A thakur's town that merchants made rich
The founder: Thakur Nawal Singh, a son of Shardul Singh, the Shekhawat chief who took Jhunjhunu in 1730 and divided his lands among his heirs.
A town renamed: Nawal Singh received Rohili, walled it, gave it four gates and named it after himself.
Two towns, one man: he also built the fort at Mandawa in 1755, and his descendants ruled both until the jagirs were abolished after independence.
- Old name
- Rohili
- Founded
- 1737, by Thakur Nawal Singh
- Gates
- Four
- Mandawa fort
- Also his, built 1755
- Havelis built
- Late 19th century to the 1930s
- Commercial genius: he invited merchant families from Jaipur and beyond to settle under his protection, and kept his taxes lower than his neighbours'.
- Who came: the Patodias and Morarkas are said to have come first, then the Podars, Goenkas, Jaipurias, Khaitans, Seksarias and Mansingkas. The Birla family also has roots here.
- The caravans: camel trains carrying salt, opium, cotton and spices stopped here between the Gujarat ports and the northern cities.
- By the mid-nineteenth century: three forts, a ring of walls and bastions, and bankers and traders already looking east.
- Following the trade: when railways and British ports drew it away from the desert, the families went to Calcutta and Bombay, trading cotton, jute and opium and later building mills and factories.
- Distant money, home walls: they never really left. The great havelis were built with that money and painted with what their owners had seen in the big cities.
- What makes Nawalgarh different: some families came back for the buildings. Two great havelis have been restored by descendants of their builders and opened as museums.
- Why we come here first: those museums are the best introduction to Shekhawati painting anywhere.
Two museums, two ideas of restoration
Our order: the Morarka first while it is quiet, then the Podar, on the same morning.
- Podar Haveli
- Built 1902, museum 2007
- Podar paintings
- About 750
- Morarka Haveli
- Built around 1900, museum 1995
- Restoration
- Podar repainted, Morarka cleaned
- Allow
- Ninety minutes for the Podar
- The point: guests arrive certain which approach is right and leave unsure.
- The techniques: our guide to Shekhawati frescoes explains what the restorers were trying to save.
Dr Ramnath A Podar Haveli Museum
Built in 1902: by Seth Anandilal Podar, a Marwari businessman with cotton mill interests in Bombay.
Its size: more than a hundred feet long, with some 750 paintings across the facade, passages and two courtyards.
- Two tastes: the lower floor is in the old style, painted top to bottom. The later upper floor has cast-iron railings and pale colonial-style paintings.
- A school, then a museum: used as a school from 1955, restored from the 1990s and opened in 2007 by Anandilal's grandson Kanti Kumar Podar.
- The name: his father, Dr Ramnath A Podar, took part in the freedom movement.
- Look for: the Gita Govinda panels, the ten Mahavidyas, the goddesses of tantric worship, a Mahabharata game of dice, the Gangaur procession and the steam trains.
- Why so bright: damaged frescoes were retouched and repainted, which is why purists grumble.
- The galleries: bridal costume, turbans, musical instruments, carved gates, marble work and models of Rajasthan's great forts. Children love it.
Morarka Haveli Museum
Built around 1900: by Jairamdas Morarka, a few lanes away.
Opened in 1995: by his descendant Kamal Morarka, a Nawalgarh-born industrialist and politician who died in 2021.
- The opposite approach: frescoes cleaned with water, sponges and mild solutions, but nothing repainted. What you see is the original, softer and faded, damaged in places.
- The paintings: Ramayana scenes in the inner courtyard, with Krishna, Shiva and Parvati and Ganesh throughout.
- Rare find: two paintings of Jesus, one under the eaves outside and one in an inner room, almost unique in Shekhawati.
- Late morning: stained glass and mirror work in the courtyards catch the light. Even the horse stable was painted.
Walking the painted lanes
A hundred or more havelis: most still locked, lived in or simply left.
Bigger than Mandawa: busier, and its old centre is a knot of lanes rather than a neat loop.
- Walk with a local guide: they know which caretakers are at home. Many havelis have a chowkidar who will open the gate for a small tip.
- Some are unsafe: broken stairs and sagging roofs. A good guide keeps you out of those.
- Be ready: comfortable shoes, water, and motorbikes, cows and the odd camel cart to dodge.
Aath Haveli
Eight havelis, six built: the planned houses of branches of one family.
- Paintings outside: Krishna, the lovers Dhola and Maru, elephant riders, horse carriages, early motor cars and a long steam train with every carriage drawn.
- Best light: the soft light of late afternoon.
Bhagton ki Choti Haveli
Untouched: built in the nineteenth century by the Bhagat family, still a private home, never cleaned or restored.
Why go: it shows what the museums looked like before their makeovers.
- Old world and Raj: Queen Victoria and King George, European ladies and cherubs, Krishna and Radha on a swing.
- A painters' trick: an elephant made of seven women's bodies.
- Entry: the caretaker lets you in for a small fee.
The other great houses
On a longer walk: the Jodhraj Patodia double haveli, and the Surajmal Chhauchharia, Khedwal, Kulwal, Mansingka and Khokhani havelis.
- The Jaipuria haveli: the green-walled house of Sheth Anandram Jaipuria, where one panel copies a painting in the style of Raja Ravi Varma.
- Familiar names: every one belonged to a family you may know from an Indian company or a Mumbai school.
The Bala Qila and its mirrored room
Nawal Singh's central fort: now largely hidden by later buildings, banks and offices.
- The Sheesh Mahal: up a stair behind a sweet shop, once a queen's dressing room, set with mirror work.
- The ceiling: painted panoramas of mid-nineteenth-century Jaipur and Nawalgarh, almost like maps, with streets, gates and armies.
- Worth it: a small fee, and one of the most charming rooms in the region.
Gopinath temple and Gher ka Mandir
Gopinath temple: in the main bazaar, built by Nawal Singh himself, the oldest temple in town, with Ramayana scenes on its ceiling.
- Gher ka Mandir: opposite the Morarka haveli, built in the eighteenth century by the Chokhani family, with painted domes.
- Eleven banalingams: smooth river stones worshipped as Shiva, in its Shiva shrine.
- Visit well: remove your shoes, dress modestly and come in the morning when the priests are there.
How a merchant's haveli works
The chabutra: a raised platform outside the gate, where the men sat in the evenings, heard the gossip and watched the town go by.
The gate: tall enough for an elephant, with a heavy iron-studded wooden door, and Ganesh keeping watch above.
The wicket door: a small door set into the gate, the one used every day. The gate was a statement, the small door was daily life.
- *Chabutra*
- Street platform for the men
- *Mardana*
- Outer, men's courtyard
- *Baithak*
- Formal sitting room
- *Zenana*
- Inner, women's courtyard
- *Nohra*
- Yard for animals and carriages
- The mardana: the outer courtyard, the men's world.
- The baithak: where the merchant met clients, signed accounts and entertained. The finest painting is usually here, with mirror work and gold in the grander houses.
- The pankha: a cloth fan that hung from the ceiling, pulled on a rope by a servant sitting outside.
- The zenana: through a narrower doorway, the inner courtyard where the family actually lived, with kitchen, store rooms and upper-floor bedrooms.
- Roof terraces: where women dried chillies and slept in the hot months.
- Jharokhas: projecting latticed windows that let women watch the lane unseen.
- The nohra: a walled yard beside the house for camels, horses, carriages and later the family car.
- Built for the desert: thick walls hold the night's cool into the afternoon, courtyards pull hot air up and out, and deep verandas shade the walls.
- Why inner frescoes survive: that shade, while the outer paintings fade.
- Read further: our short piece on what a haveli is and the architecture guide.
Roop Niwas and the Marwari horses
A country house: Roop Niwas Kothi stands in its own gardens on the edge of town, once a country house of the Nawalgarh family.
1928: Rawal Madan Singh, a scion of the estate, gave it a complete makeover and made it, with its stables, his home.
- Remade
- 1928, by Rawal Madan Singh
- Hotel since
- 1981
- Run by
- Rawal Devendra Singh and family
- Horses
- More than fifty Marwaris
- Rides
- An hour, a day or several days
- Early to heritage: the family opened it to guests in 1981.
- Its charm: slightly faded and much loved, with verandas, old photographs and a quiet garden.
- The Marwari horse: the old Rajput cavalry mount, famous for ears that curve inwards until the tips nearly touch. The family breeds them.
- The rides: across the fields and villages of Shekhawati.
- Book ahead: the family leads the longer safaris themselves.
- For horse lovers: read our pages on horse safaris and Marwari horses, and the multi-day Marwari horse safari journey.
Where to stay, in town or nearby
Roop Niwas Kothi
Who it suits: horse lovers, families and anyone who likes a country house atmosphere.
- Ask for: a room in the original building rather than the newer wing.
- Evenings: plan a ride, then dinner in the garden. The kitchen cooks good Rajasthani food.
Castle Mandawa, half an hour away
- A popular plan: many guests stay at Castle Mandawa and see Nawalgarh in a long morning.
- The difference: the castle is more luxurious, and the drive is short and pretty.
Haveli stays across the region
- Merchant homes: several havelis in the painted towns take guests, from simple homestays to beautifully restored mansions.
- Compare them: our guide to Shekhawati havelis to stay in, and how they differ from palaces in heritage hotels explained.
Sweets, millet and the bazaar
Morning in the bazaar: halwais fry jalebis and kachoris, and sell milk sweets all day.
Rajbhog: Nawalgarh's local favourite, a drier, paneer-based sweet. Ask for it, with a glass of thick, sweet lassi.
Lunch: bajra roti with white butter and garlic chutney, ker sangri of desert berries and beans, and kadhi pakora.
- Winter: families still cook bajre ki khichdi, millet and lentils simmered for hours and eaten with ghee and jaggery.
- In the bazaar: bandhani tie-dye, lac bangles, and brass and copper pots.
- Painted woodwork: chests, cradles and doors, some antique and many new, in a few dealers' yards.
- Careful with "old": many antique doors and brackets were stripped from neglected havelis, and we'd rather you didn't take part in that trade.
- Buy new instead: work from living carpenters carries the same skill.
- More reading: our Rajasthan food guide and our shopping guide.
Day trips from Nawalgarh
- Dundlod
- About 12 km
- Harshnath
- About 14 km from Sikar, completed 956
- Mandawa
- About 30 km north
Dundlod and Mukundgarh
- Dundlod: a small fort, a Goenka haveli and the Goenka family's painted cenotaph.
- Mukundgarh: a nineteenth-century offshoot of the Nawalgarh family, with its own fort and havelis, quiet enough for a slow afternoon.
Harshnath temple
On a hilltop: ruins of a Shiva temple completed in 956.
- Eight centuries older: its carved fragments predate anything in the painted towns.
- The view: superb over the plain, especially at sunset.
When to come
November to February: warm days, cold nights, sometimes near freezing, and soft winter light that is kind to faded paint.
March: pleasant, with Holi and the chang drums that announce it.
April to June: fierce heat, often above 40°C and sometimes much higher. We only come then for guests happy with the first and last hours of the day.
- Best season
- November to February
- March
- Holi and the chang drums
- Hot months
- April to June, above 40°C
- Gangaur
- March or April
- Monsoon
- July to September
- The monsoon: short and patchy, but green fields and festivals.
- Gangaur: women carry clay images of the goddess Gauri through the lanes.
- Teej: in the monsoon, swings and new leheriya saris.
- Shekhawati Festival: the Shekhawati Festival brings folk music and village events to the painted towns in winter.
- Local fairs: the Ramdev ji temple in town holds its own fair.
- Diwali: lovely, with the old havelis lit with lamps.
- Winter at its best: our Rajasthan in January guide.
Getting to Nawalgarh
From Jaipur: roughly three hours by road, via Chomu and then Sikar.
From Delhi: by road through Haryana and Jhunjhunu.
- From Jaipur
- About 140 km, three hours
- From Delhi
- Five to six hours
- Jaipur airport
- About 150 km
- Railway
- Own station, Sikar to Loharu line
- To Bikaner
- A little over 200 km
- By train: Nawalgarh has its own station, with direct trains to Jaipur and Delhi. Most of our guests still prefer to come by car with their chauffeur.
- Distances: Mandawa and Sikar are each about 30 kilometres, Jhunjhunu about 40, and Bikaner a little over 200.
- In town: walk the lanes with a guide, and hop between distant havelis by local auto-rickshaw.
- On a journey: our Painted Towns of Shekhawati journey adds Mandawa, Fatehpur and Alsisar, and the Heritage Havelis Trail continues to Bikaner and Jodhpur.
A day in Nawalgarh
Morning, horses and the Morarka haveli
Dawn: ride out from Roop Niwas, or arrive from Mandawa by eight.
- At opening: the Morarka museum while the courtyards are quiet, then the Podar and its galleries.
- Break: tea and a rajbhog in the bazaar.
Midday, the Bala Qila and the temples
- Late morning: the mirrored room in the Bala Qila, then the Gopinath temple and Gher ka Mandir.
- Lunch: a Marwari thali at your hotel, then rest through the hottest hours.
Afternoon, the lanes
- At four: the Aath Haveli, the Bhagton ki Choti Haveli and the Jaipuria haveli with your guide.
- Last light: drive out to Dundlod, or sit in the Roop Niwas garden with a drink.
Who Nawalgarh suits, and what most visitors miss
First-timers to Shekhawati: the two museums are the clearest introduction to the painted towns, so Nawalgarh makes the ideal first stop.
Lovers of restoration debates: the repainted Podar and the cleaned Morarka let you judge for yourself.
Horse riders: the Marwari horses of Roop Niwas, from an hour's hack to a ride of several days.
- Half day
- The two museums
- Full day
- Museums, Bala Qila, temples, lanes
- A night
- Dawn ride from Roop Niwas
- Two nights
- Add Dundlod, Mukundgarh, Harshnath
- Families: children love the Podar galleries of costumes, turbans and model forts, and the horses.
- Less suited to: anyone who wants a grand palace hotel or tidy streets. Nawalgarh is a working town.
- Most often missed: the Sheesh Mahal of the Bala Qila, up a stair behind a sweet shop, with its painted map-like views of old Jaipur and Nawalgarh.
- Also missed: the eleven banalingams of Gher ka Mandir, and the two rare paintings of Jesus at the Morarka haveli.
- The unrestored houses: the Bhagton ki Choti Haveli shows what the museums looked like before their makeovers.
- Harshnath at sunset: a Shiva temple of 956 on a hilltop, eight centuries older than the painted havelis.
- A taste of the town: a rajbhog and a glass of lassi in the main bazaar.
What our guides tell first-timers
A working town: streets can be dusty and untidy. Look up at the paintings, and you'll forgive it.
Museums first: once you know what a restored wall looks like, you can read the faded ones.
- Ask before entering: any courtyard, and before photographing families. These are homes, not ruins.
- Tip the caretakers: their small fees and tips are often the only money keeping a haveli open.
- No antique doors: don't buy brackets, panels or doors that may be stripped from neglected havelis.
- Read about the people: our painted havelis guide and the Shekhawati region page.
