As I said earlier we reached Mandwa only in the night we checked into the hotel directly. We had booked in Mandwa Haveli which is close to Sonathia Gate and Subhash Chowk.
This 19th century haveli has been restored beautifully. In this magnificent haveli the rooms are surrounding a painted courtyard. We truly enjoyed our stay here.
The paintings on the interior walls of the courtyard are very beautiful. Even the paintings on the entrance to the haveli are awesome.
A glimpse of sites of India in black and white. Check other posts that will give you more details about this place.
Mandwa is a small fort town in town in Shekhawati region of Rajasthan. It is situated 190 km from Jaipur. This place is well connected with the other places by good network of roads. We reached this place by road from Delhi Airport. As we landed in Delhi in the afternoon instead of in the morning, we reached our destination only in the night.
This 18th century place is well known for its fort and havelis. And we stayed one of the havelis which is converted into a hotel. We could not see much here because of our late arrival here. We straight away had our dinner on the terrace as it was already late.
The sites we visited here are:
Castle Mandwa at Mandwa in the Shekhawati Region was build in 1755 by Thakur Nawal singh, a descendant of Rao Shekha, the founder of Shekhawati. In those days this was fortress and now it is converted into a luxury hotel.
Two imposing gateways lead to the central courtyard where cannons stand as a reminder of the past when they were used to repel the enemy.
The palace in the fort hosts beautiful fresco paintings. Mostly vegetable pigments were used for coloring. Some of the main ingredients are kajal for black, lime for white, neel for blue, geru for red, kesar for orange, yellow clay for yellow. Family portraits, antique cannons and arms add to the charm of this palace.
Shekhawati region in western India, is famous for its mural paintings. It is like a huge open air gallery of painted walls, havelis and palaces in the vast expanse of the desert of Rajasthan in India. Mandwa is one such place, where every nooks and corner of the town, street, home has been painted with frescoes. We had been to one such ancient home where the interiors are beautifully painted.
Here the theme is based on royal army of Rajasthan Kings. The paintings show royal assembly.
Even the ceiling is painted with floral designs.
Shekhawati region in western India, is famous for its mural paintings. It is like a huge open air gallery of painted walls, havelis and palaces in the vast expanse of the desert of Rajasthan in India. Every nooks and corner of the each town, street, home has been painted with frescoes. The homes built by the people of the region feature exquisite paintings that decorate their walls, doors, and interiors. The themes of these frescoes depict gods, kings, flowers and scenes from daily life.
The technique of Fresco painting in Shekhawati is very similar to the Italian Fresco technique of the 14th century. Mostly vegetable pigments were used for coloring. Some of the main ingredients are kajal for black, lime for white, neel for blue, geru for red, kesar for orange, yellow clay for yellow.
The above image is interior courtyard of haveli in Mandwa taken in the night. This technique has been used since 1580 in this region. So this paintings in this area are around this period.
For more 1, 2
After a good night sleep we were up early morning on the 2nd day of our trip for the visual splendor. We were ready by 8:00 a.m after the good continental breakfast.
We visited various Haveli's constructed by wealthy business men in the nineteenth century in the Shekhawati region. These Havelies are decorated with colored painting adorning their walls. But as the merchant families migrated, these visual attractions did not fade away and today they are some of the major attractions for the tourists visiting Rajasthan.
Next we visited Mandwa's imposing fort, right in the center. Castle Mandwa was build in 1755 by Thakur Nawal singh, a descendant of Rao Shekha, the founder of Shekhawati. Two imposing gateways lead to the central courtyard where cannons stand as a reminder of the past when they were used to repel the enemy. The palace in the fort hosts beautiful paintings. At present it is converted into the most famous hotel in the region.
From Mandwa we moved to Fathepur. The town is packed with elaborately painted mansions, temples, wells and chhatris. The Hawelis in this region depict the scenes from Mahabarath and Ramayana.
With this due to shortage of time we decided to travel to Bikaner, the camel country.
Distance: Mandwa ---> Bikaner is 164 kms
P.S: Shekhavti comprises of important towns like Mandwa, Fathepur, Jhunjhunu, Nawalgarh.
