At Jaisalmer, I visited this place called Bada Bagh. While the city and it’s surrounding areas dry and brown (including the buildings) this place is a small forest in its own. It’s a green patch in the brown desert.
It is said that the garden was planted in 16th century (500 years ago) by King Lunkaran. The garden has many fruit bearing trees including more than 300 mango trees. Yes Mango trees in the middle of the desert. Nothing is impossible if you want it. The best part is the garden has survived and thrived all these years.
Overlooking the garden is a small hill where many cenotaphs of the Royal family were constructed. They are called Chattris which literary mean umbrellas in Hindi. They in-fact look like umbrellas and the are meant to provide shade for the dead. I found it strange that people walk on the dead people say in day out and there is no issue with it. However protecting the dead from the sun is mandatory.
The Chattris are built for the royal family. It is built by the grandson and not the son. So if a person is not married or doesn’t have children, no Chattris will be built. It will be left open in the scorching sun for eternity. Atleast no one will stamp over them!
In every complex, there is one main Chattri and few small Chattris next to it. The number of small Chattris is dependent on the number of wives the King had. Some has 2, some had 3 and some has even 15.
The wives also had a hierarchy. Only the important wives were allowed to be at the Kings dead body when he died. The others were not allowed to sit next to the body. To signify that, there are two sets of women depicted. One has two women figures and another has six. If you see closely the saree of the first two have been shown with some pattern and the other six women’s sarees are plain. What ways to explain the marital status of the kings and his wives!
The mode is death is also depicted in the carving. If one of the leg of the horse is on the ground it means that the King died naturally. If both the legs of the horse were in the air it meant that the King died in a battle.
There are two types of Chattris. One have a dome top and another had a triangular or pyramid style top. It is said that it depended on the religion of the person who built the Chattri. If it was built by a Muslim it has a dome and if it was built by a Hindu it has a pyramid style structure.
It is said that the dome shaped Chattris were built by plastering and joining pieces of stone. However the pyramid shaped Chattri did not have any plastering and they were built using an interlocking pattern. During the earthquakes some of the dome shaped Chattris broke off but none of the pyramid shaped Chattris broke.
This place is so beautiful and it is needless to say that a lot or movies have been shot here. It is also a popular spot for taking pre-wedding and some professional photographs. There was an amazing guide cum photographer who took some amazing photos. If not anything this place is a photographers delight.
Endless thoughts 