India: Jaisalmer – Bada Bagh Royal Cenotaphs
Just outside Jaisalmer is a large complex of Royal Cenotaphs of all the Jaisalmer maharajas starting from 16th century and until the Indian independence. Cenotaphs is a pseudo mausoleum without the body inside. All maharajas, their multiple wives and children and probably other relatives are all fake-buried here. Each cenotaph is a gazebo-like structure or a large tomb with a marble monument inside depicting either the male on a horse or female wives together in a group. Everything is carved out of golden sandstone and the entire place looks like a landing spot of an alien civilization where the spaceship crashed and everybody died and got buried. Or maybe it’s a Rajasthani version of Egyptian pyramids or Lenin’s Mausoleum – it all becomes a bit blurred after a lot of travels.
