Bada Bagh Chhatris

On a low rise in the Thar Desert outside Jaisalmer, rows of domed sandstone pavilions stand silhouetted against the sky. These are the chhatris of Bada Bagh, the 'great garden', memorial cenotaphs of the Bhati rulers of Jaisalmer State, built across several centuries on a hill above an old reservoir and an orchard of mango trees that owes its existence to a single act of water engineering.

In the early 16th century Jait Singh II, a descendant of Rawal Jaisal, the founder of the state, had a dam built here to hold back a water tank, known after him as Jaitsar, and the land below turned green. After his death his son Lunkaran laid out a garden beside the lake and raised the first memorial chhatri on the hill overlooking it. Later rulers and their families followed, and most of the cenotaphs that stand today date from the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. Each one is assembled from blocks of the local golden sandstone, and they come in at least four sizes, graded by rank: the largest for the reigning kings, smaller ones for queens, princes and other members of the royal house. Inside, a marble slab carries an inscription about the person commemorated together with the image of a rider on horseback.

The last cenotaph, intended for Maharawal Jawahir Singh, was begun in the 20th century and left unfinished after India's independence, when the princely states came to an end; its incomplete form closes the sequence of royal memorials with a quiet full stop.

Jaisalmer, the Golden City, rises from the desert in western Rajasthan around its great hilltop fort, and the same honey-coloured stone that gives the town its name was used for the pavilions at Bada Bagh.

Getting there

Bada Bagh lies north of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, about 5 to 6 km from the town centre by road. Jaisalmer Airport (JSA) is about 8 km away, and Jaisalmer is also served by a railway station.