Art historian Ursula Weekes shares her experiences of India, and takes one of our Lottie Dresses along for the ride!
I spotted Kaho Prints on Instagram and reached out to founder Kate Murray with the idea of a PR gift of one of her dresses. We connected on the phone and immediately hit it off: same age and stage with friends and experiences in common etc. Two weeks later my bags were packed for India with a KaHo dress - I would get a chance to showcase her beautiful creations in the surroundings of Rajasthan.
Ursula in our KaHo Lottie Dress in Saravato Bhadra at Jaipur City Palace
My connection to India goes back a long way. Soon after finishing my PhD on early European engravings at the Courtauld Institute of Art, my husband and I moved out to Delhi in 2003. He was working in leadership development and I had a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Museum Institute. I started working on how prints from Europe began circulating to India in the 16th century and the impact on Mughal painting under the emperors Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan. They were great years – just over six in total – especially as our three children were born out in Delhi. We got good at Hindi and, more importantly, began to understand North Indian culture at a deep level.
When we moved back to London in 2010, I actually had not travelled in India nearly as much as I had wanted to – having been pregnant or with a young baby for most of the time impacted my ability to take off and explore! I was teaching at the Courtauld Institute of Art and so began a new season of research trips back to India that enabled me to start ticking off my bucket list of places off the beaten track, as well as libraries and archives where it never does to be in hurry. You need to have at least a day to drink chai with the curators before the keys to the manuscript cupboards arrive! In 2020 I led my first specialist tour to India and then Covid hit. It was not until last year in Feb 2025 that I led another tour with a small group on a bespoke itinerary. Various new beginnings mean that I am able to go to India more often these days – often for lecture invites and research for the book I am writing on Mughal painting.
The focus of my recent trip was a gathering at Bundi in Rajathan, hosted by the erstwhile royal family of Alwar who, after a long period of litigation are now confirmed as the owners of the Garh Palace of Bundi through their grandmother’s line. They were bringing together interested parties and potential patrons from different sectors to discuss the long-term and urgent conservation needs of this incredible treasure of Rajasthan. Bundi is famous for having the best surviving wall painting of any royal palace. The earliest frescoes date to around 1590, but the major rooms of the palace have incredible paintings from the 17th century (Badal Mahal), 18th century (Chatar Mahal and Chitrasala) and 19thcentury (Phool Mahal).
Ursula leading a tour at Bundi Garth Palace.
Bundi is a must for any travellers to Rajasthan. Lying in eastern Rajasthan, it is about three and half hours from Jaipur on a good road. We stayed at Dev Niwas hotel with fantastic views over the small city towards the Garh palace nestled low on the hills. For the first time I also visited Taragarh Fort above Bundi – the Alwar family had arranged an incredible evening programme – with a Shiva puja and stunning Kathak dance, followed by a dinner in the Rani ki Mahal, an abandoned palace built within the fort. There is so much more to explore up in Taragarh Fort and I can’t wait to go back.
Bundi is a city of stepwells – India’s traditional method of creating access to water for all. This was a major way that Rajput rulers exercised civic patronage, and interestingly a number of major stepwells were built by rulers wives rather than the rulers themselves. The Rani ji ki Baoli in Bundi is a key example – one of India’s finest surviving stepwells built in 1699 by Rani Nathavati Solanki, with its beautiful ‘toran’ gateway at the head of the steps down, which takes direct inspiration from temple architecture of the medieval period. Visiting this beautiful site was one of the days I wore my Kaho prints dress! From there we went on to visit the Chhatris of the Hada Chauhan rulers –the funerary monuments of the Bundi rulers, set in a lovely rural setting just beyond a large lake where Rudyard Kipling lived for about two years (his lakeside home called Sukh Niwas is open to the public).
Ursula at a Gathering in the Jhula Chowk of Bundi Fort
Anyone visiting Bundi, should also make the extra 40-minute journey on to Kota. This Rajput state was formed in 1631 when the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan wanted to elevate the status of one of the younger brothers of the then ruler of Bundi. So there has always been a strong rivalry between Bundi and Kota, not least because the Kota rulers reportedly carried off the original carved elephants on the Bundi Hathipol Gateway to put on their own Hathipol in Kota Garh. We had a good joke about this at our gathering in Bundi because Yuvraj Jaidev of Kota was there too. As an Art Historian, it’s fantastic to see the way in which the young generation of various erstwhile royal families of India are coming together to support each other in their conservation efforts, with a real engagement as custodians of hugely important areas of India’s heritage.
No visit to Rajasthan is complete without a few days in Jaipur. I love the city. It has such an energy. In the Jaipur City Palace, I visited the newly opened gallery of the Sileh Khana (I was also wearing my KaHo prints dress that day!). This was the old arms and armour store of the palace, which has been renovated and opened as a new museum gallery. I was in seventh heaven there as the Jaipur royal family have really chosen some of their most incredible historic objects to go on display for the first time. I saw Mughal paintings framed and on the wall that I have been requesting on research trips for over twenty years! Plus I was also thrilled to see an extraordinary early 17th-century walrus ivory ring with a face of an old man (maybe God the father inspired from a Christian print?) that belonged to the emperor Jahangir. I also went to the Jaipur Centre for Art for the first time – this is the cutting edge contemporary art gallery within the City Palace.
Ursula Outside the Newly Opened Sileh Khana
Walrus Ivory Ring of Mughal emperor Jahangir
Mughal Painting on display in the Sileh Khana at Jaipur City Palace
In and around Jaipur I love to go out to the old capital Amber. The Amber fort palace is superb as the main tourist site. But there are so many other wonderful places to see in Amber. I recently went for the first time to the Foothill Palace behind the main fort – a largely abandoned site, save for a temple shrine custodian and his family – which is the earliest 16thcentury palace site in Amber predating the more famous palace. I also love the Jagat Siromani Temple nearby in the old town at Amber, an early example of a so-called haveli temple built by Raja Man Singh of Amber and his wife in memory of their son Jagat Singh Kahhwaha who died in combat in 1599. Driving back into Jaipur, I stopped off at the Indian Art Palace in the old lanes at the north of the city, which is four storeys of Indian vintage collectibles – almost everything is less than one hundred years old, so it is a fun place to look for things.
My last night in India on this recent trip coincided with Holi, and for the first time I was invited to join the Holika Dahan in the Jaipur City Palace, watching as the sacred fire is lit to celebrate the end of winter and the dawn of Spring – and then people from Jaipur light long branches in the fire and run back to their localities to light fires there. I was staying at DiggiPalace and I must say they arranged the most wonderful foreigner-friendly Holi in the morning – colours that were all organic and washed off easily, lots of petals to throw and a thoroughly good time.
Find Ursulas Instagram here: @ursulaweekes xx