Bathinda
— — a fort the desert kept.
Not only on a wall.
“The old brick fort sits on the edge of the city, the colour of the plain it was raised from. Raziya, the only woman to sit on the throne of Delhi, was held inside its walls in 1240. The trains still come through Bathinda Junction by the hundred. Cotton, wheat, and the long flat light off the Malwa.
Bathinda, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Bathinda is a district city in the Malwa region of southern Punjab, India, roughly 230 km west of Chandigarh. The land is flat, semi-arid cotton country watered by the Bhakra canal system. Qila Mubarak, the city's oldest landmark, is dated by the Archaeological Survey of India to roughly the 1st to 3rd centuries CE, making it one of the oldest standing forts in India. The city sits at a junction of seven rail lines, one of the densest railway nodes in northern India, and hosts the Guru Gobind Singh Refinery operated by HPCL-Mittal Energy.
Qila Mubarak rises 118 feet above the city, its small narrow nanakshahi bricks laid in courses worn round by sun and dust. Raziya Sultana, the first and only woman to rule the Delhi Sultanate, was imprisoned here in 1240 after her removal from the throne. The fort later passed through the Bhatti Rajputs, Mughal hands, and the Patiala royal family. Inside the walls sits Gurudwara Sahib Patshahi Dasvi, marking Guru Gobind Singh's 1706 visit. The brick is local; the lime mortar is local; the silence inside the bailey is its own.
The fort opens to walk-in visitors most days, with no ticket counter and few signs in English. The interior gurdwara welcomes anyone covered and barefoot. Bathinda is reached by overnight trains from Delhi (about 7 hours) or by road from Chandigarh on the NH7. October through February is the workable season; May and June reach 45 °C on the plain. The Bathinda Lake reserve, on the south edge of town, is a winter stop for migratory waterfowl heading down the Indus flyway.