A DRY LAKE HOLY LAKE
(Rajasthani
Ramblings Part 6)
Travel
Tales Index - Rajasthani Ramblings Index - India
Pix
After
The
guesthouse we decided to stay at had an old sign that said "Octopussy 7PM
Every Night". I saw this and thought, "huh"? (Now you know what
a great thinker I am!). The James Bond movie Octopussy has a number of scenes
that were shot on location in
I
have to mention the guesthouse we stayed at - The Gangaur Palace Hotel. It was
a 250 year old haveli and our room had 18" high original paintings all
along the base of the walls plus jalis, rather than windows along the tops of
the walls. Additionally, there was a rooftop restaurant from which we could see
the whole city, dry lake and the various palaces. It was very enjoyable to stay
in such a lovely place - especially for $7.50 a night!
Since
we were living in the lap of luxury, we decided to get a car and driver for the
day ($20) to take us to two relatively inaccessible (by bus) points -
Kumbalgarh and Ranakpur. The two hour ride to Kumbalgarh was through dry and
mountainous terrain which seemed to be farmed almost everywhere. There were
stone walls that snaked along the road and ran like fingers up the mountains.
We saw sugar cane, mustard and soy plants.
Our
driver took a little break at an operating water wheel that was turned by two
oxen. There was a very deep, twenty foot wide well with the water in it at
least fifty feet below the surface. The oxen walked in a circle, turning a gear
which turned another, perpendicular gear that drove the water wheel shaft. The
wheel itself was a chain with each link being a one gallon bucket, like a paint
can. The cans scooped water out of the bottom of the well and at the height of
the wheel, dumped it into an irrigation channel. A very simple, effective and
given the lushness around it, successful method of irrigating the land.
When
we neared Kumbalgarh fort, we passed through a gate but couldn't see the fort.
We went around a curve in the road and saw it sitting on the peak of an
opposite mountain, overlooking the valley below with a wall stretching for 22
miles with 700 canon bastions. We followed the road, dipped down into the
valley and then back up toward the fort. From the parking lot, it was a thirty
minute walk up a steep, winding path through an additional five gates until we
reached the palace within the fort.
The
palace was a large complex with many courtyards and a few nicely painted rooms.
However, the contents of the rooms were not much. It was the view of the valley
and the size and length of the walls that were the most impressive parts of
Kumbalgarh. Within the fort complex, there were a total of 365 temples. We
walked around and checked out some of the temples as well as walking on the
wall itself (which was about twenty feet wide). For me, the wall was
reminiscent of the
From
Kumbalgarh, it was another hour and a half drive to the Jain temple complex at
Ranakpur. Adinatha, the main temple built in 1439 was huge at about 300' x 300'
with a few interior courtyards and 1144 pillars. Each marble pillar had a
unique design carved into it, although some did have areas that were not
carved. In some ways, Ranakpur was nicer than the Dilwara temples in
After
a two hour drive, we arrived back in
Since
we enjoyed
Just
to be sure we didn't miss ANY forts in Rajasthan; we went to Chittaurgarh and
spent one day and night. The fort
occupied an entire mountain top but was not in very good condition. The memorable
sight was a tower about 120 feet high which was built in 1458. We climbed
inside to the top from where we had great views of the fort and the town below.
The sunlight seemed just right so I took a picture of some sandstone jalis with
the light shining through. For me, the highlight of the town turned out not to
be the fort, but the whole tandori chicken dinner I had that night! Our next
destination was Pushkar which was a totally vegetarian town. No eggs, meat,
poultry etc. would be available in any restaurant. In Chittaurgarh, I felt I
had to stock up on as much meat as possible! After my feast, I felt I was ready
to take on Pushkar.
To
get to Pushkar involved a bus ride to
Pushkar
had a lake at its center which was said to have appeared when Brahma dropped a
lotus flower. For this reason, the lake was considered holy and there was no
garbage in it and no ladies washing clothes in it (very common sights in just
about every other body of water in
We stayed
at the first guesthouse we looked at in Pushkar which was a lovely place with a
rooftop restaurant and a very interesting owner. He was a perceptive, direct, young, single
Indian who had been to the
We
took a day trip to
We
returned to Pushkar where most of the time was spent reading, relaxing, surfing
the web, shopping and swapping stories with other travelers. Every evening,
hundreds of people came down to the water to watch the sun set over the lake
and listen to a small drum circle. For me, this was my most favorite part of
the day in Pushkar - watching the sunset and listening to the drumming. While
doing that, I could understand why some people came for a day and stayed for a
month...