The painted havelis of Rajasthan

Twelve years ago I visited India for the first time. It was a whirlwind 3-week trip that introduced me to many of the country’s major cities and sights. But it was Rajasthan, located in the northwest corner of India, that most captivated me.

Over the years, the images of Rajasthan remained as vivid in my mind as when I first saw them: the seemingly endless desert punctuated with small villages, haughty camels sedately pulling carts, sprawling medieval fortress, thronged Hindu temples, lavish maharajas’ palaces and -always - Rajasthani women dressed in vibrant yellows, oranges and reds in vivid contrast to their arid desert environment.

I had dreamed of returning. I finally did in January 2002. I discovered A Touch of Class Tours, a company that offers both group and individual tours to India, including one that concentrates on Rajasthan. This was my chance to explore in-depth a region I had fallen in love with on that first trip.

I expected camels, fortresses, temples, and palaces and I wasn’t disappointed. I go them in abundance. What I didn’t expect was Shekhawati, an area in the northeast of Rajasthan rich in spectacularly painted mansions called havelis. I do not use the word “spectacular” lightly. Shekhawati has been called one of the richest artistic and architectural areas in India.

Marwari merchants

Originally ruled by military tyrants and later by Rajput warriors, Shekhawati prospered because of its location on the caravan routes linking Gujarat on the Arabian Sea to the interior of the country. Merchants established trading posts along these caravan routes, which quickly grew into towns. As they grew rich, the merchants funneled their wealth into the building of havelis as well as into the temples, wells and family memorials called chhatris that pepper the region.

With the establishment of the British Raj in the early to mid-9th Century, trade shifted to the coastal ports of Bombay (now Mumbai), Calcutta and Madras (now Chennai). Astute Shekhawati merchants, called Marwaris, left their Shekhawati hometowns for the big port cities, But, at least for the next few generations, their families remained behind while the wealthy merchants poured money into decorating their ancestral homes with paintings. These painted havelis are the glory of Shekhawati.

Havelis

The havelis, mostly built between the 1800 and 1930, proliferated throughout Shekhawati as merchants vied to build the grandest, most richly decorated mansions. A large main gateway, with a smaller doorway cut into it, led into an interior courtyard called the mardana, where visitors were received in the baithak, or salon. The mardana was where the men of the household spent much of their day.

Beyond the mardana, separated from it by a wall and short vestibule, was the zenana, or inner courtyard where the women of the household lived. Depending on the merchant’s wealth there might be additional courtyards. Rooms surrounded the courtyards rising usually two to there stories high.

Shekhawati havelis were extravagantly painted - exterior building facades, interior courtyard walls, rooms, ceilings, even archways. The surface was covered with plaster, and while the top layer was still damp, paint was applied, creating a fresco. The colors used were vegetable dyes gradually replacing natural vegetable dyes toward the end of the 19th century.

What was painted on these surfaces? Just about everything: floral and arabesque designs influenced by the Muslim Mughals who ruled much of northern India for almost 200 years (1527-1707), scenes from folktales and Hindu mythology, portraits…

But truly unique are the representations of inventions that were introduced by the British, inventions that often the naïve artists had never actually seen. Steamships, trains, car bicycles, gramophones and early airplanes are abundantly represented all increasingly part of the Marwari merchant’s life in the large cities they now called home but rare in the small towns they came from.

Mandawa’s frecoes

At the heart of the Shekhawati region - roughly a triangular area whose points are Jaipur, Delhi and Bikaner - lies Mandawa a busy, dusty town about 150 miles west of Delhi. In the heart of Mandawa is Mandawa Castle, built around 1755, a sturdy fortress now housing a palace hotle run by descendants of Nawal Singh, founder of the town. Some of the oldest frescoes in Shekhawati, well over 200 years old decorate the walls of rooms within the castle.

There are dozens of painted havelis in Mandawa. A visitor with even limited time can easily stroll the unpavedstreets sampling a few of the best. There’s Goenka Double Haveli (built 1890), with monumental frescoes of elephants and horses decorating its façade, and Gulab Rai Ladia (1870) with elephants and camels on its façade.

Nandlal Mumrmuria (1935) has a seemingly incongruous assortment of frescoes: Nehru riding a horse, King George V of England, and Venice compete with gondolas.

Basni Dhar Newatai (1921) combines traditional frescoes of horses and elephants with those depicting a young boy using a phone plus opulent touring cars and the Wright Brothers’ plane.

There are many more havelis to see, all within walking distance of Mandawa Castle. It is nice to visit the best-known havelis, but it is also one of the joys of this small town to simply stroll at random making serendipitous discoveries. You can do both if you spend a few nights here.

Fifteen miles south is Nawalgarh, another of Shekhawati’s most important painted towns. It is estimated that this small town boasts more than 100 painted havelis. If you see no other, see Anandilal Poddar Haveli (1920), an extremely well-preserved mansion with vibrant frescoes decorating its exterior and interior walls. The Poddar family are wealthy Bombay-based industrialists who have been active in building schools both in Shekhawati and throughout India. This was once their home.

In between Mandawa and Nawalgarh are Muhundgarh, with several large painted havelis as well as a 250-year-old fort that blends Mughal and Hindu architectural styles (it is now a hotel).

Almost any Shekhawati town will have at least one painted haveli, but the towns offering the best selection include Fatehpur, Jhunjhunu and Ramgarh - all close to Mandawa - in addition to Nawalgarh and Mandawa.

Here are a few hints for visiting havelis. To maximizeuse of time and see as many havelis as possible, it is wise to have a guide with you to locate them. Wear sturdy walking shoes; streets can be rutty and dusty or muddy. Remember that many havelis are either unoccupied and a caretaker will need to be found or are occupied by numerous families apartment-house style (in both cases, a guide will be helpful in requesting entrance).

More in Rajasthan

Shekhawati was the icing on my India cake, but our 2-week Rajasthan trip included so much more: Ranakpur, one of India’s foremost Jain temples (Jains believe in successive re-births and are strict vegetarians); resplendent City Palace in Udaipur; Jantar Mantar, the 300-year old astronomical observatory in Jaipur; the Bishonoi villages we visited in th company of Prince Siddharth Singh of Rohet, and the streets and markets of Jaisalmer and Jodhpur where craftsmen and tradesmen carry out their business in much the same way they’ve done for hundreds of years.

And there was string of magnificent fortress we visited: Junagarh in Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Mehrangarh in Jodhpur, Amber just outside Jaipur and, my favorite, Kumbalgarh, a deserted medieval citadel magnificently situated in the mountains north of Udaipur.

Leaving Rajasthan on our way back to Delhi, we revisited two favorites from previous trips: Fatehpur Sikri, the short-lived 16th century Mughal capital, and the always magnificent Taj Mahal.