Hitting the road in Rajasthan - Udaipur to Jodhpur
Trip Start
May 06, 2011
1
15
60
Trip End
Nov 10, 2011
Where I stayed
Udaipur, Rajasthan, India
Sunday, June 5, 2011
On arrival in Udaipur we were greeted by a representative from the tour company and our driver. Later in the afternoon we met a tour guide who took us to a temple that was built in the 11th century. We’re gradually learning more and more about Hinduism as we go. This temple was primarily for the god Vishnu, who was the preserver (there is also Brahma the Creator and Shiva the Destroyer). The carvings were impressive, especially considering they were almost 1000 years old. The guide was excellent at describing what the carvings represented. It’s interesting how they parallel the stained glass in old European churches in how they tell stories and lessons for the common person – we forget sometimes how literacy is such a recent thing. This temple was no longer used as an active temple, but is a tourist attraction – the guide told us this is because there was damage done at some point and they don’t believe that a temple should be renovated. We were fine with that because that meant we could take pictures of anything we wanted!
Udaipur is considered one of the most romantic cities in India as it has several nice lakes, including one with a palace in the middle of it. The next morning we took a boat ride around that lake and visited the palace in the lake. Our guide taught us a lot about a lot about the Mewar dynasty, which goes back almost 1500 years (the second oldest dynasty after Japan). The royal family of the Mewars still own these palaces and use parts of them. We were impressed that the people here would stay devoted to one family for so long.
Another interesting thing about Udaipur is that the mountains surrounding have loads and loads of marble. We must passed about 50 different companies that cut and export marble. Our guide said this makes Udaipur one of the more prosperous cities in India, and while that certainly makes sense, it is still India – and I think a handful who are the landowners are rich and the workers are making pennies. It is also fascinating what they bathe in. When on the boat ride we asked the guide if the water was clean when we saw people at the ghats washing themselves and clothes and he said "oh yes, it is very clean". Later we got a closer look. Not so much. There is trash and algae right next to where people are in the water. Well, it is a different world in many aspects – but if it were the same as home, what would be the point of coming, right?
Anyhow, back to the story… we also visited the royal palace, a place where they make miniature paintings, and a pleasant park where the women in the royal family used to entertain themselves. The palace had some nice parts and also while we were there, the foreign minister for Afghanistan (that would be a tough job) was taking a tour with his entourage. The miniature paintings are hard to describe, but they are super detailed, small paintings that are a bit like a cartoon and almost always trying to describe some important event like a royal wedding. Sometimes they have them of gods or animals and our favourites were when they were on translucent camel bone composite (they used to be of ivory but that was outlawed a few years back – probably a bit too late…)
After leaving Udaipur we traveled to the Ranekpur Jain Temple, which was the most impressive temple we have seen, and some argue is the most beautiful in all of India. It was amazing. We’re pretty happy with the way the pictures turned out, and it’s one of those things that defies description so take a look at a few of those to get an idea. The thing took 63 years and like hundreds of millions of man-hours of labor to complete. There are 1444 unique and intricate pillars, and everything except the floor is carved! They made it about 500 years ago and because it’s made of marble, it has preserved incredibly well. I think they wash it all the time, too.
That evening we stayed at a completely renovated Fort that was converted into a fancy hotel in the township of Luni. Once again we had amazing Indian food. We are starting to get more adventurous, trying different things and weren’t let down. Early the next morning we took a Safari Jeep tour through the dried up farmland that is waiting for monsoon season. The tour stopped at some local houses, including a Bishnoi family, who are a people who follow the 29 principles of a 15th century guru that told them that they no harm is to come to any living thing (they are against cutting grass or harvesting any crop that isn’t totally dead) and have a duty to protect the land and animals in their area. Another family belonging to the Patel clan demonstrated an opium ceremony, and we visited pottery shop that demonstrated the art of pottery for us.
It so happened that we came to the area of Luni during a week-long Hindu festival for a god that is important in this specific area. Thousands of people from villages all over Rajasthan made their way to a nearby majestic temple. Though mostly walled off, we could make out festival grounds with endless rows of tents surrounding the temple. We didn’t think that foreigners were very welcome at this festival and didn’t try to enter or anything, but it was interesting to see the streets being packed with people either on foot or on overloaded trucks. Most were dressed up; especially the women were wearing incredibly colorful and pretty sarees and jewelry. Judging by the amount of people we saw on the roads and the size of the festival grounds there probably were about 100,000 people there (that’s our guess). We were really curious what it would be like inside at the festival, but our driver said they probably wouldn’t be very welcoming of foreigners there. We’ll just have to imagine…
Comments
Wow, dieser Tempel ist wirklich sehr beeindruckend! Ich habe zuerst das Foto gesehen und dachte, "Dafür mussten früher viele Elefanten sterben.", aber dass diese Feinheiten aus hartem Marmor sind... Sehr beeindruckend!
Eure Hochzeitskarte aus Israel ist übrigens rechtzeitig angekommen. Vielen Dank dafür!!!