Day 100: Bishnoi Village Safari

Advertisements and posters or even paintings on guesthouse walls for Bishnoi Village Safari tours were everywhere in Jodhpur. Having read about it in our ‘Rough Guide,’ I thought it would be a nice break from our sightseeing routine in the cities on our route through Rajasthan. And it was. It wasn’t the most intense ”safari,” but it was a lovely break. It was also a great change of pace from the rickshaw grind, instead we climbed into the back of a jeep and were whisked from one stop to the next.

The Bishnois, as my ‘Rough Guide’ describes, “are among the world’s earliest tree-huggers.” In 1485, there was a drought. A guru decided this was caused by deforestation and came up with 29 rules for how to live in harmony with nature. Rules include vegetarianism, not cutting down any trees, and more. Basically they were the first vegans.

In 1730, the maharaja of Marwar sent workers to Khejadali (a small Bishnoi village) to cut down kherjri trees (the most sacred tree to the Bishnois) to use to burn limestone for a palace. A Bishnoi woman, Amrita Devi hugged one of the kherjri trees and told the men sent by the maharaja that if they cut the tree down, they’d have to take her head with it. The men decapitated her. Her three daughters followed suit, hugging trees, and losing their heads. Word spread and the Bishnois from surrounding villages united and hugged 363 trees. (Or so it’s said) All 363 lost their lives trying to protect the sacred trees.

When the maharaja found out, he stopped the fighting and banned cutting down trees and killing animals in the Bishnoi villages. The trees, that you see above are some of those that were saved so many years ago by the Bishnois and it’s the first stop on the Bishnoi Village safari. A road is paved through the trees and there’s a small monument at one end, but it’s nothing fancy.

The second stop was a wildlife observatory where we were handed binoculars to see ‘black bucks’ as they were described to us. I was more fascinated watching the women hunt for cow pies around the water reservoir. The cow droppings are used for fuel. In Nepal, a woman walked past us in the street carrying a steaming pile. Lit’rally. Steaming. Andrew said he watched her pick it up right after the cow had left it there. I think the Indian women had a better idea, collecting it after it was dried. Much better too, for when it goes on top of your head to carry it home!

We had read that some of the places we were going to felt a bit like a trip to a shop where the driver gets commission. I can see how it would have felt like that, if our guide, Push, was not so adamant that we didn’t have to buy anything we didn’t want! Instead, I made a pot, and admired very pretty sheets- that I definitely wanted, but didn’t have any room for.

After the pottery and printmaking shop visits, we went to a carpet maker’s house. Now obviously, if I didn’t have room for a sheet or two, I most definitely didn’t have room for a carpet. But. The carpet maker was probably my favorite to talk to. I’m sad I don’t have a photo of him, and the video where he was talking about how auspicious the day 12/12/12 decided to focus on Andrew’s knee instead…

The carpet maker had an air of artist-meets-professor-meets-astrologer (or something like that) about him and as Andrew said later, “He really liked the word auspicious!” He was right though. It WAS auspicious that it was our 100th day on 12/12/12. We all agreed and smiled at our good fortune.

Towards the end of the Bishnoi village safari, we went to a Bishnoi village house where we were given sesame treats, played with puppies, and watched an opium tea ceremony. I kinda thought we would get to partake in the opium tea ceremony, but as Andrew said later, “They bogarted the tea!”

Our last stop was to another family’s house where we ate a traditional Bishnoi meal, and I made the faux pas of eating with my left hand. The men laughed and shrugged it off, but I sat on my left hand for the rest of the meal. (You see, the right hand is for eating, and the left is for ‘unsavory functions’ like bathroom and cleaning obligations.) Somehow, this little rule slipped through my fingers for the first two weeks of our trip through India!

If you’re interested in a Bishnoi Village safari, I recommend going through Jodhpur Safari and specifically asking for Push! He was great to talk to throughout the trip and wasn’t phased when I asked him personal questions about him, his family, and India in general!

After the Bishnoi Village safari, we grabbed our bags and made for another bus- this time to Jaisalmer.

Day 99: Meherangarh Fort and Jaswant Thanda

Meherangarh (pronounced Meh-ren-gey. usually.) Fort is pretty unavoidable if you reach Jodhpur. It towers over the city and makes for a beautiful view in both the day and at night with it all lit up. We read that the 2+ hour audio tour was worth it, so we climbed up to the entrance from the city below and spent an entire afternoon at the fort. There were cannon marks on the walls still visible from battles with the army of Jaipur. There was a magnificent view of the blue houses of the Brahmin Caste. A huge museum. And then there was a short walk over to Jaswant Thanda; a memorial to the ruler Jaswant Singh II, who protected Jodhpur and introduced programs to keep its inhabitants employed.

Walking up to the fort was one thing, as it towers 400 feet above the rest of the city. Walking through the gates into the fort was another. Seven had been constructed to celebrate victories over other armies attacking the fort. It proved to be rather indestructable. Pretty incredible for a fort that was built starting in 1459! Although this construction was began by Rao Jodha (founder of Jodhpur) most of the fort’s completion was supervised within the period of Jaswant Singh from 1638 to 1678.

The audio tour was incredibly interesting. I’m not usually one to do a tour like that, but not only did it feature the history of the fort, but also details about life inside, and of the court (royalty) themselves. Gaj Singh was the last living Maharajah of Jodhpur – until 1952 until these powers were abolished by India in 1971. He spoke on the audio tour of what he remembered of being enthroned at only four years old, and his childhood inside the court. If you go to Meherangarh, pay the (slightly outrageous) fee for the tour! It’s worth it!

A lot of the rooms were preserved and if you couldn’t walk through them, you could stand at a window or a door to peek in and see what life was like. Some were more grand than others. I liked this chamber, Gaj Singh’s father (Maharaja Takhat Singh) was the last ruler to reside in the fort. This room, Takhat Vilas, was noted to be a blend of the traditional India with the modern British style. I quite liked the Christmas-like ornaments that hung from the ceiling!

Ok, so maybe I was a little obsessed with the blue houses. Can you blame me? They are beautiful, no?

If you’re curious why there are so many dotting the city, the blue is a result of the Brahmin caste in the Hindu Religion differentiating themselves and cooling their houses under the hot desert sun. I’ve become really intrigued by the caste system here in India. While I think there is something of an underlying system in America, the clear-cut system and the rules and observances behind the caste system in India is interesting to someone like myself who was raised to hear that I could be whatever I wanted to be when I grew up… I digress. I also learned that certain colors are associated with certain castes. Brahmin’s is blue. They are intellectuals. The word Brahma directly refers to a creative aspect of the universal consciousness.

After the lengthly audio tour and afternoon inside the fort, we walked over the little ridge to check out Jaswant Thanda. It was a nice memorial to walk around, but there wasn’t as much information at the site. Not that there necessarily needs to be more information on a burial grounds… but I suppose my curiosity always gets the best of me and it would have been nice to know which members of the family were represented by the cenotaphs that had been constructed. We ran into our new German friend from the bus into the city, Bastian, and walked around the grounds while chatting of our mornings and admiring more of the view of Jodhpur.

After, Andrew and I were going to go across town to the palace/hotel but gave up when the rickshaw driver demanded an exorbitant fee and by the time we got him down to our ideal fee, we lost interest in the trip altogether. We walked back down to the city below, past children demanding “One photo!” and goats in sweaters before having a rooftop dinner and view of Meherangarh Fort and Jaswant Thanda at night.

Day 98: a walk through Sardar Market in Jodhpur

We left Pushkar around nine in the morning, and arrived in Jodhpur around three in the afternoon. It wasn’t a terribly long journey and riding a bus through the countryside made me wish I was on motorcycle so I could stop and take pictures whenever I wanted… The land was peaceful and its occasional inhabitants would wave and shout “Hello!” when they recognized you weren’t Indian. We made a friend (Bastian, from Germany) and when our bus arrived to Jodhpur, the three of us crammed into a rickshaw and found a guesthouse within the old walls of ‘The Blue City.’

Tired, but not wanting to give into the temptations of a nap so late in the afternoon, Andrew and I went for a walk around Sardar Market in Jodhpur. We walked through it to get to our guesthouse, and while it was not as intense as the markets of Jaipur, it was still full of bangles and saris and fruit stand upon fruit stand. I’m always a fan of walking through a market, but I have to admit, I was looking forward to going to sleep early, and so we didn’t stay out too terribly long. We tried to track down some internet to catch up on emails and blog posts, but it proved to be impossible, so I drowned my internet woes in a chocolate milkshake and fell asleep soon after.