THE LOST KINGDOM

WHETHER AS PURE HERITAGE, OR AS THE VENUE OF A HISTORIC ENCOUNTER, INDIA SHOULD HAVE PROTECTED KHETRI LIKE A NATIONAL TREASURE. BUT THROUGH A 37-YEAR-LONG COURT BATTLE, A PRICELESS PIECE OF RAJASTHAN CRUMBLES TO DUST

- Rohit Parihar

"You won't be able to have lunch if you see these pictures" -Supreme Court, January 18, 2023

"As a British citizen, it is inexplicable to me why the State would ruin the valuable heritage of its people" -Lord Francis Baring Northbrook, member, Khetri Trust

When the Shekhawati winds blow through these pillared arches and niches now, they make a mocking sound. In 1770, when the 'Wind Palace' of Khetri was conceived, it was as a graceful jugalbandi between nature and culture. An idea good enough to be borrowed-it was soon to become the prototype for Hawa Mahal, the staple of tourism brochures that's emblematic of Jaipur, a hundred miles to the south, and indeed of Rajasthan's entire architectural heritage. But the place of genesis now marks the spot of a suicide attempt. You could draw a circle in white chalk around Khetri and write, 'This is where Heritage tried to kill itself." The Aravalli wilderness, dry and thorny, has long seeped into its palace gardens. The wind deposits bits of the desert in patios and hallways, scarring dainty frescoes and mirror work. Lizard droppings and bird guano humble the proud portraits, now lying broken. Usually, such a textbook picture of decrepitude-of Time laying waste to human grandeur-comes to us as a tale of royal hubris. In this little godforsaken patch, however, the crime was committed by the entity that took over from the rajas: the State.