Shekhawati
 Every
part of Rajasthan has a memorable history, it is said that
in late 14th century, ruler of the Barawara region Mokal Singh,
had no child to follow his rule so he was asked to receive
blessings from a fakir by the name of Sheikh Burhan. The Sheikh
blessed Mokal Singh and within time his wife gave birth to
male child. Mokal Singh did not forget the holy man - he named
his son as Shekha in honour of the fakir.
Shekha ascended the throne at the young age of 12 and began
his rule that lasted almost for 43 years. The entire region
was named as Shekhawati, which means Garden of Shekh. It is
a large area in north eastern Rajasthan which lies between
Bikaner, Jaipur and Delhi and comprises the Sikar and Jhunjhunu
districts.
Shekhawati today is know more for its exquisite frescoes that
adorn the walls and ceiling of the buildings here. It is an
open air art gallery. No other region, anywhere in the world,
has such a large concentration of frescoes. This is all the
more interesting as the landscape here is totally bare - flat
and colourless.
Until the 1820s, most of the frescoes were financed by Rajputs
and the themes were largely religious, folk heroes, historical
events and personages were recorded in great detail, as were
battle scenes. In fact, these paintings are more of historical
records depicting the events that took place at that period.
Towards the end of the 19th century, historical events were
responsible for a change in the patronage. The Rajputs were
not as powerful as they had been and the Marwaris, the business
community, found itself in a position of strength.
By the beginning of the 19th century, the East India Company
had made its presence felt in Shekhawati. They began to levy
heavy taxes and the local merchants realised that they would
have to move out if they wanted to be successful. For the
hardworking and enterprising Marwari, this was a blessing
in disguise. The British presence had also increased the volume
of trade and even though they had been forced to move hundreds
of miles away from their region, they were quick to spread
their branches all over the country and get involved in the
growing business. They may have been miles away from their
homeland but their roots were very much in the villages of
Shekhawati as most of them had left their families behind.
While they lived austerely in their adopted cities they sent
back hometown. Most of it was spent on the welfare of their
community - walls, reservoirs, schools, dharamshalas and gaushalas
were financed. For their families, they built large havelies
and had the most intricate frescoes painted in them.
The desire to show off their enhanced wealth led to these
elaborate frescoes. Very soon it became customary to have
a painted haveli and the artists were kept busy moving from
one village to the next. The earlier paintings have been done
by a sophisticated team of muralists but as the building boom
gathered momentum, these painters were not able to cope with
the demand. At this stage, several other local masons and
unskilled painters began to get involved in paintings. They
picked up the skills and some of them became very talented.
What is quite unusual here is the range of themes to be found
on the walls. Mythological frescoes are interspersed with
those influenced by Western paintings. Cars, trains, aeroplanes,
ships and telephones, foreigners in hats, suits and gowns
have been painted just as painstakingly as gods, local heroes,
scenes from Lord Krishna’s life.
Some of important havelis are:
Sikar : The temples of
Gopinath, Raghunath and Madan Mohan and the unusual blue an
white Biyani havelies are worth a visit.
Other areas close to Sikar are Harsh Nath temple and Jeen
Mata temple.
Nawalgarh : Some of the
country’s leading merchant families come from this little
town. This is also where some of the finest frescoes in Shekahawati
are to be found - Roop Niwas, Saat Haveli, two old forts and
a palace hotel should be visited.
Dundlod: A fort and palace
and the Goenka havelies have some fine frescoes.
Mandawa: There are many
havelies in Mandawa notably the Chokhani, Saraf and Ladia
havelies.
Fatehpur: A very good place to see the combination
of Indian and Western style frescoes. The Devra, Singhania
and Goenka havelies can be seen as also the Jalan and Bharatiya
havelies. Some other major towns worth visiting for their
frescoes are Ramgarh, Pilani, Khetri, Bissau, Churu and Mahansar.
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