It is not difficult to
imagine that a Rajput royal in the 14th
century searched high and low for a suitable
hilltop in the Ara-valli Range to build a
fort. Imagine then that over the next eight
centuries life flowed down the htll and
spread in the valley below. This will give
you a sense of the temporal-geographical
spread of Bundi, and a couple of meandering
days will give you time enough to explore
it. For a relaxed schedule, give a day for
any of the arounds. Talwas, Dugari and
Inder-garh are in the same direction and two
of them could be combined in a day visit.
Garh Palace
This is a fortified complex
of many palaces built by different kings
between the 17th and 18th centuries.
Unoccupied in the second half of the 20th
century, it lay decaying till three years
ago, when the potential of tourism-generated
revenue inspired a clean-up and re-opening.
You enter through the huge and magnificent
Hathi Pol into a world where local stone has
been used in typical Rajput-style
architecture to create jharokhas, pillars
and intricately carved brackets. The Chhatra
Mahal, Phool Mahal and Badal Mahal are
justly famous for their murals.
location North-west of the bazaar,
open all days
Chitrashala
The Chitrashala or Ummed
Mahal is part of the Garh Palace, with
a separate entrance, and is located on a
slope. Built in the 18th century, it is a
set of rooms on a raised platform above a
garden court-yard, and its walls and
ceilings are embellished with paintings.
Entry fee Free Timings 8 am-5 pm, open all
days.
Taragarh Fort
A walk up from the Garh
Palace will convince you of the fort's
reputation for inaccessibility.
Built on a 1,426-foot high
hill, the 14th century ramshackle but
impressive structure will reward you with
bewitching sunsets, immense bastions and the
aroma of a disappearing past.
Location North of Garh
Palace Entry fee Free Timings Sunrise to
sunset, open all days.
Stepwells
Baori, vav, kund, vapi,
sagar — different shapes of collected water,
different shades of collective lives. Bundi
is famous for its 50-odd ancient wells and
tanks, sources of water in a land easily
dehydrated. In addition to their utilitarian
value, baoris were centres of religious and
social existence. The rich and the powerful
made building these marvels of
craftsmanship and architecture a sacred
act. Raniji-ki-Baori is the most famous
because of its impressive composition with
arches and pillars, and beautiful
ornamentation.
Commissioned by Rani
Nathvatiji in 1699 (she is reputed to have
built 20 other baoris too), this is the most
well-maintained baori, but unfortunately
open only to tourists, thus denying the
structure and its waters any life.
Location Near Indra Market Timings 10 am-5
pm, Sundays and holidays closed.
Dhabhai Kund (south of
Raniji-ki-Baori)
Creates a fascinating
geometry with its steps and deserves a look
despite its abysmal state. A pair of
matching step-wells (just outside Chogan
Gate) is called Nagar Sagar. The 16th
century Bhoraji-ka-Kund (north
of Nawal Sagar) is
impressive and attracts birdlife
post-monsoon. In Bundi, you will often cross
one stepwell or the other, most of them
reservoirs of refuse and neglect. Is their
state a reflection of the inhabitants'
alienation from the heritage of the rich?
Other sights
The Nawal Sagar is an 18th
century lake with a temple of Varuna, the
god of water, presiding at the head of Bundi
just below the Garh Palace. To the
north-east of the town is the lake Jait
Sagar, on which stands a small palace called
Sukh Mahal, famous for once hosting Rudyard
Kipling. On the other bank of the lake is
Kshar Bagh, the final resting place for
Bundi's royalty, with some
beautiful cenotaphs built between the 16th
and 19th centuries. The door is usually
locked but check at the nearby houses and
someone will have the key to the place.The
finest cenotaph in Bundi is to the south of
the town, the Chaurasi Kham-bon ki Chhatri
(the 84-pillared cenotaph).
This artistic 17th-century
creation is a two-storeyed structure on a
high plinth and is stunning when lit up at
night. Phool Sagar (10 km west of town on
Ajmer Road) is a 17th century palace, closed
to the public but worth visiting for its
location, nestled as it is between hills
next to a lake filled with quiet.
Shikar Burj (8 km north-west of town) was a
hunting lodge next to a water tank, and is
now a picnic haunt for nearby villagers.
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