Our trip to Rajasthan

[Guest guest]

A tour with a difference- Rajasthan

 

This was a tour of a different nature in the sense that we (my

husband and I) were on a historical journey to the glorious

Rajasthan . The splendour of the Rajput valour and art is still

alive in Rajasthan through the palaces and monumenta and the way of

life of the residents. The photos are uploaded in the photo section

of my blog in sulekha and they can be seen by logging in

www.sarojaramanujam.sulekha.com and in my orkut page nrsimhabhrthya

for my friends in orkut .

We started from Chennai on 12th September 2008 by Coimbatore-Jaipur

express and reached Jaipur on 14th morning at about 8am. Our tour

was perfectly organized by the Rajasthan tourism Dept. Chennai who

booked our train tickets, hotel room in each place and a taxi to

take us around Rajasthan. The taxi came to pick us up at the station

at Jaipur and dropped us in the hotel and from Jaipur we went to all

the places in Rajasthan by the same taxi which dropped us at Kotah

to catch the Jaipur-Chennai express on 21st.Everything has been

prepaid including parking and toll charges and we had to take only

enough for our food and shopping.

14-9-2008

We started for our sight seeing at 9am and after breakfast on the

way (there is India coffee house in Jaipur for those who want south

Indian food) we saw Hava mahal from outside and proceeded to the

Lakshmi narayan temple known as Birla temple. It is full of marble

statues of mythology and the temple is also made of marble. Then we

went to Janthar manthar which was really fabulous. The various

yanthras constructed to measure the time and zodiacal positons

accurately according to the incidence of the rays of the Sun is

astounding and provides a complete study of Astronomy. This was

built by Jaisingh. In 18th century.

Next we visited the City palace and museum right in front of

Jantharmanthar..The architectural beauty of the palace displays both

rajasthani and mogul styles. The most prominent feature of the

palace is two giant jars of silver in which the water of Ganges was

stored for the king to take wherever he goes .A part of the palace

is converted into a museum where various art forms are displayed.

15-9-2008

We went to the Nagargarh fort where the mansion built by

Madhosingh stands. It was quite small but well planned with self

contained apartments for the royal family each provided with a

lobby, bath and kitchen. The architecture was a blend of Indian and

European style. There are two canions at the entrance of the fort

which alone are the witnesses of the past glory of the fort which

has fallen into ruins.

Nearby is the Raigarh fort which sports the biggest cannon in India.

Up in the Amer fort we could see the strategy of warfare with its

tall walls and various structures to watch and attack the enemy

forces. It is quite big and inside there is a diplay of royal dining

room and kitchen with life- sized models

In the evening we went to the Amer palace which is a blend of Indian

and mogul architecture and it is a beauty with carvings and inlaid

works in marble.

We also enjoyed the exclusive features of Jaipur, such as camels and

elephants being used as carriers like we use bullocks in the other

parts of the country. Jaipur is picturesque and well developed

compared with the other parts of the state not only because it is a

capital but also because the kings of Jaipur like Jaisingh, were

more interested in development of their state rather than opposing

the foreign invaders. For that reason they were criticized as being

lacking in Rajput spirit.

The old city of Jaipur is real pink city as all the buildings are of

sand stone but the rest of the city is quite modern.

16-9-2008

We started in the morning at 9pm towards Pushkar and reached

Pushkar at about 1.30 pm. The hotel in which we stayed there was a

palace, not a heritage one, but a small one called Sarovar and it

was very nice and antique looking yet modern. While we were nearing

Pushkar we could see the Aravalli range around us on all sides and

it was a lovely experience. Pushkar is situated in the midst of the

Aravalli mountains and hence the view from our hotel room was

breathtaking. We went to the lake Pushkar in the afternoon and did

puja there and visited the Brahma temple. This place is supposed to

be as holy as the others like Gaya to offer pinda for pitrs. Pushkar

means born due to a flower. In Hindu mythology it is said that the

gods released a swan with a lotus in its beak and let it fall on

earth where Brahma would perform a grand yagna. The place where the

lotus fell was called Pushkar. The lake is very vast. It seems that

Brahma called his first wife savithri, (for whom there is a temple

nearby), but she delayed and he did the yajna with his second wife

Gayathri. Sarasvathi according to the legend is not the wife of

Brahma but his daughter. There is a reference to something of this

sort in Srimadbhagavatham though.

There is also a typical South Indian Vaishnavite temple here known

as Vaikuntaperumal kovil known to the locals as Ranganathji temple

in which Tamil -speaking bhattacharyas are doing puja.

There is a temple for Hanuman here called Tulasi manasa mandir with

the statue of Tulasidas inside and statues of other gods and

goddesses as well. Whole Tulasiramayana is written on the walls, the

scene of Bhagavatgeetha is depicted at the entrance, a very small

but impressive temple.

 

17-9-2008

We started from Pushkar in the morning and reached Jodhpur in the

afternoon. We were met in the evening by the brother of Sunitha, one

of my contacts through orkut,who is in US now and well versed in

Gita. He, Anand Arya, came with his wife Dimple Arya and took us to

his house to meet his parents. We spent nice time with them and had

a taste of real Rajasthani food.

18-9-2008

We went to Jasvanth thada which houses the tomb of jasvanth singh

and others. The building is quite pretty made of marble. Then we

went to Usmadbhavan palace which is partly converted into a heritage

hotel while the rest is the museum. It is made of a special kind of

sandstone called Chittar and the architecture is Indo-Saracen. It is

a beautiful place with imposing halls and courtyards and there are

numerous curios and a large collection of clocks from all parts of

the world.

Our next destination was Mehrang garh fort which is a famous

landmark of Jodhpur and it is a blessing that there is an escalator

to go up! It is one of the largest forts in India and the museum has

a good collection of elephant seats, palanquins and other curios.

The view of the city from the top of the fort is impressive.

Lastly we went to Mandoregardens, seeing which I thought that the

name bandhar garden would have been more appropriate because it

abounded in black faced monkeys! Besides the monkeys there are

figures of all Hindu gods and goddesses sculpted on a single rock.

 

19-9-2008

We started towards Udaipur via Krankoli and Nathdvara. We reached

Kankroli at 12.30 pm even though we started from Jodhpur at 7.30am.

Kankroli is the place where Vallabhacharya had installed the idol

of Dvarakaadeesh. The temple was closed at 12pm and we had to wait

till 4pm to have darsan. The idol is very small like a private archa

idol and the photo of the Lord we saw was similar to Sreenathji of

Nathdvara.

In Kankroli and Nathdvara it was a different experience altogether

from the sight seeing mood we were in so far. In Kankroli , though

we had a good darsan, people were pushing us when we entered the

sannidhi and I was afraid that it would be worse in Nathdvara which

is even more famous than Kankroli, So when we traveled to Nathdvara

from Kankroli I was praying to Lord Sreenathji to help us to have

good darsan without any difficulty. Krishna never forsakes His

devotees. In Nathdvara we were helped by the security guards and had

good darsan with out being jostled in the crowd. When I stood in

front of Sreenathji I was moved to tears! What a wonderful darsan it

was! He simply steals your heart with His childlike charm.

Immediately after coming out I rushed to the shop to buy a likeness

of Him and felt that I was taking Him away with me.

We reached Udaipur late in the evening and the next day we went

around Udaipur.

20-9-2008

We first went to saheliyon ki bhari , a nice garden constructed for

the sake of the royal ladies and then to the Prathap memorial.

Though Udai singh constructed the palace and lived there Udaipur

became famous in the days of Prathap, his son, due to his valour

and he stands for all the values rajputs cherish. In Prathap

memorial large paintongs of the exploits of Prathap, the saving of

Udai singh by his nanny Panna , Meera, Kumbharana and Chithore rani

padmini can be seen.

Next was the city palace museum. It also contains many paintings of

Prathap and royal emblems etc. and the hall constructed by Udai

singh to dispense justice.

Lastly we went to the museum of folk arts, Bharatheeya lok kala

mandal. There were puppets and figures of all folk arts and tribal

people and their gods etc and we had an opportunity to see a puppet

show also and it was very nice and more refined than the usual ones

you expect to see. We left Udaipur after lunch and reached Chithore

garh in the evening.

In the evening we went to see the sound and light show in Chithore

fort and it was fabulous. By mere lighting through laser beams they

brought the whole history of the place alive. We saw Padmini jumping

into the fire, Meera singing to Giridhari, Uday sing being saved by

Panna and her son being killed etc all by means of lighting effects.

21-9-2008

We visited Chirthore fort in the morning and I bee-lined to Meera

temple. It was nice to stand where Meera was standing and sang to

her Giridhari. It was of additional joy to me that this was my

birthday! We saw the chithore fort from outside only and the temple

of Kumbhashyam and the victory tower as it was very hot to roam

around unlike in other places where it had rained and the climate

was cool. The fort and the palace of Padmini were however in ruins

and only the outer walls were standing, as the chithore fort was

demolished thrice by the moguls.

After lunch we started for Kotah to catch the train back to Chennai.

It was quite an experience to travel through the roads that were

not! The roads were being laid and everywhere there was a diversion

and we ended up at a crossroad and our driver took a wrong road

which ended abruptly! Only way for him to get across is to climb

down a steep incline and he did just that only to find that even it

ended abruptly. Only alternative being to climb a steep incline to

get into platform and then to the road across. We have given up all

hopes but our driver must have driven across the desert or been an

expert in stunt acts because he simply climbed up the steep incline

and took us across! Finally we came to Kotah at 5pm after traveling

7hours in the hot sun and booked a room with AC in the station as

our train was only due at 11pm and slept for 3hrs. Finally we took

the train back and reached Chennai on23rd.

Thus our trip was different , full of excitement, curiosity,

devotion and adventure!