Hadoti, the green kingdom of the Hadas on the Chambal

The kingdom of the Hadas

• Ranthambore, 1569: when Akbar besieged it, the Hada commander Rao Surjan surrendered the fort and accepted Mughal service.
• Rao Raja: Akbar gave him the title, and the Hadas became some of the empire's most trusted generals, fighting in the Deccan and Afghanistan.
• Paid for by service: that wealth built the painted rooms that make Bundi famous.
• The split: in 1631 Kota, on the Chambal, became a separate state under Rao Madho Singh, a younger son of the Bundi house.
• Rival capitals: only about 40 kilometres apart. Kota grew richer and larger, Bundi more beautiful.
• Zalim Singh Jhala: the powerful Dewan of Kota built a military cantonment at Chaoni Umedpura in 1791.
• Jhalawar is born: in 1838 the British carved a new state out of Kota for his grandson, Madan Singh, which is why Hadoti's southern town is ruled by Jhalas, not Hadas.
• Into Rajasthan: after independence all three states merged into the new state.
• The bigger picture: our short history of the Rajput dynasties places the Hadas beside the Kachwahas, Rathores and Sisodias.

A Rajasthan of rivers and gorges

• Green for longer: with water, the land is farmed hard. In February you pass fields of wheat, mustard and coriander.
• Ramganj Mandi: in Kota district, one of India's great coriander markets, where the air smells of the seed at harvest.
• Jhalawar oranges: orchards of sweet, loose-skinned oranges around the town.
• Kota stone: the flat grey-green stone that paves verandahs across India is quarried here.
• The forests: dry deciduous, full of dhok trees that turn copper before summer.
• Wildlife: sloth bears, leopards, sambar and a slowly returning tiger population.
• Tiger reserves: Mukundra Hills between Kota and Jhalawar, and the hills above Bundi as Ramgarh Vishdhari. Wild, lightly visited places, so count any big cat as a gift.
• Downstream: the river flows into the National Chambal Sanctuary, home of the long-snouted gharial.

Bundi painting, and the walls that hold it

• Favourite subjects: Krishna and Radha, the moods of the seasons, and the ragamala.
• Ragamala: a series giving each musical mode a scene, so a raga becomes a lover waiting in a pavilion or a prince hunting by moonlight.
• The monsoon: Bundi painters were especially good at it, fitting for a valley where the rain arrives like theatre.
• The Chitrashala: the picture gallery of the Ummed Mahal inside Bundi Palace, painted for Rao Raja Umed Singh in the eighteenth century.
• What's on its walls: Krishna legends, processions, hunts and court life in turquoise, green and red. See our Bundi palace and Chitrashala guide.
• Kota's sister style: obsessed with the hunt, maharaos stalking tigers through jungle and rocks that seem to move.
• Where to see Kota painting: the Rao Madho Singh Museum in Kota's City Palace.
• Try the brush: a session with a miniature painter, and our journal on Bundi's murals.

Gagron, the fort the rivers guard

• The Khichi Chauhans: cousins of the Hadas, who held it for about three hundred years.
• 1423: Sultan Hoshang Shah of Malwa besieged it. Achal Das Khichi fought until he was killed, and the women performed jauhar, choosing death by fire over capture.
• Later owners: the sultans of Malwa, Sher Shah and Akbar, then Kota and finally Jhalawar.
• Mitthe Shah's dargah: just outside the walls, where a Muharram fair brings Hindu and Muslim village families together to pray.
• No crowds: no stalls and usually no other visitors.
• Read more: our UNESCO hill forts guide and Jhalawar and Gagron.

The towns of Hadoti

Dialect, dress and the Hadoti table

• Kota Doria: a featherlight cotton, sometimes with silk, woven in tiny squares called khat on pit looms in Kaithoon and nearby villages.
• The summer sari: it is what a Rajasthani woman reaches for in the heat.
• Buy from weavers: cooperatives or Kaithoon families, and ask to see a loom. Read Kota Doria weaving to tell hand-woven from power-loom copies.
• Kota kachori: a crisp pastry stuffed with spiced urad dal, with a sharp chutney. Kota families argue over which shop makes it best.
• On the table: dal baati, gatte ki sabzi, and seasonal greens with millet bread in winter, spiced with local coriander.
• Our grandmother's joke: the sweet fried pearls called boondi have nothing to do with the town of Bundi.
• Winter oranges: Jhalawar's are sold by the cartload along the road. See our Rajasthani food guide.

Festivals of Hadoti

How to travel Hadoti, and when

• Kota by rail: Kota Junction is on the main Delhi to Mumbai line.
• After a tiger safari: Hadoti is a natural next stop from Ranthambore.
• Into Mewar: from Chittorgarh it is an easy run to Udaipur.
• Heritage, not glamour: no grand palace hotels, but family-run havelis in Bundi and old royal guest houses in Kota and Jhalawar, with painted rooms, rooftop dinners and owners who know every story.
• Where we stay: our guide to heritage havelis of Bundi, and Castle Bijaipur as a bridge into Mewar.
• Journeys: Offbeat Rajasthan links Bundi with Chittorgarh and Dungarpur, and Hadoti slips into Palaces and Tigers after Ranthambore.
• Plan the roads: our road distances and drive times.

What most visitors to Hadoti miss

• Kipling's Bundi: he described the palace in Letters of Marque, the travel letters he wrote as a young journalist in Rajputana.
• Taragarh's great gun: the Bhim Burj bastion once held a huge cannon known as Garbh Gunjan, the thunder from the womb.
• Baroli's Shiva: the Ghateshwara Mahadeva temple there is the finest of the group, carved around the tenth century.
• A temple in a crater: at Ramgarh in Baran district, the carved Bhand Devra temple stands beside a ring of hills that geologists recognise as an ancient impact crater.
• The Sahariya: they are the only community in Rajasthan listed by the government as a particularly vulnerable tribal group.
• Jhalrapatan's name: it is often called the town of bells, after the temple bells that once rang across it.

How long to allow, and who it suits

• Painting lovers: Bundi's Chitrashala and Kota's museum are among the best places in India to see Rajput murals in place.
• Walkers and photographers: stepwells, blue lanes and gorges, with very few other visitors in the frame.
• Not for you if: you need grand palace hotels, spas and polished service. Hadoti's charm is its simplicity.

What we tell friends heading to Hadoti

• Taragarh's monkeys: they are bold, so carry nothing that looks like food on the climb.
• Dress modestly: Hadoti is conservative, and covered shoulders and knees earn warmer welcomes.
• Kota kachori early: the best batches are fried in the morning and gone well before lunch.
• Kota Doria from weavers: ask about the yarn, and walk away from shops that can't tell you.
• Greetings: khamma ghani works, but in Hadoti you'll hear the gentler ram ram sa just as often.