Frescoed Havelis of Shekhawati

In 1999, on a trip  to Rajasthan  i  had planned  to visit Shekhawati , specially to see the Haveli Paintings. From Bikaner  on the way to  Jaipur  we halted for one night  at Dundlod Castle


Dundlod Castle

 The brochure  about the place had mentioned about evening entertainment featuring campfire,local dancing etc.We landed at the venue rather late in the evening. We were greeted with  total power failure. We were  accommodated  in 2 large rooms right at the back of the building which you can see in the picture. There were 2 big, ferocious Alsatians let loose to guard the property.Perhaps since we 4 were the only guests that evening , there was no entertainment We thought it wise to order the meals in the room.
Next morning, at breakfast we met the Thakur Saab,the owner of the property. A very pleasant person, he was a cricket fan and an ex radio commentator to boot. Accompanying  us were one of the great spinners of the Indian Cricket  and his wife. Incidentally, Thakur Saab had done a radio commentary at a test match in which our friend had represented India.We  got into most interesting conversation with Thakur Saab, thus forgetting previous night's discomfort. When I mentioned to Thakur Saab about my interest in Shekhawati painted Havelis , he gave us some astounding information.         
                       

The State Room
and
Entrance to a chamber

  Dundlod Castle had its share of frescoes and finery. Thakur Saab told us that if we wanted to see the  best in this art form, we had to visit Navalgarh. From the directions he gave us, at Navalgarh we had to go to the end of sabji mandi to a small chai shop on the right. Accordingly at Navalgarh we landed at a small dark dingy eatery, about 15 ft x 15 ft where we found the owner of the joint busy frying samosas.He  hardly had any customers in the shop. We ordered tea and hot samosas.When we told the owner about the purpose of our visit, he most disinterestedly told us that in a room upstairs there was some kind of a wall painting.He added that since  there was a power failure, at Navalgarh we wouldn't be able to see anything. But we insisted and he reluctantly took us upstairs over a rickety wooden staircase.



In the chai shop at
Navalgarh

 

In the dim candle light what we saw was awesome.
All over the roof of the room and on the walls were frescoes depicting scenes from the life of Krishna !.
Something like Sistine Chapel !!

Frescoes on the Havelis  in Shekhawati are really most fascinating.The history and evolution of this art form has to be learnt from an expert. 

Goenka Haveli



After Navalgarh we visited other towns in this North eastern region of Rajasthan between Bikaner and Jaipur which is called Shekhawati.It's inhabitants are known as  Marwaris, who for centuries have been known for their entrepreneurship and appreciation of art. The practice of painting their residential havelis started in 18th century and reached its zenith in 19th century. It is said that in this activity there  was keen competition amongst the neighbours. The men folk used to be away on business for most of the year and would  return  to be with the families for a while. If the master found his neighbour had  painted his haveli with the scenes from Ramayana he would order his haveli to be painted with scenes from Mahabharata !
 Over the times the masters and their families moved to big cities which was the place of their business and they felt no need to keep the families away. The craze for painting of havelis started diminishing  and most of the wall paintings  faded away. But over last few years there has been a surge in the attempts to restore the  havelis to their past beautiful state. Thus as the restoration of the paintings is proving to be a great tourist attraction.
                                    



Painting on the wall
in
Jaisalmir



By and large i found Rajasthan very colourful. The colours of the clothes people wear and the surroundings of their decorated houses even in the villages stand out in  contrast to the harsh colourless desert background.

Painted havelies is  "must see" item on a visit to Rajasthan.