Geographically the area of Shekhawati is a triangle between Jaipur, Delhi and Bikaner and consists of important towns like Mandawa, Fatehpur, Ramgarh, Nawalgarh, Bissau, Mukundgarh, Jhunjhunu and Surajgarh.

These towns were knit into a kingdom by a Rajput warrior, Rao Shekha.

Rao Shekha was born in 1433 to Mokal Singh, the ruler of Barwada, a small principality (Thikana) of Jaipur. Rao Shekha was crowned King at the age of 12 when his father passed away. After a couple of years he defeated the Sankhalas and the Yadavs to increase his hold over the area, he unlike his precedents displeased the Jaipur (Amber) state by not gifting the best colts from Barwada to them.
Chandrasen from Jaipur declared war against Rao Shekha, even after three attempts he could not defeat Shekha. This resulted in independent rule and he was no longer required to pay tax to Jaipur or Amber. Rao Shekha made more conquests by capturing Bhiwani and Charki Dadri (Now in Haryana) and even defeating the

Gaurs in eleven battles. He was injured in these battles and passed away in Ralawata, passing on the empire to his 12th and only surviving son Raimal.

Rao Shekha’s popularity and power gave this area the name Shekhawati – The Garden of Shekha, though not literally.

Shekhawati now unlike the rest of Rajasthan gets its laurels from the marwaris – the business community instead of the Rajputs, who are famous all over Rajasthan and the rest of India for their valor and architecture. The wealth which the marwaris accumulated was not from this area but from the trade at ports like Calcutta, this wealth transformed this area into a beautiful canvas
of paintings.

Many of India’s famous business houses like Birlas, Dalmias, Kajarias, Goenkas, Khaitans, Poddars amongst others trace their roots from this area.

Of little importance earlier, these paintings have made this area of world importance and of interest to many.