Shekhawati, Where The Walls have Moustaches

Located on the corridor through which trading caravans moved freely between Delhi and the ports of Gujarat, Shekhawati was a prosperous region in the 19th century. It was also an important link on the Southern Silk Route that connected West Asia with China. The thakurs and the business community had a symbiotic relationship the thakurs protected the trade from brigands in lieu of which the merchants paid a security fee. Little wonder then, that the entrepreneurs of this region amassed great fortunes until the rise of the British Empire, when the dominance of its imported goods destroyed this trade.