountered the ruined 15th-century Neemrana Fort, approximately 120 km from Delhi. In 1986, he acquired the fort and, after restoration, opened it as a 12-room heritage hotel in 1991. This became the foundation of the Neemrana Hotels chain. As of 2025, Neemrana Hotels operated 20 properties across 8 Indian states, with over 30 heritage properties restored since the company's inception.
Nath describes his properties as "non-hotel hotels," emphasizing that they were not originally built as hotels but are historically significant structures restored with minimal modern intervention. The term "Neemranification" has been used to describe his model of sustainable heritage tourism involving local communities.
Books and Publications
Nath has authored or co-authored approximately 15 to 18 illustrated books on Indian art, history, architecture, and corporate biography, including:
- Rajasthan: The Painted Walls of Shekhavati (1982, with Francis Wacziarg)
- Arts and Crafts of Rajasthan (1997, with Francis Wacziarg)
- Horizons: The Tata-India Century, 1904–2004 (2004)
- Dome Over India: Rashtrapati Bhavan (2006)
- Jaipur: The Last Destination (2006)
- Jodhpur's Umaid Bhawan: The Maharaja of Palaces (2008)
- Cipla (2021)
Two of his books are designed to open out to two metres in size and are routinely presented to visiting heads of state and dignitaries by the President and Prime Minister of India.
Legal and Social Activism
In June 2016, Nath was one of six petitioners who filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court of India challenging Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalized consensual same-sex relations. This led to the landmark 2018 judgment in Navtej Singh Johar and Others v. Union of India, in which the Supreme Court unanimously declared the law unconstitutional.
Awards and Honours
- Lifetime Achievement Award from the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India (2014)
- Condé Nast Traveller Lifetime Achievement Award (2017)
- Chevalier de l'Ordre national de la Légion d'Honneur (Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honour) by the President of France (2017)
- Nomination for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (2004)
- Awards from UNESCO and the Indian travel trade industry
- Gallery of Legends India Hospitality Award (2017)
- MSOSA Award for Excellence (2018)
Personal Life
Nath resides in the Nizamuddin East area of New Delhi. He has a daughter, Aadya Nath, who studied hotel management in Switzerland and works in the hospitality industry.
