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INTRODUCTION
Scarcely anyone can remember the legends surrounding them-if indeed legends there ever were.
One such hidden treasures of Indian culture is at Chachrauli in Haryana. Chachrauli is the site of an ancient fort with artistic murals, a part of India's fast-disappearing heritage.
LOCATION
Chachrauli is situated in the north Indian state of Haryana near Karnal. A good network of roads connects Chachrauli with other cities in Haryana and nearby Delhi.
SIGHTSEEING
Chachrauli, formerly the capital of one of India's 562 princely states, boasts of a busy station, a grain market, banks and hardware stores, but it also has vestiges of its princely past-the ruling family's samadhi (memorials) and their forts and palaces, now housing offices. At the turn of the century, the Raja of Kalsia built for himself a large, sprawling fort with a throne room, a khazana (treasury), and reception rooms and he had the whole fort painted with murals. Long-forgotten artists painted every inch of the fort's walls with flowers, birds, Indian courtly scenes, and rather incongruous modern views of railway stations, trains, churches, and Europeans. It is hard to believe that the mural painters of Chachrauli had actually seen churches and railway bridges, so they probably based their art on illustrations from books and magazines.
In 1940, the fort was donated by the Kalsia family to the town of Chachrauli for its use. Inside the fort, the local authority established two schools, the law courts, and several municipal offices. The fort again became alive, this time with children's voices and office gossip and (almost certainly) legal battles.
HOW TO REACH
If one drives north out of Delhi on the frenetically busy G.T. Road, the urban sprawl gradually gives way to light industries, which, in turn, yields to agriculture-miles of rapeseed and wheat fields, bullock carts, dusty roads, and turbaned farmers. At Karnal, leave the G.T. Road and you are into another small, crowded, noisy town called Chachrauli.
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