Bikaner is situated in the north-west of Rajasthan and it can legitimately boast of some
unique architectural marvels of India. It has an ancient fort unparallel in its splendour.
It can boast of many attractions for anyone interested in culture or art or architecture.
Apart from Junagarh fort, Jain temples like Bhandasar temple, Neminath temple, Adeshwar
temple are simply adorable. Lallgarh Palace is built in Victorian style but its stone and
wood carvings are typical combinations of Mughal and Rajput art developing a typical
bikaneri flavor of architecture. Carvings find best expression in Bikaneri havelies.
Havelies are marvels in home architecture. Such havelies or residential houses do not exist
anywhere in the world. They are the pride of Bikaner, says great author and philosopher,
Aldous Huxley. They are situated in narrow lanes in the old city. Splendid abodes can be
seen in the midst of streets that look serpent like and peaceful. They are marvelous
mansions made of red stone and stand magnificently.
They stand spreading magic around. Their jharokhas (casements), entrances, latticed
windows, divankhanas, Gumaharias or basements, are exotic. The -red stone gives a look that
is like a red carpet forcing one to look and admire. The havelies were the residence of
wealthy merchants who had a fancy for beauty and art. Nine months in a year they lived in
far off lands to earn money and then came to this city to rest and enjoy and build havelies
and live in them, show their wealth and status, their love , fascination for architecture
and colours. The oldest haveli is perhaps four hundred years old but most of them are
hundred years in age or around it. That is why they indicate a pattern of their own. They
charm each and everyone who happens to see them. Their exterior is dominated by the
jharokhas at once charming and capable of keeping spellbound. The jharokhas are exquisite
carvings made alive by artistic creaters. They marvel in the beauty that lies in them and
not merely in beholder's eyes. They are generally six feet long and three feet wide proving
that small is beautiful.
Smaller they are, the more beautiful they are likely to look. They form the most
picturesque part of the haveli face. They also indicate the love for nature these creators
of havelies had. leaves and flowers decorate every jharokha giving it an astonishing and
pleasant natural effect. Jali or stone with small holes create unbounded beauty.
The most famous cluster of havelies is the Rampuria Group of Havelies. Built by Balujee
Chalva under instructions from Rampuria family its carvings show surprising skill. Rampuria
havelis are many in number and are big in size and being located at nearly adjacent
positions make great impression almost like the great havelies of Jaisalmer, the Patwa
havelies. Their appears an undeniable similarity between the two havelies perhaps because
both of them were mainly conceived and built by Vishwakarma clan. The interior scheme of
decoration of the two havelies is very different. The Patwa havelies were built earlier and
emphasized on exterior decoration and minute carvings on jaisalmeri stone while the
Rampuria havelies were built of dulmera stone. The jaisalmeri stone is yellow in colour.
The dulmera stone is red.
Both are soft redstones. Exquisite and minute carvings come naturally to both the stones.
The patwa havelies have more carvings in the interior also. The Rampuria havelies are
decorated with golden work of the highest quality. They have dankhanas (Drawing Room) which
take us to the mughal and rajput period of amalgamation and synthesis. They have Victorian
influence in abundance. The wood carvings in Rampuria Havelies are more exquisite and are
far more beautiful. Another distinguishing feature is that Rampuria havelies have diverse
exterior and each haveli has a pattern of its own. The Patwa havelies have more intricate
carvings but the Rampuria havelies show a more varied face.
The most beautiful carvings on the face side are those of Rikhji Bagri ki Haveli situated
near mohta chowk. Bikaner. It is very little known and is small in size. It is a poetry
written on stone. Such artistic exterior is unparallel and perhaps does not exist anywhere
on earth. The other and much better known havelies including the great patwa havelies fade
when the carving of this haveli show off the minutest details in a most delicate manner. Be
it a peacock, an elephant, a flower or a pot, every thing is natural. living and just
enchanting. The more you look at them the more joy you get out of the view. It is a beauty
for ever, eternal and irreplaceable. If dreams are cast in stones or if stones can sing
they would be like the exterior of Rikhji bagri ki haveli. Arched entrances and captivating
jharokhas look more beautiful because of the flowers embossed on them which are more
beautiful than the real flowers.
Another cluster of havelies which attracts the onlooker is the cluster of Daga chowk
havelies. There are a number of havelies in daga chowk. A salient feature of these havelies
is the fact that they are scattered like the scattered clouds. They are adorned with
carvings of flowers. The rose is there with its freshness. The lotus flowers are there with
their charm, Other flowers are there with their leaves. The walls are all flowery and take
the viewer in a world of nature and its infinite spelendours. The carvings on jharokhas are
simply artistic to say the least. They are exquisite. They look like projected pieces of
priceless jewelery. They take the viewer to a cocktail of architectural excellence. Daga
family had a fascination for deevankhanas. The deewankhanas or drawing rooms gave prestige
to the family. They were decorated with taste and were their show cases. They were a
treasury of art and a matter of their pride. They preserved valuable murals also. They
exhibited old and contemporary faces of Indian painting. They also demonstrate the
increasing English influence.
The European influence is more evident in the haveli of Bhairondan Kothari. Its exterior is
not so attractive or artistic but once you enter. it you are just enamored with its charm,
it excels in marble work. It imparts fascinating beauty to its floors. Marble tiles are
studded in the floors of the haveli. Marble magic is evident in every corner. It is the
beautiful poem of Kamayani written by soft marble stone. Its marble work is unmatched and
can match marble work any where in any part of world. It is this consideration which has
forced some to include this haveli as one of the most beautiful houses of India, one of the
fifty most beautiful.
Another remarkable haveli near this haveli is the haveli of Poonam Chand Kothari. Its
exterior carvings are as beautiful as those of Daga havelies. Its wood work is better.
Havelies of near by dhadhon ka chowck are also beautiful. Chandmal dhadha haveli is very
beautiful in the eyes of some critics. Mohta havelies in Banthia chowk are all important.
Havelies in mava patti and kothari Mohalla and those in dammani chowk deserve special
mention.
In every haveli the dankhana is the most adored room and most prestigious too. The
guests are received here. It is significant to mention that every haveli has two
dankhanas. One for men and another for women and these are situated at the main entrance of
the haveli. There may a few havelies who are not big enough to accommodate two dankhanas.
seperate space is kept in the same dankhana for ladies and gents.
A dankhana generally has six pillars. Every pillar has a glass mirror with gold frame. This
frame is engrossed with flowers mostly roses. The flowers of various colours illuminate the
diwankhana and add to its beauty. The flowers and the leaves adore all walls of the
diwankhnna. They may be curved on stone or may be painted, they give illusion of nature and
natural beauty. Then every diwankhana has paintings of gods and goddesses. Lord Ganesh and
Laxmi and Parwati are the most prevalent among them. Lord Shiv and Bhagwan Ram and Lord
Krishana are the other Godswho generally decorate this room. Taken as a whole, the havelis
contain a number of paintings of Radha Krishan and Ram Sita also. Apart from religious
deities and flowers, the leaves fruits like apples, grapes, oranges and bananas also find
place in most havelies in Bikaner. They had great fascination for peacocks and parrots and
these are shown hovering over the fruits. The ceiling of a diwankhana was always beautiful
and artistic. It was a wooden ceiling generally and was embossed with flowers with six or
eight leaves. Some of the havelies have golden work on the ceiling and some like the
Bhairnodan kothari haveli and Rampuria havelis excel in this type of work. The owners of
the havelies were mostly religious people and every haveli has a temple.
Every haveli has at least a second story. A mol or mahal is the most beautiful and artistic
portion of this part and is normally adorned with golden work of carving . Mahal is the
symbol of status. lt is rich in carvings. Golden carvings are the ardour of the mahal
because it is here that dancing girls used to give performances in mahfils (parties). The
richer the mahfil.the richer is the owner in the eyes of the society. The paintings of
Indra ,the king of heaven sitting on his throne or his elephant with beautiful fairies
dancing .enhances the beauty of the mol linking it with Hindu fables and stories and myths.
Some mols contain valuable master pieces of art. Most of the rooms in Sampatlal Agarwal
haveli are adorned with large priceless paintings of Raja Ravi Verma. They are as old as
eighteen hundred ninety four. Large courtyards, sals, and oras turn these ancient houses
into depositors of history, art and architecture in their own small way. Their another
feature is the impressive beautifully painted ceilings. Some havelis have ceilings which
instantly attract the viewer, earn his appreciation, amaze him, delight him. Every haveli
consists of a number of rooms, big and small, made for special purposes and suitable for
those purposes. A sal is a rather half open multi purpose room for internal use of the
family. An ora is a small bed room again for the members of the family. It is also a box
room. Barsali is the passage from enterce to the interior portion of the haveli. It is
follwed by Angan or chowk. Angan is surrounded by kitchen, Pujaghar, and water store or
parindha. Almost every haveli has more than one stories. Sometimes five to six but normally
three.
An interesting feature of havelies is that there are no urinals in them. This was because
water was a scarce commodity and it was to he utilized with utmost care andnot a drop of it
was to be wasted. There were no flush latrines. Purity was another consideration. The
pujaghar or temple was to be as away from the urinal place as possible. The toilets were
situated in near by kotries or large open spaces with only toilet buildings. The courtyards
or boundaries were always there to surround a kotri. Most of the havelies are situated in
narrow streets in the old city or the walled city.
These havelies are priceless treasures of heritage.
