- Jaisalmer Fort
- the Palace of the Mahawaral
- the Jain and Hindu Temples
good friends had highly recommended Jaisalmer for its intricately carved havelis and stunning Fort and Palace. we were also fairly sure that it features in the film Baraka, a personal favourite, so we did not need much encouragement to get up early and be inside the fort by 8am. the sun was still climbing, while the narrow streets of the citadel provided shade throughout the day.as a living fort, there's no entry charge into Jaisalmer's most famous landmark, so you are free to wander around the twisting streets and come and go as you please, although the return of constant clamouring touts, the absence of which we had so enjoyed in Bikaner, was an entrance fee of sorts. it was refreshing to see a town where everything was yellow after all of the red sandstone Mughal monuments of early April. it seemed a much more organic stone, soft in colour but rich, like honey or gold and, like all the best Indian structures, prone to change colour depending on the time of day. the road into the fort is paved and slopes upwards, passing through the various obligatory right angled gates, including two that double back on themselves, making attack even more difficult.
heavy round boulders still sit on top of some of the walls to be pushed onto attackers, adding to the European, medieval citadel feel of the place, underlined by its friable ramparts and rounded bastions. 
the Palace richly demonstrates the town's most famous attribute - amazingly elaborate carved latticework balconies of yellow sandstone, rising several stories high in the case of the Palace.
the town is very big on masonry. we decided we'd tour the inside of the Palace when the sun was higher. within yards of our walk around the citadel, it was crystal clear that you were no-one in Jaisalmer without your own refined, honeycombed stone balcony and facade.
every third building, it seemed, boasted such overhanging delights, often crowding in over the narrow cow-filled streets like enveloping yellow hands.
doorway and protecting amulet of chillies, Jaisalmer
there are also one or two temples, including an extraordinary complex of five interlocking Hindu and Jain temples we would visit later in the day.
the citadel itself is not large and you can wander your way around in no time at all, but it's far more fun to slowly seek out the dead ends and numerous viewpoints atop its walls that look across the desert or the town outside.
every one of the extraordinarily carved buildings in Jaisalmer Fort is, of course, a home. although founded by Rawal Jaisal in 1156, it is the people rather than any ruler who live in the Fort now, going about their lives inside what to Westerners' eyes would be a national monument. most of them are Brahmin, the caste that dominates Pushkar. there are many open drains and sewers here like in Bikaner, but unlike its Northern counterpart, the accompanying odour was mostly absent. we know that attempts to place all of the town's drainage underground had backfired spectacularly a few years ago, with deaths following seepage and a collapsing rampart. we were staying outside of the Fort itself due to this one-time incident, but even now there is too much water flowing in to the sandstone structure to service tourist hotels inside. we did not want to contribute to the problem; Jaisalmer is now listed in the World Monument Fund's 100 Most Endangered Sites. all of these pressing, serious considerations were very distant in our minds as each twist and bend in the threaded streets revealed another stone latticework marvel.
we really don't have anything with which to compare Jaisalmer Fort; perhaps a miniaturised, yellow, dry Venice comes closest. as a citadel second and a home for its people first, there is a real lifeblood about the place absent from the beautifully preserved structures we have seen across Rajasthan.
not yet remotely satisfied with wandering the Fort's intricacies, we went back to the Palace and paid a (by Indian standards) fairly steep entrance fee of R250 that proved to be well worth it. although the interiors do not always have the elaborate carvings of the exterior, there are more than enough treasures to compensate, from 15th century sculptures and marvellous interiors to unrivalled views from the rooftops over the Fort and town.
moustaches and Edd - the long face is because he just realised his camera's LCD screen is badly scratched from the combined effects of sand and wind!
interior detail, Palace of the Mahawaral, Jaisalmer.
interiors, Palace of the Mahawaral, Jaisalmer.
view over Jaisalmer from the Palace of the Mahawaral.
every now and then, just to remind you that you were in Jaisalmer, there'd be another piece de resistance of the mason's art, frequently carved in three dimensions.
Hello, mum!
Jaisalmer. the large buildings are the havelis, explored tomorrow!
on a roll like we had been at the Taj Mahal, we scooted down the alleys to the complex of Jain and Hindu temples and - like at Itmad-ud-Dualah - we were not disappointed. five temples on the site lead into one another as if all had been conceived at the same time.
look up...
...to this! ceiling detail.
many of their largest sculptured walls and centrepieces are chipped away from single pieces of stone, a weighty fact belied by their lithe forms and light, airy feel.
ceiling detail.
one of the priests appointed himself as our guide as we noticed regular signs on donation boxes asking visitors not to give directly to any holy men!
some of the carved sections are a riot of cavorting Amazonian women and strong-figured, mighty gods, with the odd parts of the Kama Sutra one some of the finer details of the exterior temple doorways (the priest was rather keen to point this out).
all are from between the 12th and 15th centuries and the entire atmosphere is of an alien time and world. you half expect Indiana Jones to pop out from around a corner with an ancient mystical artefact.
after days in a row seeing almost no tourists, we discovered that Jaisalmer - even off-season - is still packing them in. it was strange and almost disappointing (as well as a little selfish) to see a good number of Westerners again and a town thoroughly geared to relieving them of their money, but such thoughts would always remain secondary when there is so much around to you startle and amaze.
it never stops in Jaisalmer - every street is like this.
one thing that certainly amazed was our encounter with the world's worst salesman, a man who, after selling us drinks with no scams earlier, tried to place a 'refrigeration tax' on them when we went back to him the second time - what an idiot. we grabbed a brilliantly tasty but overpriced fruit smoothie at a cafe, the July 8, with envious views over the Palace and run by an Australian Indian.
coasting down the Fort's ramp, Philippa had an extensive look at the collection of antique embroidered tent hangings, blankets and the like. disappointingly, the prices were high even for London, with the owner starting his bidding at 200-500 pounds. you'd have to be an excellent haggler to even get away with being totally fleeced here.
the short walk back to the hotel led to a good rest for all. the sky was filled with a very odd sight - white wispy clouds - and the temperature had eased a few degrees. we'd eaten upstairs on the roof again for a late lunch, but the portions remained variable and the service slow, eating into our now cherished rest time. with their internet service also not working, we resolved to have an evening's stroll in the Fort and dinner where we found it. we returned to the Fort as the sun slipped down, touring its streets via a new route and finding some passable shops. when we got back to the Main Chowk, a man ran past at speed holding a cylindrical metal box at arms' length as if it were a bomb before hurling it over the ramparts. a few questions revealed that it had contained a troublesome and vexatiously located beehive! an internet was our next locale, to complete some backing up of the images you see on this blog to disc, a process that took an age. it was two hours and many, many Rupees later when we departed, although we did at least also manage to book a hotel in Jodhpur inside the walled city for a couple of days' time. having missed most of the evening as a result, we ended up eating in - of all places - an Italian restaurant called Little Italy, nestling inside the Fort's first gate. their prices were good and their minestrone delicious, but it was hardly what we'd been looking for.
it's a very long way to get to Jaisalmer, the end of the line and a hot and parched place. but it is the most beautiful town to which we have so far travelled, with some of the most stunning architecture, and somewhere we would both be more than happy to return.
hope everyone reading is OK.
edd & philippa.
No comments:
Post a Comment