Rajasthan
SOUTHERN
R AJASTHAN
Rajasthan
Si GHTS
Rajasthan
BUND
i
Getting ̈There ̈& ̈Away
BUS
There are very few direct buses to anywhere
of interest so it’s always preferable to take the
train. Three direct buses leave for Bundi (6am,
6.45am & 2pm, ₹93, five hours) from the Tonk
bus stand (take the second left out of the train
station and the bus stand is on your right after
the petrol station).
TRAIN
Trains run almost hourly to Kota (from where
you can catch buses to Bundi). i t takes less
than two hours. Just buy an unreserved ‘general
ticket’ (₹44) and pile in.
There are five daily trains to Jaipur (5.50am,
9.45am, 10.40am, 2.35pm and 6.55pm), al-
though plenty of others run on selected days so
you rarely have to wait more than an hour. The
journey takes two hours. Unreserved 2nd-class
seats cost ₹50; sleepers cost ₹140.
Five trains run daily to Delhi (6.28am, 7.05am,
12.30pm, 9.15pm and 11.02pm). Journey times
vary. They arrive at 10.55am, 12.30pm, 6.35pm,
5.25am and 4.30am respectively. Sleeper/3AC
tickets cost around ₹190/490.
Two daily trains go to Agra. The 13238 Kota-
PNBE Express to Agra Cantonment leaves at
4.47pm, arrives at 11.05pm and costs ₹144 for a
sleeper. The 59811 Haldighati Passenger leaves
at 11.25pm, arrives at 6am and costs ₹85 for a
sleeper.
For Keoladeo Ghana National Park, four
daily trains go to Bharatpur (7.05am, 12.30pm,
4.47pm and 9.15pm). They take 2½ hours; 2nd-
class seats/sleepers ₹87/140.
Only one direct train goes to Udaipur; the
12963 Mewar Express. it leaves at 11.50pm,
arrives at 7.20am and costs ₹201/529 for a
sleeper/3AC ticket.
SOUTHERN RAJASTHAN
Bundi
% 0747 / POP 102,000
A captivating town with narrow lanes
of Brahmin-blue houses, lakes, hills, ba-
zaars and a temple at every turn, Bundi is
dominated by a fantastical palace of faded-
parchment cupolas and loggias rising from
the hillside above the town. Though an in-
creasingly popular traveller hang-out, Bundi
attracts nothing like the tourist crowds of
places like Jaipur or Udaipur, nor are its
streets choked with noisy, polluting vehi-
cles or dense throngs of people. Few places
in Rajasthan retain so much of the magical
atmosphere of centuries past.
Bundi came into its own in the 12th cen-
tury when a group of Chauhan nobles from
Ajmer were pushed south by Mohammed of
Ghori, they wrested the Bundi area from the
Mina and Bhil tribes and made Bundi the
capital of their kingdom, known as Hadoti.1 ̈Sights
There are plenty of interesting villages to
explore in the Bundi region. Akoda (a mer-
chant’s village) and Thikardha (with pot-
teries) are both within cycling distance,
around 6km north of town.Bundi ̈Palace ̈ PA lACE
(Garh Palace; indian/foreigner ₹10/100, camera/
video ₹50/100; h8am-5pm) This extraordi-
nary, partly decaying edifice – described by
Kipling as ‘the work of goblins rather than
of men’ – almost seems to grow out of the
rock of the hillside it stands on. Though
large sections are still closed up and left to
the bats, the rooms that are open hold a se-
ries of fabulous, fading turquoise-and-gold
murals that are the palace’s chief treasure.
The palace was constructed in the reign of
Rao Raja Ratan Ji Heruled (Ratan Singh;
1607–31) and added to by his successors.
If you are going up to Taragarh as well as
the palace, get tickets for both at the palace ̈
entrance. Once inside the palace’s Hathi Pol
(Elephant Gate), climb the stairs to the Ra-
tan Daulat or Diwan-e-Aam, a hall of public
audience with a white marble coronation
throne. You then pass into the Chhatra Ma-
hal, added by Rao Raja Chhatra Shabji in
1644, with some fine but rather weathered
murals. Stairs lead up to the Phool Mahal
(1607), whose murals include an immense
royal procession, and then the Badal Mahal
(Cloud Palace; also 1607), with Bundi’s very
best murals, including a wonderful Chinese-
inspired ceiling, divided into petal shapes
and decorated with peacocks and Krishnas.
Within the complex is the Chitrasala,
a small 18th-century palace built by Rao
Ummed Singh. To find it, exit through Bun-
di Palace’s Elephant Gate and walk round
the corner uphill. Above the palace’s gar-
den courtyard are several rooms covered in
beautiful paintings. There are some great
Krishna images, including a detail of him
sitting up a tree playing the flute after steal-
ing the clothes of the gopis (milkmaids).
The back room to the right is the Sheesh
Mahal, badly damaged but still featuring