Havelis did you say?

Did u say haveli? What is that?

According to Wikipedia "Haveli is the term used for a private mansions in India andPakistan. The word havelimeaning 'an enclosed place'.

The term Haveli was originally used by theVaishnava sect to refer to their temples in Gujarat. In the northern part of India havelis for Lord Krishna are prevalent with huge mansion like constructions. The havelis are noted for their frescoesdepicting images ofgods,goddesses, animals, scenes from the British colonization, and the life stories of LordsRama and Krishna".

"If dreams are cast in stones or if stones can sing they would be like

the exteriors and interiors of Bikaner havelies"

Havelis of Bikaner and Jaisalmer are famous all around the globe for their architecture, wall paintings, art depicted on the inner walls of a haveli and beautifully carved stones, artistically designed wooden roofs and big and sturdy gates, beautiful and srtistic paintings made on different walls and gates of almirahs and wardrobes.

Interior of an haveli

Interior of an haveli

Haveli of moti lalji (Mohta Chowk)

Haveli of moti lalji (Mohta Chowk)

An another haveli

All the stones were specially made for any particular haveli or in other words all the stones and material were tailor made for thet particular haveli. All the carvings and designes were intrecately hand made by lots of workers.

Workers making door.

All the carvings, paintings and art were done with very fine details as if they were real. As the time turned, people living and owning these havelis died and most of the havelies got stuck amidst the family feueds of siblings as to who will get what part of haveli or who well get possession of how much property. And due to all these family feueds nobody got to live in these havelis until the dispute comes to an ends after many years, but until then, most of the havelis grow very old and due to lack of proper care and maintenance havelis start fellin due to changing times and aging and also movement in earth that is sometimes due to leakage in pipes or due to rain water, earth moves and caves in harming these havelis and with time these havelis are not not in shape to live in, so these are sold to some other people who demolishes these havelis, collects all the stones, art works, paintings, etc. and sell them at higher rates outof the city and most of they times out of the country where these aincient artefacts fetches huge sum of money and on the grounds of havelis other profitable builduings are constructed and lend or sold out to others.

Last year almost 16 - 17 havelis (small and big) were demolished to give space for some other construction or fell to pieces due to lack of proper care or maintenance. People have becomemore greedy and look for more and more monet by selling all the heritage and art that belonged here. And government bodies doesnt take any strict actions as to restrict these actions. At the current pace, the day isint far when only very few havelis will be lefy behind, who knows in the future to come they might fall too.