Nathdwara's best kept secret - 200 year old Dwarkadheesh temple covered with Mural paintings

I have been visiting Nathdwara - the temple town of Lord Shreenathji for the last 12 years and it has become my annual ritual to visit it once a year. Nathdwara is home to the deity of "Shreenathji" - the 7-year infant incarnation of Krishna. Just like most of the devotees visiting the place when in town the daily chores include visiting the temple 8 times in a day when it opens up for darshan and then roam in the same 2-3 streets around the temple precinct which are the towns main market place and street food hub. 

Having developed some interest in heritage after attending heritage walks in Mumbai, This year I decided to explore the town of Nathdwara a little more during my visit hoping to see the heritage around the town. Nathdwara temple dates back to 1671 when it was built under the patronage of Maharana Raj Singh of Mewar. It came as a pleasant surprise that narrow streets and alleys of the old town had so much treasure trove of heritage hidden in its belly which hardly anyone takes note of or even visits.

My walk exploring the town surprised me in many ways one, It was fascinating to find so many old residential haveli's with Rajasthani architecture, particularly notable was their "Chajja Jharokha" balconies, The custom to do bright colored hand paintings of a lady wearing heavy ornaments and traditional attire welcoming you to the house, or the mahout riding the elephant or a horse or even dwarpal's were painted on the exterior of the houses were a delight to be captured in my lens. A walk in the old street was like walking back in time. I even had a chance to visit few "Akharas" who have continued the tradition of teaching the old mud wrestling sport of "Kushti" silently and discreetly for over 2-3 generations. But my most spectacular find was a 200-year-old Dwarkadheesh temple tucked in the old street away from the hustle-bustle of the main city center which I feel is Nathdwara town's best-kept secret.

At first glance, it looked like some not so important haveli house which was painted in white limestone except that it has a very attractive door painted in red which was closed. A small step-well in the compound was what I actually wanted to capture in my lens when hidden near a small shrine was a board that read " 200 hundred-year-old temple has mural paintings in Nathdwara style". 

The second glance on the temple exterior was when I noted that on the far right of the building was a small protruding balcony covered with some paintings. A closer look revealed the mural paintings like something that I have never seen in my life. The paintings depicted ladies in decorative ornaments and adorned in Rajasthani saree. 

The paintings were just stunningly beautiful except that at some places the paintings had peeled off. 

I was so grateful to two local boys who arrived at the scene saying they worked with the temple gaushala nearby, They informed me that the temple is full of such paintings from the interior and were more than glad to let me inside the temple. 

The red door leads to a series of steps that took me to the first floor of the building. The first floor has a couple of rooms and a small open terrace, one of the walls was covered in the spectacular paintings of Mewar ruler leading his army of foot soldiers with weapons along with mahout mounted elephants and horses. 

But this was not all, another red-painted wooden door took me into a small hall which had three rooms, one of the rooms contained the deity of Dwarkadheesh on his baithak while the other two rooms were closed. But the entire hall, every inch of space was covered in wall murals including the ceiling. 

It was like the artist of yesteryear's had poured their heart out painting these walls, depicting the lives of Lord Krishna and his consorts, some paintings displayed stories from Ramayana while others showed Mewar rulers in their courts. Few paintings showed war scenes.

Mewari men with their signature mustache and ladies in a dancing pose. 

The hall ceiling also was completely covered in floral design.

Unfortunately, a lot of places the paintings were damaged due to the peeling of paints or at many places damaged them purposely by scratching them. 

It was so disbelieving to see that the hall electrical wiring was done haphazardly over the paintings, destroying them without understanding the importance of this heritage. 

Some more paintings are seen in the hall including the one where Krishna is seen surrounded by his gopis and Radha dancing.

I was informed that the temple hardly gets any visitors except someone like me who accidentally bumps into this place. There is caretaker pujari who looks after the place and also resides in one of the rooms allotted to him but most of the time works in temple gaushala nearby. The temple administration comes under the main Dwarkadheesh temple located 57 km from Nathdwara town.

My heart was filled with mixed emotions as I left the place after capturing all the paintings through my lens. The joy of visiting such unmatched heritage and a treasure trove of mural paintings while at the same time a feeling of disbelief at the state of carelessness and no sense of conserving the priceless heritage.

Having explored a lot of Nathdwara town heritage on my visit this year, I feel this 200-year-old Dwarkadheesh temple was Nathdwara town's best-kept secret and at least needs one visit when in town.

Location: The temple is located 2 km from the town center on the old road going towards temple gaushala. It is located diagonally opposite the Amabavada akhara.