The thakurs of Alsisar
Alsisar's family history begins, as so many Shekhawati stories do, with a fort taken and a son given land by his father.
Where it is: Alsisar lies in Jhunjhunu district, in the north of the Shekhawati region.
Shekhawats: the thakurs of Alsisar are a branch of the Kachwaha Rajputs who trace their line to Rao Shekha, the fifteenth-century chief who gave the region its name.
Shardul Singh's heirs: like the families of Mandawa and Nawalgarh, they descend from Shardul Singh, who took Jhunjhunu from the Kaimkhani nawabs in 1730.
Facts to know
- Clan
- Shekhawat Kachwaha Rajputs
- Fort taken
- 1757, by Thakur Samarth Singh
- Made capital
- 1783
- Bombarded
- 1834, rebuilt 1954
- Hotel opened
- Alsisar Mahal, 2006
- Thikanas and thakurs: his heirs divided the country into small estates called thikanas. Their lords, the thakurs, owed loyalty to a greater ruler but ran their own lands.
- The fort taken: the family dates its hold on Alsisar to 1757, when Thakur Samarth Singh, the first thakur, captured the fort.
- A father's gift: his father, Thakur Pahad Singh of Heerwa, gave him the estate, and in 1783 Samarth Singh made Alsisar his capital.
- Fort to residence: over the next century courtyards, apartments and terraces rose inside the walls, and a village of farmers and merchants grew up around it.
- A defiant region: in the 1830s the British and the state of Jaipur set out to bring the independent-minded Shekhawati thakurs to heel, and many refused allegiance.
- The bombardment: in 1834 the Shekhawati Brigade under Colonel Henry Forrester shelled Alsisar and destroyed about a quarter of the palace.
- A late repair: that section was only rebuilt in 1954. Ask to see where the old walls meet the new.
- After independence: the thakurs lost their estates and incomes, and many old forts across Rajasthan fell into decay.
- A different path: the family opened their Jaipur townhouse, Alsisar Haveli, built in 1892, as a hotel in 1994, one of the city's early heritage havelis.
- The village palace restored: from 2000 to 2006 they rebuilt its roof to resist earthquakes while matching the old columns and brackets.
- Today: it opened as Alsisar Mahal in 2006, and the eighth generation of the family runs it.
Staying at Alsisar Mahal
Alsisar Mahal is not a museum with rooms attached. It is a family fort that has learned to look after guests, and it feels lived in.
The way in: a gateway in the outer wall leads into a series of courtyards, each a little more private than the last, the haveli pattern on a soldier's scale.
Walls that tell the story: the frescoes show the family's own history.
The rooms: set around the courtyards and up on the terraces, and they vary a great deal in size and character.
Facts to know
- Style
- A lived-in fort-palace
- Best spot
- The roof, at sunrise
- Ask for
- An old-wing room with a jharokha
- Evenings
- Courtyard dinner, sometimes folk music
- Our request: a room in the older part of the palace, with a jharokha, the projecting balcony window, over the village.
- The roof at sunrise: with a cup of tea, the flat country spreads below you: village rooftops, temple flags, fields of millet and mustard.
- The khejri trees: thorny and drought-proof, treated almost as sacred by the people of this desert.
- The roof at sunset: the light turns the ochre walls gold, and smoke from village stoves drifts across the fields.
- Slow is the luxury: a village walk, a long lunch, a swim or a sleep, and dinner in a courtyard by lamplight.
- Eat local: the kitchen is best with Rajasthani home food, so ask for the dishes of the day rather than the international menu.
- Out in the fields: the family can arrange a camel cart or a jeep, or a visit to a farming family.
- Stars after dinner: few lights for miles, so the sky over the Shekhawati plain fills with stars. Our page on stargazing in Rajasthan explains what to look for each season.
- Palaces compared: our palace hotels guide explains how fort-palaces like Alsisar differ from the grand city palaces.
- A family house: our article on staying with a royal family describes being a guest where the family still lives.
Local tip
On a clear winter night, go back up to the roof after dinner with a shawl and ask for a pot of tea.
The decade of Magnetic Fields
For ten Decembers, a farming village six hours from Delhi hosted one of the most talked-about weekends in Indian music. Then, in 2025, the festival said goodbye.
What it was: a festival of electronic, experimental and folk music, art and talks at Alsisar Mahal.
How it felt: guests stayed in the palace or camped in tents, music played late into the night around the old walls, and the village hosted audiences and artists from across India and abroad.
Why it mattered: it was one of the first events to show that Shekhawati could be young and global as well as historic.
Facts to know
- Began
- Early 2010s
- Held
- Three days each December
- Last Alsisar edition
- December 2024
- Farewell
- Announced September 2025
- New format
- Magnetic Fields Nomads, Khetri
- The end at Alsisar: the tenth and final edition here was in December 2024, and in September 2025 the organisers announced their farewell to the palace and village.
- Where it went: Magnetic Fields Nomads held its first edition in February 2026 at Abheygarh in Khetri, in the Aravalli hills of the same district.
- If music is your reason: check the festival's own announcements for future dates and venues.
- Why we mention it: many people still search for Alsisar because of the festival, and we'd rather you knew before you booked.
- December now: quiet, cold at night and very beautiful. We think that is the better Alsisar.
- Music in the desert: start with our page on Rajasthan's folk music and the Rajasthan International Folk Festival at Jodhpur.
Walking the village
Step out of the palace gate and you are in the bazaar. Alsisar is small enough to walk in an hour, but you'll want to take three.
Facts to know
- Allow
- One to three hours on foot
- Main haveli
- Ramjas Jhunjhunuwala's
- Sunset spot
- Thakur Chhotu Singh's chhatri
- Temple hour
- Evening aarti
The merchant havelis
The families: Jhunjhunuwalas, Katarukas, Khaitans and others, whose havelis line the ochre lanes beyond the palace.
- The one to see: the haveli of Ramjas Jhunjhunuwala. Others belong to the Tejpal Jhunjhunuwala, Kataruka and Poonia families.
- Mostly private: some are lived in and some are closed.
- Compared with Mandawa: paintings are fewer and plainer, but you'll have them to yourself.
The cenotaph of Thakur Chhotu Singh
Where: outside the village, the chhatri of one of the family's forebears.
- What a chhatri is: literally an umbrella, the domed pavilion Rajputs built over a cremation site.
- When to see it: late afternoon, when its silhouette against the sky is one of the loveliest sights in Alsisar.
- Read more: what is a chhatri.
The temples
The cluster: the Satya Narayan temple, the Gopinath temple, a Rani Sati temple and two Balaji shrines, Jode ka Balaji and Chowk wale Balaji.
- Loved, not famous: none is well known, all are loved.
- Evening aarti: go when bells ring and lamps are waved before the gods, and stand quietly at the back.
Alsisar Gate and the bazaar
The way in: the old village gate still marks it.
- A real market: the bazaar sells everything a farming village needs, from seeds to steel trunks, not souvenirs, which is why we like it.
- Sit and watch: buy a bag of roasted chickpeas, sit on a haveli platform and watch the evening traffic of bicycles, cattle and schoolchildren.
The life of a Shekhawati village
In February the fields around Alsisar turn bright yellow with mustard flowers, and the women working in them wear odhnis of orange and red. It is the most colourful month of the year.
A farming village first: its fields depend on the brief monsoon and on tube wells.
The crop year: millet (bajra) and pulses such as moth and moong are sown with the rains, and wheat, gram and mustard come in winter.
Animals everywhere: camels, goats and cattle.
Facts to know
- Monsoon crops
- Bajra, moth and moong
- Winter crops
- Wheat, gram and mustard
- Gangaur
- March or April
- Teej
- Monsoon
- Holi drums
- Chang, in the weeks before
- The state tree: the khejri is Rajasthan's state tree, and here it is everyone's tree.
- The khejri: cut back each year for fodder and firewood but never felled. Its pods, sangri, end up in the region's best-known dish.
- Before Holi: men gather at night to beat the big chang drums and sing.
- Gangaur: a festival for Gauri, a form of Parvati, when women and girls carry clay images of the goddess Gauri through the lanes and to the well.
- Teej: swings tied to trees in the monsoon.
- Weddings: the whole village turns out, and if you are invited, go.
- Men's dress: white or cream dhotis with bright turbans, the safa or pagri, whose colour and tie tell you a man's community and the occasion.
- Women's dress: long skirts, the ghagra, and odhnis in red, orange and pink. Older women still wear heavy silver anklets.
- Photographs: ask first, especially with women. Most will say yes with a smile, and some will want to see the picture.
- Go deeper: read about our rural homestays and the Village Rajasthan journey, which spends several nights in places like this.
What to eat in Alsisar
Dinner at Alsisar should be a village meal: millet rotis off the fire, a bowl of ker sangri and a spoonful of ghee that is not optional.
Bajra rotis: made thick by hand and eaten with white butter and jaggery, or crumbled into churma with ghee and sugar.
Ker sangri: dried desert berries and khejri beans cooked with spices and oil. It keeps for days, which is why travellers once carried it.
Everyday dishes: kadhi, yoghurt curry, and gatte, gram-flour dumplings.
Facts to know
- Staple grain
- Bajra, pearl millet
- Signature dish
- Ker sangri
- Winter sweets
- Sesame and jaggery
- Mutton curry
- Order a day ahead
- Winter food: bajre ki khichdi and sweets of sesame and jaggery.
- Breakfast: hot paratha with fresh curd and pickle, or bajra porridge with buttermilk in the hot months.
- Village tea: boiled with milk, ginger and plenty of sugar.
- Jalebis in the lane: in winter the halwais in the bazaar fry them early, and a paper cone eaten standing up is one of the small great pleasures of Shekhawati.
- Rajput meat dishes: households keep a tradition of game-style mutton curries. Ask the kitchen a day ahead, because the best are slow-cooked.
- Read up: our ker sangri explainer and the Rajasthani thali guide.
Crafts of north Shekhawati
The painted towns were built by craftsmen as much as by merchants: masons, painters, carpenters, dyers and smiths. Many of their families are still at work.
The khati: look at any old haveli door and you'll see the carpenter's hand in its carved panels, brass studs and lotus bosses.
Still made: doors, chests, cradles and low painted chairs, decorated with flowers and birds in bright colours.
Facts to know
- Woodwork
- Doors, chests, painted chairs
- Tie-dye
- Bandhani odhnis and turbans
- Lac bangles
- Jhunjhunu and Fatehpur bazaars
- Metalware
- Brass and copper, sold by weight
- Buy new, not old: antiques are too often stripped from neglected havelis. A good carpenter will make a small chest to order and ship it home.
- Bandhani: tie-dye in which tiny points of cloth are knotted before dyeing, made in the region's towns for odhnis and turbans. Patterns change with season and occasion.
- Lac bangles: shaped over small charcoal fires in the bazaars of Jhunjhunu and Fatehpur.
- Brass and copper: pots that were once the pride of every merchant's kitchen are still sold by weight.
- Meeting makers: the palace can arrange visits. Go with a guide who translates, ask questions, and pay the maker directly.
- Buy well: our crafts of Rajasthan page and shopping guide explain how to avoid the commission trade.
Day trips from Alsisar
Alsisar sits in the north of Shekhawati, close to the district town and within an hour or so of the best-known painted towns.
Facts to know
- Jhunjhunu
- About 22 km
- Mandawa
- About an hour
- Nawalgarh
- A little further than Mandawa
- Pilani
- North-east of Jhunjhunu
Jhunjhunu
The district town: about 22 kilometres away.
- Khetri Mahal: an eighteenth-century palace of open arcaded halls, called the wind palace because air moves freely through it.
- Rani Sati temple: a very large shrine, among the most visited in Rajasthan, honouring Narayani Bai of the Jalan family.
- Its story today: sati, the burning of widows, has been illegal since 1829, and the temple's story is told as one of devotion. Visit respectfully.
Pilani, the Birlas' home town
Ancestral town: of the Birla family, one of India's great industrial houses.
- A university: the schools the family founded grew into BITS Pilani, among the country's best-known universities.
- Merchant money came home: not only as painted walls but as colleges, hospitals and temples.
When to come
Shekhawati's winter is short, bright and cold. Alsisar is at its finest between November and February.
November to February: sunny, pleasant days and cold nights, sometimes below freezing in December and January. Pack warm layers for courtyard dinners.
February: mustard in flower and the mornings softening.
March: warm, and it brings Holi.
Facts to know
- Best months
- November to February
- Our favourite
- February, for mustard
- Hot season
- April to June, up to about 48°C
- Diwali
- October or November
- Gangaur
- March or April
- April to June: severe heat, often in the mid-forties and sometimes close to 48°C. We don't recommend it.
- July to September: a short, unreliable monsoon that greens the fields and brings Teej.
- Before Diwali: families whitewash and repaint their houses, and the bazaar fills with sweets and clay lamps.
- Diwali night: every rooftop and doorway glows. From the palace roof you watch the village light up and hear fireworks from villages across the dark fields.
- Festivals: the Shekhawati Festival brings folk music and village events in winter, and Gangaur is the most beautiful village festival of the year.
- Compare seasons: our best time to visit Rajasthan guide covers the whole state.
Getting to Alsisar
Alsisar is a road journey through the heart of Shekhawati, and the drive itself is part of the pleasure.
From Jaipur: via Chomu, Sikar, Nawalgarh and Jhunjhunu.
From Delhi: via Gurgaon, Rewari, Narnaul, Chirawa and Jhunjhunu.
Facts to know
- From Jaipur
- About 195 km, roughly 4 hours
- From Delhi
- About 6 hours by road
- Nearest airport
- Jaipur
- Nearest station
- Jhunjhunu, about 22 km
- By train: Jhunjhunu is the most practical station, but most of our guests come by car.
- Onward: Mandawa is about an hour away, and Bikaner a long half day's drive west.
- Getting around: walk inside the village. For the fields and dunes, the palace can arrange a jeep or a camel cart.
- As part of a journey: Alsisar fits our Painted Towns of Shekhawati journey as a second base after Mandawa.
- Planning drives: our guide to getting around Rajasthan explains how we do it.
Two nights at Alsisar
This is the rhythm we suggest: one day in the village, one day out in the painted towns, and both evenings on the roof.
Facts to know
- Nights
- Two
- Day one
- The village and its chhatri
- Day two
- Jhunjhunu, Nawalgarh or Mandawa
- Arrive from
- Jaipur or Mandawa
Day one, arrival and the village
Arrive for lunch: from Jaipur or Mandawa, then rest.
- At four: walk the village with a local guide, the havelis, the temples and the bazaar.
- Sunset: finish at the chhatri of Thakur Chhotu Singh.
- Evening: dinner in the palace courtyard.
Day two, Jhunjhunu and the painted towns
Sunrise: start on the roof.
- Morning: drive to Jhunjhunu for the Khetri Mahal, then on to Nawalgarh or Mandawa for the havelis.
- Afternoon: lunch in Mandawa and return to Alsisar in the late afternoon.
- Last light: take a camel cart into the fields.
Moving on
- West or south: we usually continue to Bikaner and the desert, or back to Jaipur.
- With an extra night: add Churu and the blackbuck grassland of Tal Chhapar.
Who Alsisar is for
We send some guests to Alsisar for two nights and gently steer others away. The difference is what you want from a day.
Couples: who want quiet.
Families: with children who will enjoy running around a fort.
- Photographers: who want the village at dawn.
- Second-timers: anyone who has done the big cities and wants rural Rajasthan up close without giving up comfort.
- Long journeys: travellers who need two nights to rest between Jaipur and the desert.
- Less suited to: those who want a full programme of sights on the doorstep, a choice of restaurants or nightlife.
- Why: the village is small and the famous havelis are an hour's drive away.
- The alternative: stay at Castle Mandawa and visit Alsisar for an afternoon instead.
Our honest advice
Alsisar is a particular kind of place. Here is how to enjoy it, and how to know whether it's for you.
Come for calm: ideal after Jaipur and before the desert, but there is little to do in the evenings except eat, talk and look at the stars.
Not for the festival: Magnetic Fields left Alsisar after its 2024 edition. Check its own announcements for the new venue.
- Choose your room: ask for the old part of the palace, and see the room before you settle in if you can.
- Walk early: when people are going about their day, and greet them with khamma ghani, the Rajasthani hello.
- Pack warm: from December to February desert nights are colder than most visitors expect.
- Tip kindly: haveli caretakers and temple priests. Small notes go a long way in a village.
- Read the region first: the Shekhawati region page shows where Alsisar sits in the bigger story.
