If Rajasthan is endowed with the valorous mantle of India, Shekhawati is its colourful hub. Just as local lore is redolent of heroic deeds, Rajasthani painting displays decorative forms vividly composed in colourful schemes. Be the forts, havelis, cenotaphs or temples, nowhere is such a profusion of frescoes to be found as in Shekhawati, sometimes known as the open air art gallery of Rajasthan.
Legends abound here.
One of them relates to the medieval chieftain Mokal Singh of Barwara. Attributing the arrival os his heir to the benediction of a certain Sheikh Burhan, the child was named Shekha. When the young lad ascended the gaddi with the exalted title of Rao Shekhaji, not many would have predicted his rule of last 43 years. But that is how the region came to be known as Shekhawati, or the garden of Shekha, extending across the districts of Sikar, Jhunjhunu and Churu in northeast Rajasthan. While the centre of Shekhawati power was subject to the vicissitudes of fortune swings from the Rajputs to the British, it was the doughty Marwaris who ensured the survival of the local art from.