For Rajputs, their legacy is a source of immense pride. One that links them to history and their inherited heritage and leaves them with many fables to tell. Whatever their profession, position in life and personal sport might be, Rajputs are first and foremost propagators to their family lineage.
One such proud Rajput is Madhulika Shekhawat, a daughter of the small state of Sawar that was founded in 1627 by Maharana Pratap’s younger brother Shakti Singh’s grandson Gokul Das. A jewellery designer by profession, she is most proud of her lineage and shares several stories of life lived in the past, also taking inspiration in design from her family’s life and style.
A Shaktawat by birth she is married to the great grandson of the legendary Lt Col Thakur Kishen Singhji Meghsar, ADC, MBE Commandant, who led artillery wing of the Bikaner State Forces titled Bijey Battery (after Maharaj Kumar of Bikaner) to World War II in 1945. She shares, “Bijey Battery participated in various battles against the Japanese and played a prominent role in the defence of Kohima.” Post the mutiny of 1857, the British dismounted most artillery wings of the Maharajas, “except this one which my great grandfather-in-law led.”
A landed aristocracy, her in-laws are owners of large land parcels in Hanumangarh (Punjab-Haryana border), where, “we grow rice. My husband in fact is part gentlemen farmer and part hotellier”. He inherited a large haveli constructed by Kishen Singhji on the Gajner highway in Bikaner and converted it into a heritage hotel, Kishan Palace, 25 years back. Reminiscent of the arched and lattice worked havelis of the region it is also a home full of memories, “where the entire family once lived and my husband grew up.”
A self-made jewellery designer who uses only the finest diamonds, both polished and uncut in her jadaus, she is deeply inspired by the jewellery worn by women in the jenana and her very interesting pledge is, “Every woman must wear and own a diamond. Trust me, diamonds are not expensive. But they are priceless when in possession.”
It was per chance that she stumbled into the profession and in a near innocent way realised that “diamonds were the most stunning of stones and only a fraction more expensive than any other precious stones”.
“When I started working with kaarigars in Bikaner, I was very clear that I did not want to use either lab grown diamonds or pukhraj polkis that shine and sparkle like diamonds but are not a patch on diamonds.”
She insisted on setting each of her jewel piece with real stones and realised that it only took the price up by a fraction. “At the same time, making the woman feel so precious that she was swathed in a diamond.”
As her petite and pretty daughter Aditi joins her in the business, the two dream of opening a by appointment store where “women can drop by, feast their eyes on our creation, and also relive the Raj era”.
Aditi is currently studying at Delhi’s IP College, having schooled at Mayo College, Ajmer.