Sightseeing Highlights:
One of the most popular mansions worth exploring here is Castle Mandawa. It also offers accommodation- having been converted into a heritage hotel. The same is the case with Dundlod Castle. The Poddar Haveli in Nawalgarh is most lavishly painted but you can't stay there. Also worth a dekko are the Patodia and Bansidhar Bhagat havelis. Roop Niwas is an accommodation option here, while the Parasrampura haveli, just a short hop away, has stunning frescoes. Other places to explore are Mukandgarh, Jhunjhunu, Bissau, Mehansar, Ramgarh, Lachhmangarh, Sikar, Bagar, Churu and Fatehpur.
Delineating the life and times of the affluent residents of the region the paintings on the haveli walls, some dating back to 1750 and some as late as 1930, are marked by Mughal, Rajasthani and Persian influences. A jumble of images conjuring up local legend, mythology and modern influences - such as the introduction of the motor car, gramophones and airplanes - find a place in these remarkably preserved, centuries old frescoes
Other Activities
Many of the resorts here offer haveli tours, village community interaction, horse and camel safaris, horse riding and performances by local artists. Meals are best eaten in your hotel of choice as there is no other option. Pick up traditional handicrafts on your tour else look for home-brewed wines made from family recipes by the aristocrats of the region, going back generations.
Tourism info:
RTDC, Hotel Swagatham Complex, Near Railway Station,
Jaipur
Tel (91)- 0141-2315714
The Shekhawati region comprising the districts of Jhunjhunu and Sikar in northeastern Rajasthan, derives its name from Rao Shekha (1433-88) a scion of the house of Jaipur's Kachhwaha clan. The havelis or mansions in this region, from which hail some of the most established names of Indian industry, serve up a delectable banquet of aesthetic delight in terms of architecture and painting.
The havelis here display a curious case of one-upmanship as each of Shekhawati's wealthy residents entered a competition to outshine the other. They embellished the walls of their fancy mansions (already spilling with carpets from Bukhara, gem stone embedded artifacts from Afghanistan and the finest Chinese silks that money could buy off the Silk Route) with a profusion of frescoes in the style known as fresco buono which was developed in the 14th century in Italy.
But then they walked away from it all when the British opened up better opportunities for trade in the thriving port cities of Calcutta and Bombay. These merchant princes of Shekhawati, the affluent Marwari community and owners of these stunning havelis in Rajsathan's desert, left them behind in the hands of retainers and lesser family members.
It was by chance that while traveling through the region that heritage hotel entrepreneurs, the Delhi-based Francis Wacizarg and Aman Nath of Neemarana fame, stumbled upon town after town of these beautifully fresco-embellished havelis (many of them abandoned or falling into disrepair) in the 80s ...And the rest is history as Indian tourism added an exciting new holiday destination to its agenda |
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