The Fabulous Havelis of Shekhawati

A haveli watchman with Doug

Rajasthan - the very name conjures up visions of camels, kings and women in colourful saris. We'd spent a month in Rajasthan during our last visit in 2006, visiting the 'three jewels' - Jodhpur, Jaipur and Jaisalmer.  And we've already spent time here in this visit, returning to see our old friend Govind in Jodhpur.  And now we've come back to Jaipur to go to a little visited place that's caught my imagination: Shekhawati.

Shekhawati: I love just the sound of it’s name.  Maybe because it evokes images of sheiks.  But no, there were no sheiks here.  But there were Rajput princes – ‘sons of kings’ – and descendents of the ruling Hindu warrior classes of North India.  It was a particular clan of Rajputs – the Shekhawat Rajputs, of course – that ruled the Shekhawati area.  I see them riding (and hunting) elephants and camels, beturbaned and royally dressed in brocaded and embroidered silk jackets, worn long over tight white johjpur-style pants, their wives (I’m sure they had several) just as splendid, in colourful silk saris, and richly bejeweled, fairly dripping with heavy gold – always gold – earrings, necklaces and bracelets, inset with rubies, pearls and sapphires.  I can even smell the incense and perfumes – jasmine, rose, sandalwood and my favourite, frangipani – that permeated the rooms in their homes, and wafted after them as they strode, or ambled, through the town... .  

A grand old haveli in Fatehpur

Shekhawati: an area in northeastern Rajasthan, not far from Jaipur.  In the Thar desert, where the winters are too cold, and the summers too hot.  Where water is scarce, and life is hard.  And where the Rajputs, Marwari traders and upper-class merchants who lived here built large – indeed huge – manor houses for themselves and their extended families.  These grand old houses, called havelis (from the Arabic word ‘hawali’, meaning ‘private space’) were mostly constructed during the latter part of the 19^th century and early 20^th century. 

Haveli in Fatehpur

They were status symbols, often two or three stories high, and built with bricks, sandstone, granite, wood, and even marble, depending on the wealth of their owners.  Their imposing facades, with their sculpted balconies and archways over doors and windows, usually had only one main entrance – a large wooden door or gate, undoubtedly well guarded – leading into a series of enclosed inner courtyards or ‘chouks’. The first and smallest chouk acted as a foyer, where visitors might be received and either invited in or ushered out.  More secluded chouks were the private domain of the family.  Some were exclusively for the women, where they could go about their daily business, shielded from prying eyes.  The richer the family, the more chouks there might be. 

There are havelis in other parts of India – especially Rajasthan – and in Pakistan.  And we’d seen many on our travels.  But the havelis of Shekhawati are something special and unique.  They are adorned, inside and out, with beautiful and often fanciful frescoes, painted both inside and outside, with images of gods, goddesses, plants, animals, scenes from the British Raj, and highly imaginative images of trains and flying boats.  It’s these frescoed havelis that we’re here to see.

Remember, these were done before 1930, likely before many cars were seen in Rajasthan

We started off in the largest town in the Shekhawati region, Fatehpur.  We got there by going from Jaipur to Sikim, by train.  The lovely Sikim railway station gave us a pretty good idea of how important the havelis are to tourism in Shekhawati - its walls are adorned with haveli-style paintings.

From Sikim we caught a very crowded but to Fatehpur.  Although the town itself didn’t feel like somewhere we wanted to stay – perhaps because we didn’t like the hotel – we were impressed with our first glimpse of the fabled Shekhawati havelis.  In addition to the ones posted above - including the flying boat-car - there were a couple of others that I loved.

This one for the riot of colours and the lovely statues

And this one for the wonderfully detailed images of horses, cars and people.

Determined to leave Fatehpur, we consulted our Lonely Planet guide again, and decided the best place to be was Mandawa, and the best place in Mandawa was the Shekhawati Hotel.  Although designed with the look of a haveli in mind, the hotel was not an old haveli, and the paintings, albeit fantastic were 'new' (ie. less than 50 years old).  Still, it became our home for almost three weeks as we explored not only the havelis in Mandawa and surrounding villages, but also the towns and their people, and the country side.  

Our room was on the second floor, our balcony just visible below the tree.

The frescoes in our room - imagine waking up to this!

This was the grandest haveli in Mandawa, extremely well restored with beautiful frescoes.

In a different haveli I saw another fresco with a telephone, a bicycle and a horse-drawn wagon.  The horse pulling the wagon looks like a British officer.  The telephone would have been 'new' to the region, or perhaps something that only the painter, who might have come from a larger urban perhaps is trying to stop it by pulling on its nose ring.  It was fun trying to puzzle out the significance of these frescoes.  But perhaps they were just done on a whim, with no particular reason except fun and colour.

We took a bus to a nearby town, Ramgarh, and spent the better part of a day wandering its streets looking at havelis.  The town is famous for the Seth Ramgopal Poddar Chhatri, which was in poor repair. 

Elephants were symbols of power and wealth.  Look how small their riders are!

We found another old haveli, also in a state of decay, that I loved just for its muted colours.

 

And a great fresco of a mythical beast - perhaps a lion or a tiger - being ridden by a lady.

The place that won the 'most havelis in town' was Nawalgarh, where many havelis had information signs giving their name, when they were built, and anything else of special significance.  Most had admission fees, and many had guides. 

The Murarka Haveli had a fabulous set of brass-studded wooden doors.  Note the (backwards) swastika fan above the door which may indicate someone of Jain fat now lives in - or more likely caretakes - the haveli.

The interior of the Murarka haveli.  

Many of the rooms on the second floor would have been bedrooms.

The Podar haveli was bigger, and even more spectacular.

The exterior of the haveli, with frescoes showing 

Rajputs and their women, and British officers.

The attention to detail is fantastic: the British with their safari jackets, hats and canes.

The seated Rajput with his fawning servants.  The women all in different coloured saris. 

The doorways with their mesh grill coverings, 

one with a pair of peacocks overtop, the other with a pair of doves (?).

The second level balcony of the haveli - a lovely light-filled space, 

with delicately carved columns and archways.  

An interior meeting room, or perhaps an area more used by women, as the beautiful frescoes are of flowers, women and children.  The two paintings on the upper story are interesting - depictions of the facade of a haveli (this one?) and a village (this one?), as seen from above.

The detail in these frescoes is amazing - I was particularly taken with the two bands, high in the inner courtyard, showing a military (?) procession complete with elephants and horses, and long train, with people peeking out from most of the windows.  The train would have been a novelty to most people, although not, perhaps, to the rich residents of this haveli.

Perhaps something from Indian mythology - women in the mouths of snakes?

Undoubtedly two of the Indian gods - from the Ramayana?

There was another haveli in Nawalgarh - a kind of 'plain Jane', without all the frescoes - that I loved just for its colours.

And this one, for the wonderful frescoes of carriages.

Although we came to Shekhawati for the havelis, and have spent several days in various villages visiting them, Shekhawati has so much more to offer.  Great walks, interesting and friendly people, and a wonderful hotel with generous and attentive staff.  We're going to be here a while....

For more information on havelis go to:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haveli
For more information on Shekhawati go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shekhawati
For more information on Rajputs go to:  https://www.indianrajputs.com/history/