These were constructed for rulers, kings & queens of the royal family, when they passed away. Each ruler’s cenotaph has a marble slab with inscriptions about the ruler along with an image of a man on a horse. The cenotaphs are called ‘Chattris’ in Hindi as these are shaped with the tomb like structure on top. It is truly beautiful to see them rising out of golden sand. The tradition of building cenotaphs or ‘chattris’ for the rulers that passed away continued for a long time, until the last one being of ‘Maharaja Jawahar Singh’. His cenotaph remains incomplete. It is believed that while it was being constructed, his son ascended the throne but he met sudden death. Owing to this, people started believing that the ‘chattri’ brought some kind of threat or bad omen and ever since, the construction of cenotaphs stopped in Jaisalmer. Although all cenotaphs are built of the same stone without any color contrast, those vary in size and shape. The size of a cenotaph is indicative of the ruler’s power, prowess and strength. The cenotaphs of more powerful kings or royal family members are bigger in size. While the memorials for the soldiers, kings and princes who fought battles and lost their lives have a little horse and a man to depict the scene, there are cenotaphs for women and the little princesses as well. It is said that these are standing tall to depict the practice of ‘sati’. Sati was a practice performed by Rajput women folks to throw themselves alive into a burning pyre to prefer sacrificing their lives rather than being captive of Muslim invaders.
The entire patch of sand, with crumbled structures & broken figures, although looks abandoned, is filled with stories and memories of those who are no longer there with us. The beauty is truly unmistakable and makes for a beautiful background for pictorial setting for lifelong memories. Bada Bagh’s magnificence, coupled with a gorgeous setting sun, will have anyone stumped.