The grand, courtyard-centered mansions of Rajasthan and Gujarat's merchant families — private homes built and painted with the same craft investment usually reserved for temples.
राजस्थान, गुजरात · Rajasthan, Gujarat
Built around one or more internal courtyards for light, ventilation, and privacy, a haveli's street-facing exterior typically carries elaborate carved stone or wood facades, while interior walls, especially in the Shekhawati region, were often covered in painted frescoes depicting mythological scenes, royal processions, and, later, even early motor cars and trains as they reached the region.
Many havelis were built by trading families who commissioned elaborate decoration as a visible sign of prosperity, and Shekhawati in particular is sometimes called an open-air gallery today for the sheer density of surviving painted havelis across its towns.