" Rajasthan Travel Circuits "

Hadoti Circuit

Places of Interest: Bundi - Kota - Jhalawar - Baran

Towards the southeast is one of Rajasthan`s least explored regions. It is a region that is full of great historical towns with a proud heritage dating back several centuries. Walk back into the past as you visit pre-historic cave paintings and look for other traces of early civilization. It will delight the archaeologist in you as you drive along the Chambal and stuble upon more relics from the past. Hadoti has a wealth of beautifully sculpted temples that seem frozen in time.

SIGHTSEEING

Bundi, the first major destination in Hadoti to be reached from Jaipur, has a strong association with Rudyard Kipling, who drew inspiration from the beautiful town and its surroundings. Set in a narrow encircling gorge, the palaces and fortress of Bundi seem to come straight out of a fairy tale. Very few places in the country can match this small town's picturesque location. The Bundi Palace presents a fine example of Rajput architecture with its carved brackets, pillars and balconies. While you're at the palace don't miss the famous Chitra Shala with its exquisite paintings of the Bundi School that adorn the walls here. You can also visit the Phool Sagar Palace, Sukh Mahal, Shikar Burj and Sar Bagh. The step wells of Bundi are works of art and a very beautiful example can be found in the center of the town - the Raniji ki Baodi. This stepwell is profusely decorated with carved pillars and ornate archways and makes you wonder why a simple function of drawing water from the well needed so much embellishment. More decoration can be seen on 64- pillared 17th century cenotaph just outside the town. It is a region that has kept its past alive but has also prepared itself to face the 20th century with all the necessary equipment.

Take the bustling, cluttered city of Kota. It's a thoroughly modern, industrial city with its smoke emitting factories and an incredible number of vehicles on its crowded roads. But it also has its majestic fort and palaces. A lot of other reminders of its past are scattered all over the city, like the fort with its museum and the Jag Mandir, the Brijraj Bhawan Palace and the Umain Bhawan Palace. Kota is famous for its sarees called Kotadoria. These cotton sarees are very popular as summer wear. Moving further into the Hadoti region the towns get less crowded and less touristy. The temples and the forts are all there for you to explore, as you drive into the interior you chance upon a ruined temple here and an abandoned fortress there. The people, beyond Baran, are warm and welcoming an can be willing guides to help you understand the area better. Some areas worth exploring are the Badoli Temples that date back to the 9th century, the 11th century Ramgarh Bhand deora temple, Sitabari, an ideal picnic spot with temples and seven tanks and the fort and mosque of Shahbad. The countryside has wooded hills and valleys that provide shelter to large variety of wildlife.

The Darrah Wildlife Sanctuary, once used as the royal hunting ground, today protects panther, spotted deer, wild boar and bear. Jhalawar is a typical small Hadoti town where the focal point is the fort itself. Located in the middle of the town, most of it now houses disctrict offices but try and get some body to show you the Zenana Khas portion of the fort as it has some really exquisite paintings on the walls.

When you decide to move out of Jhalawar, there are other places of interest like the wooden cottage called Rain Basera, the 7th century temples of Chandrabhaga, sun temple at Jhalarapatan and the magnificent 8th century Gagron fort.


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