Bundi

Bundi sits below a ridge in a fold of the Aravallis, its old town washed in indigo blue, with the Garh Palace climbing the hillside above in a series of blocks added by successive rulers. Its murals are the reason art historians come: the Chitrashala, a painted gallery in the palace, holds Bundi-school wall painting in blues and greens covering ceilings and walls with court scenes, hunts, processions and Krishna stories, better preserved than most. The town has dozens of stepwells, the Raniji ki Baori the finest, descending in carved storeys. Taragarh fort above is overgrown and roamed by langurs.

History

Stone Age artefacts have been found near Bundi, whose name is believed to come from a 13th-century chieftain, Bunda Meena. In 1241 a group of Chauhan nobles took the territory from the Meena and Bhil tribes and made Bundi the capital of their kingdom of Hadoti; after the siege of Ranthambore in 1568, Rao Surjan Singh made a treaty with the Mughals that left Bundi much of its autonomy, and in 1818 Rao Raja Bishan Singh allied with the British East India Company, after which Bundi remained a princely state (Wikipedia, Bundi).

What's there

• The Chitrashala - painted galleries of Bundi-school murals in the palace.
• Raniji ki Baori - a deep carved stepwell in the town.
• The blue lanes - indigo-washed houses below the palace.
• Taragarh fort - the overgrown fort on the ridge above.

When to go

October to March; Rajasthan summers are severe. The Bundi festival falls in November. The town is far quieter than Jaipur or Udaipur throughout the year.

Practical notes

Parts of the palace are ruinous and overgrown, and langurs in the upper sections can be aggressive. Many stepwells are dry and litter-filled. Lighting inside the Chitrashala is poor and photography restricted.

Nearby

Kota lies southeast; Chittorgarh is southwest.

Key facts