I wanted to see the great place of Rajasthan but due to less time I decided why not see the place which offer the best of Rajasthan. Jaisalmer - Golden city of Rajasthan is one of the most enchanting towns of the world. No wonder so many tourists and travelers from all around the world travel to see and feel the magic of this town.
JAISALMER
This old, traditional town has legacy and history of thousands of years. During medieval times, the city played a major role in trade with Persia, Arebia, Egypt and Africa. With the advent of British Rule, the emergence of maritime trade and the growth of the port ofled Bombay to the gradual economic decline of Jaisalmer. After independence and the Partition of India, the ancient trade route was totally closed, thus sealing the fate of the city. Nonetheless, the continued strategic importance of Jaisalmer was demonstrated during the 1965 and 1971 wars between India and Pakistan. Although at one point the entire population of Jaisalmer lived within the fort, it today has a resident population of about 4,000 people.
Jaisalmer has seen growth of many beautiful empires and has also witness the downfall of the empires. Many Hindu and Mughal (Muslim) Kings have ruled this town. In their memories they have built / carved this city with magnificent forts, Havelis. It feels so proud that our earlier generations were so skilled, brilliant and admired the art to utmost.
Due to scarcity of water and lack of enough rains in the area, the entire place is very dry. But its wonderful to see how the people of the town made the town appear colorful with their colorful traditional costumes.
This entire area comes under Thar Desert. The dry sand. No water and Camels. This is the traveler’s paradise for a desert lover. Local travel companies over here offer variety of desert camel safari from one day to 21 days. Yes. If you want to enjoy serene, calm dunes , traveling with your vehicle = Camel, this is the place you must opt for.To explore Jaisalmer you must give minimum 3 days. But from my experience, If you really want to feel the place and explore thoroughly, give 4- 5 days.
We bunch of three crazy travel and adventure lover guys – Me , Rohith – friend from South India and Alex – a Traveler from Romania – Europe, decided to hit Jaisalmer and rest is the story. We reached Jodhpur on 29th Apr 14 evening at 5 pm after long journey from Pune -> Mumbai -> Jodhpur and we had a train from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer in the night at 11.30 pm. So had to spend 5 hours in Jodhpur wandering and exploring the Jodhpur road and in these 5 hours in Jodhpur we had blast.
Jodhpur is also one of the beautiful town of the Rajasthan state. We strolled on Jodhpur roads. It was nice to see local people, shops in the area. We had a famous Mawa kachori in the famous Janata Sweet Shop. Boarded a bus to Mandor Garden which costed us 30 Rs. We were welcomed in Mandor garden with lot of monkeys. Mandor garden has many Umbrella Architectures and a hill. The hill was not supposed to be hiked after sunset, but this is what we actually did when the security guard was not around. Climbing up was easy but climbing down was not so easy , oh my god it was like .. yeah I started sweating .. but really it was adventurous. We then started back on bus to reach near Jodhpur main station, and in the bus Alex, me and Rohth had a talk on variety of topics. Everyone in the bus stared and listened to a loud talking foreigner traveling with us. hahahahaha ..
A guy from the ‘Desert Haveli Resort’ – the resort we booked for our stay, came to pick us on us in an auto from the rail station on time. Yes this is their business, they do it religiously. We saw the empty dark roads of Jaisalmer in the early morning. Our stay was inside the famous Jaisalmer fort , the Golden Fort (Sonar Killa). This is the only living fort n India. This fort is too huge and 1000 years old and has a big history. The fort stand on 250 feet above the surround. Solid blocks of stone have been used for a buttress wall, 15 feet high around the hill.The fort of Jaisalmer was founded by Maharawal Jaisal in 1156 A.D. The fort stands on the hill which overlooks the town from the south. The hill runs almost from south to North. It has four gates. There are five beautifully carved Raj Mahals inside the fort viz. Rang Mahal, Sarvottam Vilas, Gaj Mahal, Akhai Vilas and Moti Mahal.
We went to see the famous Jain Mandir in the inside the Jaisalmer fort. The temple was filled with intricate marble carvings at every pillar .
This Haveli is marvel in stone architecture. Maharawal Bairisal got this ornamental two storied haveli constructed in the year 1885 A. D. and gifted it to Nathimal, his Diwan. Stone elephants on both sides of the platform of the haveli signify the grandeur and position of diwan. The 7th generation of Nathimal lives in this haveli. Hence we were not allowed to go inside. But we can see the haveli from outside.
The Patwon Ji ki Haveli is an interesting piece of Architecture and is the most important among the havelis in Jaisalmer. It is believed that Patwa was a rich man and was a renowned trader of his time. He could afford and thus ordered the construction of separate stories for each of his 5 sons. These were completed in the span of 50 years. All five houses were constructed in the first 60 years of the 19th century. The havelis are also known as the ‘mansion of brocade merchants’. This name has been given probably because the family dealt in threads of gold and silver used in embroidering dresses. However, there are theories, which claim that these traders made considerable amount of money in Opium smuggling and Money-lending. This is the largest Haveli in Jaisalmer and stands in a narrow lane. This haveli is presently occupied by the government, which uses it for various purposes. The office of the Archeological Survey of India and State art and craft department is situated in the haveli itself.
Salim Singh ki haveli has been built on the remains of an older haveli built in the late 17th century. The new building was built in the year 1815 and was occupied by the Mehta family of Jaisalmer. They were the most influential family of their time. This haveli was commissioned by Salim Singh, the then Prime Minister of the kingdom when Jaisalmer was the capital. The haveli has a distinct architecture. The roof has been constructed in the form of Peacock. The haveli is situated beside the hills near the Jaisalmer Fort
Gadisar lake is an artificial water tank made by Maharwal Jaisal in 1156 A.D.. Due to scarcity of the water in the area, the King decided to create this lake so that the people can use this water for drinking and daily use. Lake was used as drinking water source till 1965. The his lake has two umbrella structures.
After vising king’s palace we were running late for our desert safari camp, we had to run. We had quick lunch, I changed to normal cloths and we ran to our desert safari guy. He asked us if it is fine if Japanese guy joins us, we were fine with that. A guy having cigarette in one hand, a video camera in other hand which is always in a running mode, introduced himself as Tatsuma Fukuda and he turn out to be so much fun later on :) For him English was very difficult, many times we communicated through sign language, and I troubled him a lot with questions making him speak difficult English ;) :) We all sat in a jeep and two Two camel riding village guys guided our entire tour. They were very nice and helping. There job is to provide tourist a nice camel ride and a desert safari. They try their best to make the tourist happy with the good experience. As they were Muslim by religion they were wearing a Pathani Kurta and Muslim head wear. The long road, and everything dry around the long dry landscapes, after riding for long you will see some very small villages (hardly 6-10 houses in one small village) around.
Next, our guides took us to Badabagh. Badabaugh in Jaisalmer is a famous place for a traveler to see. Bada (big) Bag (garden) was built by Maharawal Jait Sinh II in V.S. 1585. On the hill there are beautiful historical Chhatris or memorial of Maharawals of Jaisalmer.
Many people say that Kuldhara is a haunted place as it is a very big and nicely built village but all empty.But it is not so. Its an old Paliwal Brahman village about 17 km from Jaisalmer city on the Sam road. Kuldhara established by the kuldhar who was the Son of Ruler of Lodarwa in 11th Century. It was destroyed by Mohamad gori in 12th century. Kuldhara was again rebuilt by Paliwal Beahmins in 14th Century. This village and the other villages in the ditrict were occupied by Paliwal brahmins, who left the district about 200 years ago on account of oppression of Salim Singh, who was the prime minister of Moolraj – II
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