The outdoor art galleries of Shekhawati

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Our driver collected us for the drive to the towns of the Shekhawati region - an area of Rajasthan just opening up to tourism. It is an outdoor art gallery, full of havelli houses decorated with glorious paintings, inside and out. The area is semi arid and we passed many small settlements full of mud and straw houses. It was very hot! The Shekhawati region was once on the Silk Road and the painted houses were built by wealthy noblemen traders but gradually were deserted when the trade routes died. The houses have been left to deteriorate since then. The region is being revitalised with tourism and some of the families are moving back and renovating these houses now. They are stunning, whether renovated or not. A real pictorial history of what was happening in the area in the early 1900's.
Our first stop was in the small town of Nawalgarh where we visited two havelis, one was still lived in but had been renovated and the other had been converted to a museum. We loved both but particularly enjoyed the museum (Poddar Haveli) - we had a great guide (who refused a tip!) and the museum was immaculate. I was very impressed to see staff cleaning the display cases and made a point of telling the management that I was. Too little care is taken of museums here - they are all full of lots of workers not doing much at all. Walking around the town was equally as enjoyable - very peaceful and streets of houses covered in faded paintings. The colours were in very good condition under the eaves and awnings where they had been protected from the weather. That afternoon,after a great lunch at a truck stop, we visited an old castle in Dunlod. It was a hotel but was very faded and dusty, full of heavy furniture and paintings, and not a place that I would have cared to spend the night. Back on the road again we were passing lots of camels, carts pulled by donkeys, buses with a dozen young men on the roof ( every bus!) and herds of goats and sheep. The women were still wearing tie dyed saris, they were all red with either large panels of orange or yellow in the centre. They were sparkling in the sun as all were covered in silver or gold sequins or braid. I bought a sari piece - when I asked if they had any with gold on them - I got a strange look and was told that the women hand decorate them after purchase.
That evening we stayed at a new, very gaudily decorated, hotel in Mandawa. A great place to wander in, very dark when they had the daily blackout ( we expect them now as they are a part of daily life in Rajasthan) and the locals were very welcoming and friendly. We could see all around the town from the roof of the hotel - very flat and scrubby countryside, with thorny trees. The area was in desperate need of rain. Strangely next day when we visited some of the tiny villages we had to detour due to flooding. One heavy shower and the road was flooded! The villages were really interesting - all covered in paintings and the markets full of desert people wearing silver jewelery and the bright red saris. In one area the women all had jade green tunics under their red and orange veils.
In the village of Bissau we went to the Royal Cremation grounds and found that the buildings are now used as a school. We rather disrupted their classes - the teacher wasn't present so the kids had a great time making a lot of noise when they spotted us. We visited an other castle here and had a rather odd encounter with the owner and his family - they run the castle as a hotel and we really have no idea why our driver took us there, but we had a cold drink in their living room and a stilted conversation before looking at the view from the rooftop. Very strange! The gateman from the castle did take us to the place I really wanted to see however - the closed rooms of the Rama Temple. Stunning gold paintings in a small inner room - they literally glowed in the dull light - and equally stunning vibrant coloured wall and ceilings in a much larger room. None had ever been renovated and were in excellent condition.
Another quiet night in the hotel in Mandawa before visiting the town of Fatehpur. Again more incredible paintings everywhere - from faded muted colours to quite vibrant in some places. We spent some time in the Nadine Le Prince Haveli, owned and renovated in original colours by a French artist who lives in it 6 months of the year. The frescos were a combination of Persian style with lots of flowers and patterns and the Hindu style with lots of animals and Gods. Very beautiful. Whilst walking the streets of the town we came upon a group of tribal women working as builders labourers, carrying rocks and dirt in baskets on their heads. They were the most traditionally dressed women we have seen in India - brightly coloured block printed tunics, heavy silver jewelery, face tattoos and they even had tiny jewels set in patterns on each tooth. So sad to see them working at such demeaning jobs probably for very little money.
We really enjoyed our three days in the area, despite the intense heat. It was great to be away from crowds of people and noisy motorbikes and auto rickshaws. I would recommend that anybody who visits Rajasthan visit this area as it is very pretty - the paintings are different because they show life in the early 1900's. Lots of western faces, trains, planes and even Jesus a swell as the usual elephants and horses and Rajasthani figures. I was however very happy to see the Pearl Palace hotel once again because I was not feeling well by the time we arrived back in Jaipur.

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Photos

Lunch stop at truck dhaba
Don't you love the tables (board) laid over the seat which doubles as bed for afternoon siesta

Door with many wooden carved door frames - up to seven in some
These doors are worth a lot of money and the havelis are being pulled apart so thay can be sold

Comments

[jaisinghchuru]

The first three Pictures are the women not from this region... they are migratory labour come to work here for odd labout jobs ..