This ancient for of Rajasthan has a story to tell that you must listen to.
If you will ever be in Bundi, you come to see the whole city being painted in color blue. That is just the first impression that will give you a hint of how much people of India adore color. But once you enter the Bundi Palace complex, you will, no doubt, get mesmerized by the level of artistic craftsmanship rich with captivating usage of colors.
The Bundi Palace complex comprises of many structured especially many Mahals(buildings), some of them are:Badal Mahal, Phool Mahal, Chattar Mahal, and Chitrashala. These are mostly painted rooms adorned with many antique and exquisite paintings. You can feel a kaleidoscopic view in every room with an eye-catching design and style that will leave you spellbound.
In every room, you can find a different set of paintings varying in their art, style and design which depict the years ago wall painting done in Bundi Complex.Out of all those Mahals and structure, Chattar Mahal displays a unique and distinct set of paintings that are quite different from paintings of other Mahals.
ChattarMahal was constructed in the 1660s by MaharaoChattar Sal. It was built using the green Serpentinite(a kind of rock looks like the skin of snake) in a traditional Rajput style portraying the lotus flowers and elephants with other figures. The only way you can get there is through a steep, paved path. Some of the famous structures that are in the premise of ChattarMahals are Hazari Pol or Gate of the thousand, the NaubatKhana with its old water clock, and the Diwan-e-Aam.
The paintings that are in display inside the Chattarmahal are of Lord Vishnu(A prominent Hindu God), Lord Shiva(another important God in Hinduism), Lord Surya(Sun God) and many more that will make you stare at them with amazement. The paintings are old, but they still look lively and lovely. They have survived the sands of time and still singing the praise of the intricate and ingenious craftsmanship of those bygone Indians. The room will mostly rich in color comprised of red, gold, and indigo which creates a peaceful ambience around you and is enough to hold you for long gazing and praising those arts.
You can certainly get the context and read the story of those mute paintings as most of the paintings were done keeping some stories in mind which are taken from Rajasthani folk tales, epics of Hinduism and other situations depicting some social issue related to its culture and traditions.
Apart from the ChattarMahal, visiting other Mahals are highly recommended.
Lastly, due to security reason which is to protect some paintings adorned with gold and mirror, some parts of the room are kept locked, but with a bit request, especially when you are accompanied by a guide, they can open it for you to have a look around it.
If you are in the blue city of Rajasthan, Bundi, then Bundi Palace, Chattarmahal and other aforementioned palaces should be inevitably mentioned in your must visit list. The charm of its dazzling beauty laced with captivating colors will certainly make you crave for it again.
