Bikaner

Day 4 was a long day that started from 6:00 am to 11:00 pm, but it was a great day with lots of pics. Here are the pics of the hotel which was an old fort at one time, and the local Raja still visits and stays at the fort during summer. Raja's don't have any governmental power, but they are still very rich as their money was never taken away from them. Most Raja's still own old forts and palaces which they may convert into hotels or tourist attractions.

Here is a link desrcribing the term Raja - which is just a king:

Raja Definition

Her e is a link on Mandawa:

Mandawa Info

Since I had to wake up early for the long day, I was able to get some sunrise shots.

When I went into the restaurant to eat breakfast, I was confronted with stunning paintings on the wall.

The intricate painting on the ceiling has to be seen to believe.

I asked the guy at reception if he would mind showing me to the top of the fort for picture taking, and he said he would get someone to do that, but I had to take his picture first.

Again, the paintings on the walls are great with lots of detail of gods and their stories. Then the receptionist asked someone to get me to the top. Here is a pic of where I was trying to get too - it's the look out room in white at the top of the fort.

This is a small city. I think I read there were only about 30,000 people here. I was also able to get some city shots from a turret location.

Here is the main courtyard. As I blogged in the previous post, you drive in through some ancient gates, a drummer starts to play, flowers are put around your neck and a red dot is placed on your forehead to please the gods.

I was also shown the area where the Raja stayed. This is a balcony area and the entry.

This is the living room and dining area.

While wandering around, I found the temple area which is part of the Raja's area, but the priest was kind enough to let me in. He then did a prayer for me, and wrapped a red threaded bracelet around my wrist. It took about 5 minutes to go through the entire procedure, and then we talked for a while after. He was very pleased that I was in India training people, and I think I got a good prayer in my behalf because of my good deeds.

Just before I was about to leave the fort to start the days touring, a male peacock started dancing, and the locals said I should take a picture because it doesn't happen very often. You will notice another peacock is looking over the hedge to checkout the moves.

The first touring stop for the day was a quick stop at another fort\hotel combo.

We kept moving to another temple location that was nearby. I call this the goat temple because this is where all the goats gathered to pray to the gods for health, prosperity and warm milking hands.

The next stop was at some nearby Haveli's. If you don't know what these are, then click the link below. The link will describe the fresco paintings you will see in the pics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havelis

 

 

 

There were lots of buildings around with paintings, and we could have gotten tours for going inside, but I would be doing that later in the trip. So, we moved on toward the hotel which was still a couple hours away. You can see from the pics below that I'm in a very desert like environment.

 

 

 

We mad a quick stop past a small temple. I call this temple the pigeon temple as it is where pigeons pray for light winds, electrical lines that don't shock the feet, and clear shots of quick moving foreigners for the occasional bombing raid.

 

Now on to the Hotel which was also a Fort\Hotel combo of another Raja. This was a really nice hotel, but once I got my stuff into my room it was time to head to MikanerFort with a guide. So I didn't have to look around yet.

The guide was very nice and very informative. If you need a guide for Bikaner (French or English), I highly recommend him. Here is his contact info:

            Dalip Jadiwal, dalip_jontybkn@yahoo.co.in

Here is a link to the Junagarh fort in Bikaner.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junagarh_Fort

If you want to see more pics or find out more information about this fort, just do an internet search for "Junagarh Fort India", and you will lots of pics and history. Here are some pics to give you an idea.

This is the main outer fort walls.

This is one of the entry gate areas. There are normally multiple gate areas and courtyards to make invading armies have to work their way through. There can be narrow turns and steep inclines to prevent elephants from reaching ramming spead to knock down city gates. Also, spikes and things are put on gates to keep elephants from pushing the gates down. You will find hot oil spouts and areas for archers to make the invading army very miserable as they are now much easier to pick off as the move down these narrow passages to get to the Raja. Again, I really recommend a guide or at least doing a lot of reading on the site before visiting because there is a lot of history and culture which is being preserved.

For example, in the pic below, new Raja's would expand the forts which means old meets new as the centuries pass. In this case the 3 archways have gates which were all built by one of the later Raja's along side older architecture. There is a lot of detail and carvings which all have meaning and significance. Above the archway is where the queens could look out to see the Raja coming or going. It is traditional for the queens to see out of of a palace or fort, but nobody was allowed to see them to prevent other males, including relatives to the Raja, from wanting to become intimate with a queen which could create a baby that was not the Raja's. Also, since the first born male would be the next Raja, a Raja was not supposed to get other queens until he had a male child because a male child from another sub-queen would cause much tension.

After these gates and a narrow passage, one of many courtyards are in view.

There is a very nice inner courtyard where the celebration of colors would take place. In the pic below, the Raja would sit in the shrine area and around him a pool of water with red flower petals covered the surface of the water. You will also need to use your imagination in all these photos to add carpets and wall coverings. What you see now is like a room that has not been decorated, and that leaves a very blank looking area where only the architecture is revealed.

In the picture below, each column was made out of a single block of stone, and there are elephants carved out of the top from that same piece of stone. You can also see tiles from China as the Raja showed he had contacts from around the world.

The ceiling blow is made out of real gold which is why it is still vibrant today. There was a technique for painting with gold, and it was used a lot.

Here is a large garden area that the queens used. It also gives a good idea of the size of the fort. In general, the Raja's and queens would live in a palace where other government officials would reside, but in times of war, everyone moved to the fort. So, the palaces were not protected as everything would be taken to the fort leaving the palace completely abandoned and barren.

So, the palace was a location where the Raja ran the government in times of peace, and the fort was the location to run the government in times of war.

Below is a pic of restoration work being done.

Here is a golden baby rocker. A god's picture would be placed in the rocker for good fertility luck.

The next location was to a camel farm. Camels are used like horses in this part of the country. There were a number of camels hauling goods up and down roads as we traveled around the area. We were in a desert like area, and horses don't work well in that environment.

I happened to get at the farm during dinner. So, these camels were saying, "Butt out, I'm eating".

There is a part on the farm that is for camels who are pregnant, and here is a pic of a baby camel. It's sitting under the mother.

Here are some male camels which are kept in a different location. There are 3 types of camels you will see. The darker camel, dark brown color camel and the light brown camel...I don't remember their names, but they are different species.

At the farm, they serve you camels milk. It tasted like non-fat milk. So, it tasted like milk from a cow, but a very lean and healthy cow.

I then stopped at some shops. We did stop at one shop of the guy who owns the world record for minture paintings. These are paintings done with a single squirrel hair...that right...only one hair is used. It is beautiful work. Here is his contact info and web site.

Shiv Swami - www.bikanerminiaturearts.com

The painting below is 11.5 X 16 centimeters. This is truly amazing work, and the prices are very cheap given the labor involved. You have to use a magnifying glass to appreciate the work because the beard you see on the man's face below was created one squirrel hair stroke at a time. The paint that is used is made from traditional stones for centuries of long lasting color. These miniature painters are in many places practicing an ancient art form, and I encourage you to check out his and others sites.

You can also get carpets and fabric from nearby shops for great prices. I should have more contacts on those places in future blogs.

It was starting to get dark, and the guide said there was a special festival going on for foreigners, and he asked if I would like to see it. Since there wasn't any boiling of foreigners at the event, I thought I would go because I had had not had dinner, and I didn't want to spoil my appetite with a foreigner stew...of which I would, of course, not participate in.

The evenings festival turned out to be the Indian Air Force Symphony Orchestra. They played some foriegn and local tunes, and it was a really nice show with fire works at the end.

I thought this would be the end of the day, but I had to eat dinner. So, the guide, the driver Anil and myself went to the top of a hotel roof top within the city where they had local dancers and musicians performing while you ate. What people didn't realize is that your price of the meal included a free dance lesson. So, we would go up in two's with the dancer and try to dance the local steps. Everyone had a good time with lots of laughs, mostly laughing at each other dancing, and after a good meal, I was able to finally get back to the hotel room and get some much needed rest.