Divine Horses of - Friends of Marwari / Kathiawari Horse UK

The Marwari Horse
Divine Horses of
Words and
Images by
Mark
Eveleigh
Raghuvendra Singh Dundlod, known
simply as ‘Bonnie’ and Francesca Kelly
of the Indigenous Horse Society of India – known
in Rajasthan simply as Ghorawalli (The Horsewoman)
The Marwari warhorses of rajasThan
were once considered of a casTe ThaT
was higher even Than Their noble
rajpuT riders. Mark eveleigh reporTs
froM forT dundlod, hoMe of The
Marwari.
Kanwar Raghuvendra ‘Bonnie’
Singh, Lord of Dundlod,
trotted out of his castle at
the head of the procession. He was
crowned with the saffron-coloured
turban of the Rajput warrior and his
ancestral sword hung at his side.
He was mounted on his trumpeting
Marwari stallion Gajraj and at his
right hand rode the English ‘warrior
princess,’ known in Rajasthan simply
as Ghorawalli (The Horsewoman).
It was like a scene from The Man
Who Would Be King and, watching
from the battlements, I allowed myself
a moment to fantasise that I was an
English cavalry officer destined also
to ride to glory under the Dundlod
standard: ‘Victory Follows Virtue.’
“How did you enjoy the canter this
morning?”
A voice at my shoulder brought
me back to reality and I turned to see
Bonnie’s father, known to his friends
simply as Rags.
“Breathtaking,” I hedged. I was quite
sure that this veteran horseman, once
captain of The Rajasthan Wanderers
polo team, was already well aware of my
lack of potential as officer material for
26 ❘ NagMag June 2009 Tel: 01273 491 550 www.nagmagmedia.com

As the sun begins to set into the dust of the maidan, richly clothed
dancing camels and horses are led out to display talents that still
survive from the Natchni – a now extinct dancing
strain of the Marwari
his household cavalry.
“Riding a Marwari is like
looking at the world through
the sights of a rifle,” my riding
companion had said earlier that
morning as we rode out onto
the Sheikhawati Plains. As an
instructor in the Indian army
Colonel Sarpartap Singh was no
stranger to either horses or rifles.
Sitting astride a side-winding,
snorting black mare by the name
of Raat ki Rani (Queen of the
Night) I, however, had uneasy the
feeling that I had somehow placed
myself at the wrong end of the
barrel.
Raat ki Rani’s wonderful
scimitar-shaped ears, curving
inwards so that they almost met
at the points, did indeed give
an unusual perspective to the
Indian acacia. But so too did
her stomping hooves and the
acceleration of an instinctive
warhorse that threatened to make
me a permanent feature of the
desert acacia should I relax my
hold on the reins.
The warriors of the Rajput
caste were renowned for their
courage, their lust for conquest
and their nobility…and they refined
these qualities in their horses.
There are many stories of entire
Rajput clans who rode to certain
death in battle rather than retreat.
And there are tales of noble
Marwaris who leapt fearlessly
onto the spear-studded howdahs
of battle elephants or threw
themselves into the fray from high
battlements.
Since I was mounted upon
a creature that would once have
been considered of a loftier caste
even than her Rajput riders it was
fitting that Raat ki Rani should be
out to teach me some respect.
The Marwari Horse
During the days of the
British Raj the Marwari was
shunned in favour of imported
polo ponies and European
thoroughbreds. A victim of colonial
bigotry, this princely and perfectlyadapted
desert breed quickly
slid into disrepute until even their
wonderful ears were derided as
the ‘mark of a native horse.’ Even
today the descendents of once
proud warhorses can often be
seen hauling hardware carts in the
streets of Jaipur.
Despite their statuesque
beauty, Marwaris have all the
toughness and desert guile of
the hardiest Outback brumby
and Bonnie quickly realised that
with good training they would
be ideally suited to horseback
tours across the Sheikhawati
plains. Their fine, silky coats keep
them cool and their small, tough
hooves travel unflinchingly over the
stony land. Their long eyelashes
and their wonderful ears (which
can flick through 180 degrees)
have evolved to protect them
from sandstorms. Bred for long,
arduous desert campaigns, the
Marwaris could travel for great
distances on scant water and little
grazing; even today the horsetraders
of the Marasi tribe still
www.nagmagmedia.com email: info@nagmagmedia.com June 2009 NagMag ❘ 27
❝ How can I
compare
as a lover
to the mare
when she
is close to
thee? ❞

The Marwari Horse
Sheikhawati Horse (and camel) Fair takes
place during the festival of Gangaur
❝ Riding a
Marwari is
like looking
at the world
through the
sights of a
rifle ❞
measure distance by the
ground that a good horse can
cover in a day.
In 1982 when the producers
of The Far Pavilions came to
Dundlod they hired Bonnie Singh
as coordinator. Afterwards he
bought a dozen of the best
horses that were used in the film
and turned the family fort into
a Heritage Hotel as a base for
Sheikhawati’s first horse safaris.
Later he established Marwari
Bloodlines with his partner
Francesca Kelly (aka the English
‘warrior princess’ Ghorawalli)
to promote a breed that he has
described as nothing less than an
endangered species.
“The Marwari is capable
of adapting almost anywhere,”
says Francesca. As the society’s
overseas representative, she
eventually won a lengthy battle
against bureaucratic US import
restrictions to ship the first
Marwaris to her Martha’s Vineyard
ranch.
Today the magnificent Gajraj
is busy siring the next generation
of Dundlod foals and the society
has produced the first ‘Breed
Standards’ book to outline the
desired characteristics for a prime
Marwari.
Yet the Marwari can never be
classified as a ‘thoroughbred.’
European owners might talk with
pride about thoroughbred whose
bloodlines are certified back to
their great-great-grandparents…
the Marasi horse experts can
recite poems that record the
ancestry of horses like Raat
ki Rani and Gajraj back to ten
generations!
‘To know and love the Marwari
is to re-enter a magical realm of
our childhood’ – Francesca wrote
in Marwari: Legend of the Indian
Horse ‘– a world of castles and
heroes, intrigues and passion,
grand exploits and dark deeds,
and extraordinary mythical
horses.’ She could just as easily
have been writing of the desert
outpost of Dundlod itself.
The fort is accessed through
two imposing gateways,
overlooked by soaring
battlements. In the central
courtyard you are greeted by
a row of brass cannon and,
invariably, a refreshing welcome
in the form of the first of countless
cups of cardamom-scented Indian
tea. The maze of narrow corridors,
28 ❘ NagMag June 2009 Tel: 01273 491 550 www.nagmagmedia.com

The Marwari Horse
regal meeting rooms and disused watchtowers, allowing
arrow-slit views towards the shimmering desert,
transport the imagination back to more uncertain times.
I had been fortunate enough to coincide my week’s
riding at Dundlod with the Gangaur festival, the main
event in the Rajasthani calendar. At the Sheikhawati
Horse Show I would have a chance to see the
Marwaris in action. Horses play a major part in the
Gangaur processions and have always held a special
place in the hearts of Rajasthani men. A local folksong
has a wife lamenting:
“How can I compare as a lover to the mare when
she is close to thee?
“I’m sure that when she’s between your thighs you
lose all thought for me.”
Gangaur is essentially the Hindu celebration of the
marriage of Gan (Lord Shiva) and Gauri (the goddess
Parvati). Bejewelled effigies of the divine couple are
put on display in the great diwan-khana reception
rooms of the castles, and the shrouded women
of the Dholak caste gather to chant their endless
litanies. The villagers dress in their finest clothes and
the bright saris gleam like neon against the sunbleached
Rajasthani stonework and the desiccated
landscape. Young women beg the goddess Gauri
to find them a good and loving husband…while
The Gangaur procession trooping out of Fort Dundlod
married women content themselves with asking
The women of Rajasthan make offerings to effigies of Lord Shiva and his wife Parvati
www.nagmagmedia.com email: info@nagmagmedia.com June 2009 NagMag ❘ 29

The Marwari Horse
❝ To know
and love the
Marwari is
to re-enter
a magical
realm of our
childhood ❞
for a general improvement in the
behaviour of the current one.
The horse show has become
a marketplace for the nomadic
horse-traders of the Marasi tribe,
and the Raika communities whose
great camel-drawn wagon trains
are still a fixture of Rajasthani
highways. Though far smaller than
the world famous Pushkar Camel
Fair, Sheikhawati is yet to be overrun
by tour groups.
The afternoon was filled with
show jumping, tent-pegging and
‘hanky-picking’ – where the rider
swings down below his galloping
A Marwari displays its unique
lyre-shaped ears, during guard
duty at Fort Dundlod
horse to grab a shred of cloth
from the ground – tournaments
between the Indian Police and
the (victorious) Dundlod team. As
the sun began to set into the dust
of the polo field, richly decorated
dancing camels and horses were
led out to display talents that
still survive from the Natchni – a
now extinct dancing strain of the
Marwari. Just as tent-pegging
dates back to dawn attacks by
lancers who flicked the pegs from
enemy tents, dancing to wild drum
beats was a way of teaching these
agile horses evasive footwork and
of habituating them to the clamour
of battle.
“If horses don’t run during
Gangaur,” say the Rajasthanis,
“when will they run?” Over
the course of a week Raat ki
Rani took me on many long
runs through the Sheikhawati
countryside. We trotted through
villages where young men paused
in their endless games of cricket
to wave. Kohl-eyed girls looked
up from their laundry to smile
bashfully. We cantered through
flocks of posturing peacocks and
herds of haughty camels and,
one unforgettable morning, we
galloped with a herd of wild nilgai
antelope.
Despite my soldierly
delusions I never did get to ride
into battle with the Dundlod
Cavalry or get to prove my worth
as a mounted striker for the
Rajasthani Wanderers (or even the
Sheikhawati bicycle polo team).
I still look back with a feeling
of gratitude, however, that
throughout all those breathtaking
morning gallops Queen of the
Night had the simple decency and
noble-breeding to allow me to
retain my rather insecure seat on
her back. NM
30 ❘ NagMag June 2009 Tel: 01273 491 550 www.nagmagmedia.com