The way we live : Mud houses of Jaiselmer

A little away from the city enclosed within the honey coloured walls of the Jaiselmer fort, Rajasthan,  lie  tiny little villages lost in the desert wilderness. As opposed to the opulent havelis of the city- some of which are said to be among the most ostentatious in all of Rajasthan - these villages house the local peasant and pastoral communities. In a sharp contrast to most newly built, modern habitats  that scar  the landscape of urban India - ugly haphazard concretized neighbourhoods- these villages with their little mud houses offer   quality housing in resonance with the local climate and needs.

Painted in striking yellow and white lime wash, the mud houses of Jaiselmer take one back in time:  to the earliest forms of human habitation perhaps. Simple  and pertinent, these homes are mostly constructed using adobe and readily available mud mixed with straw and cow dung.
The womenfolk take particular pride in their houses, painting the exterior walls and adorning the interiors with elaborate patterns and designs drawn from local experience. The paint and pattern is renewed each year during the festive season, ensuring bright  and beautified neighbourhoods.

Mud –a resource plentiful in the  region, is malleable  when wet and strong when dry, particularly when mixed with straw and cow dung. It is an easy-to-use, strong, cheap, renewable resource.  The material  helps insulate the buildings against the extremes of summer heat  and winter cold making it a logical choice for the hot- arid local conditions.

With time however, the popularity of  adobe is waning. Each village comprises of a cluster of houses usually interspersed by  an odd flat roofed, concrete structure, called a pucca or permanent dwelling. In the recent years,  concrete- a material  neither suitable for the climate, less eco-friendly and sorely lacking in the aesthetic quality of mud- has gained favour with the local population that sees it as a  status symbol.

Even as  concrete cubes proliferate the rural landscape, it is interesting to note  that most of these  constructions mimic their mud counterparts in essential features (the square house with ample open to sky spaces around) and external adornment !

A cement- brick structure adorned to look like its mud counterparts in Sam village  40 kms from Jaiselmer.

Humble and  non-aspirational as they may be, the mud huts represent  an ancient way of life, living within the environment rather than challenge it. Built by the home owners themselves without  formal architectural inputs, using locally available materials, these lend a distinct character to the villages. A factor that attracts  tourists,  students of architecture, designers and artists  alike.

With the change over to modern sensibility, age old techniques  and traditional know how  are  fading from memory.  Its a tragedy. Compared to busy, bustling chaotic modern developments,  old  habitats such as  the mud houses of Jaiselmer exhibit a  shared aesthetic and  love for elegance and beauty. The visuality of such a neighbourhood is more in the form of a collective choice,  creativity and consciousness.  Is it these choices that  reflect in how clean most of these neighborhoods are..?

An interesting term coined by architect Charles Correa comes to mind.  Describing  rural habitats such as the mud houses,  he uses the words: ' Low energy-high visual'. That is succinct. Responding to the position that -an aesthetic  sense is something  the poor cannot afford- he says-

“Nothing could be further from the truth! Improving our habitats requires visual skills. The poor have always understood this.  With one stroke of a pink brush, a Mexican artist transforms a clay pot. It costs him nothing… And the Arab had only the simplest tools: mud and sky- so he had to be inventive! In the process producing the most glorious oasis towns ever seen. And it is not a coincidence that  the best  handicraft comes from the poorest countries of the world.”

Design in focus: Devigarh Fort Palace

The facade of the Palace

On a fine morning, the bar at the Devigarh Fort Palace is the best vantage point to savor the  local scenery from.  Sitting on the many comfortable reclining day beds, it is possible to take in the lush post-monsoon vista of the Aravali ranges. The spacious verandah richly decorated in bright yellow and red colours, frames  the rolling hills, glistening waters of lotus choked ponds, tiny flat roofed houses of the neighbouring Delwara village beautifully- in short all the bucolic one will ever want !

And how wonderfully this renovated,  16th century home of Rajput warrior chief Sajja Singh frames the beauty around !  From carved Rajputana-style windows, balconies,  a lazy poolside, floor to ceiling windows of  bathrooms of the property's many suites.. pretty much everywhere. So much so, that it is hard to say what stunning sight will await one at which corner. 

The painstakingly restored medieval royal residence presides  over the village of Delwara, 28 kilometers north of Udaipur. Its many storeyed construction looming above the village's flat roofed houses.

The Delwara estate was given  by Rana Pratap Singh of Udaipur to Sajja Singh in reward for his support in battle.  The vertical structure of the place was subsequently built by his descendants over a period of time. The palace grew  around the zenana courtyard, its construction over many levels making the most of the stunningly beautiful vistas around.

Following a extensive seven year old restoration process, the once crumbling structure of the palace was arduously brought back to life in 2000.

The past exists in a fine balance with the present in the newly done up rooms of this all- suite property .  Built using a neo-Rajput idiom achieved through the use of traditional elements such as marble, semi precious stones, mirror work, mother of pearl, plaster work and vividly toned murals, albeit with a definite contemporary twist.  Even as the traditional materials are handled according to age-old techniques,  the end result is by design,  modern.

The property is the foremost among the recently renovated royal palaces so far as a modern, eclectic  design sensibility goes. Here  the past is delightfully and most elegantly reconciled with the sleek lines of modernism. There are witty references to historical architecture albeit created in a modern spirit sprinkled all over the palace in tiny details.

While old palaces and homes all over the country are actively being restored, in some instances the work involved goes beyond mere rehabilitation of the structure. Genuine looking, but entirely new additions- dining halls,  modern bathrooms and swimming pools – are painstakingly made, such that the changes are not apparent to the  visitor.

The above two are among the hotel's many private dining nooks. There is no saying which delightful corner one will encounter on an exploration around the property!

A witty a reference from the past  presented with a modern twist.

Bright contrasting colours in the Bar are in stark contrast with the minimal, almost monastic palette of the rest of the hotel.

The Palace Suite is the only suite I had access to over this trip. Pictures from the other rooms will make for a whole new post !

The table setting in the hotels main restaurant combines modern and traditional decor elements...

The Zennana, around which most of the palace is built is a beautiful nook peppered with interesting details...such a an old swing and a square shaped fountain..

old and the new!

Detail of a thoughtfully placed rose bowl

Finally the beautiful countryside framed by some of the palace's many windows and arches..

This post is a result of a wedding in the family  that is being planned at the property by the end of this year.  This one is from a recce trip I undertook over the weekend... Being part of the prep has been very exciting this far ! I will come back with yet another post about the Royal theme wedding later  hopefully...for one post is really not enough to include all sights the palace has to offer. But that is a few months away.. ! Until then hope you have enjoyed snippets from around the stunning Devigarh Fort Palace...