Rathi Family Haveli

Painted haveli near the clock tower with vividly imaginative frescoes of European women and British soldiers

The Rathi Family Haveli near Lachhmangarh's clock tower is one of the most visually entertaining examples of Shekhawati fresco painting — the paintings here include a particularly vivid series depicting European women in 19th-century dress and British soldiers in full uniform, painted by local artists who were working from secondhand accounts and imported illustrations rather than direct observation.

The results are charming and bizarre in equal measure: the European figures have Indian features and postures despite their Western dress, and the British soldiers are rendered with the same flat, hieratic style used for Hindu deities in the same building. The paintings are a document of how the outer world reached Shekhawati through the merchants who traded across India and brought back descriptions of what they'd seen.

The haveli exterior is viewable from the street; interior access depends on whoever is present. A small tip to the caretaker (if one is there) usually opens the courtyard. The clock tower nearby is a useful landmark for orienting yourself in the town.

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