Jaisalmer, The Alchemist’s Fort

Jaisalmer, one of the most beautiful city of Rajasthan, evokes a cluster of associations in the minds of travelers, a golden fort, golden desert sands and elaborated carved havelis. It is a wonderful place to visit in the winter. The city is divided into two nearly equal haves, the town at ground level and the fort upon Trikutta Hill, both of which provide plenty of visual vision pleasure.

Rawal Jaisal built the Jaisalmer fort in 12th Century. The fort can be accessed by a ramp winding through five massive gates. There is a large courtyard known as Dussehra Chowk, from where you can view the Royal Palace, or Raj Mahal. Inside the fort is a complex of 7 Jain temples built in the 15th and 16th century. The Parshvanath temple is the most impressive of these. It has finely carved torana and the ceiling of the sabha mandapa, which supports a demonic looking head surrounded by five bodies. And as we walk around the Mandapa the head seems to connect, in turn which each of its bodies. Another highlights of the complex are the poky little basement called the Gyan Bhandar, under the gaudy coloured dimly lit Sambhavanath Temple. The other major monument in the fort is the Rajmahal, the erstwhile royal residence, which is now converted into the Jaisalmer Fort Palce Museum and Heritage Centre.

There are three 19th century havelis at the ground level foremost between which is the Patwa Haveli. This is also known as the Patwon- ki- Haveliyan, because there are actually five different houses. These havelis are perhaps, the last truly great Indian buildings constructed without a trace of European influence. Two of these Patwa havelis are government run.

Not far from the town centre is the Gadisar Lake, formerly, which is also the Jaisalmer’s chief water source. It is a charming picnic spot. To get it to it, we crossed an imposing gateway called Tilon ki Pol. there’s a domed pavilion in the centre of the water. You can also do boating, as the paddleboats are available.

The Jaisalmer Folklore Museum situated nearby contains a few puppets and traditional items of daily use, the Desert culture Centre and Museum displays fossils, coins and musical instruments.
The lanes inside the fort are packed with shops selling fabrics replete with embroidery and mirror work.

You can take a jeep to the Sam sand Dunes, 42 km from Jaisalmer, hop on to a camel for an hour around sunset and then get back to your comfortable hotel bed or else find a fancy tent to stay in for night. At the other end of the scale, you can ride for days with only a camel driver for company and the most basic provisions. The best option for reasonably hardy travelers is a 2-day safari with one night spent under the immense canopy of the desert sky. Lying under the open sky at night, with a dune entirely to you

Pushkar, The Flower child

I visited Pushkar long time ago. Its origin lie buried in antiquity. It is the only place in the country where the devotees from and wide would throng to worship the creator of the universe. Some of the local people residing there briefed me with the tale behind its uniqueness. According to the Padma Purana, Brahma was in search of a place to perform a yagna when the lotus he was handling fell from his hand and landed in Pushkar. He resolved to perform the yagna there and then itself however his wife Savitri failed to join him, so he married a local damsel, Gayatri and completed the formalities. When Savitri arrived, she discovered Gayatri, and enraged, ticked off Brahma saying, that Pushkar would be the only place where he would be worshipped in.

We visited the ghats and temples, offered prayers at the lake while trying not to get ripped off by the local priests. We dipped in the holy Pushkar lake and had a bhang lassi which was awesome. Pushkar holy lake was created by Brahma by combining the waters of the four places of pilgrimage sacrosanct to Hindus- Badrinath, Jagannath, Rameshwaram and Dwarka. The lake is hugged by 52 ghats, teeming with sadhus, devotees and tourists. Most of the ghats are no older than 300 years and have innumerable small temples. Offerings made at the Brahma, Gau and Varaha ghats, which are the oldest, are considered to be most auspicious.

There are temples of Brahma, Varaha and Aptaeshvar which are the oldest and also considered as the most sacrosanct. We checked out the four faced icon of the Lord accompanied by his shy bride, Gayatri and the silver turtle in front of the shrine’s entrance at the Brahma’s temple.

At the Varaha Temple, while taking a round we saw different layers of it . At the Aptaeshvar Temple a lingam was installed.

The next day was the Kartik Purnima which was also the day of the famous Pushkar cattle fair which is exploded in Rajasthan and is the most exuberant and colourful festival, for which it is widely renowned. The fair is a weeklong fiesta with competitions and state sponsored entertainment programs. We found storytellers, hypnotists, snake charmers, magicians, short skits, folk songs and monkey trainers.

Many shops in Pushkar sell poor quality embroidered shoulder bags, cushion covers, bangles and block printed pyjamas, skirts and tops.

There are many small budgeted hotels and ashrams available in Pushkar with only one luxury hotel on the lake Pushkar Palace.