Journey to Rajasthan- Ajmer and Jaipur!

Pics: Lake Pichola with the Lake Palace on the left and City Palace(5 structures in sight) on the right; pic 2: ramparts of Chittorgarh Fort; pic.3: the tomb of Moinuddin Chisti at Ajmer.

Something about Udaipur is different; no place in India has this romance in the air..........a lake (Pichola) in front of you, a palace floating on the blue waters, the wind forming small waves.........and a group of majestic palaces on the lake shore behind; and beyond, looking north, a series of ghats (steps rising from the waters) leading up to clusters of closely built houses. On the far western banks of the lake, hills, with no obvious sign of any human presence, rise just a short distance from the lake shore, form a majestic silhouette on that horizon. On the north western far side of the lake, one of the hills has a palace, the Monsoon Palace, perched on the peak, illuminated at night and a series of steps going up, also lit up at night.......I learnt later that hotels, strung along the lake front north of, and opposite the palace complex, command a superb 360 degree view of this beautiful apparition.

I should have done better than rely on my guide to book me into a hotel in the new part of the city but where he got a better commission ..........modest hotels along the shores of Pichola lake don't need to give out commissions...........their rooms, facing the lake, must be getting tourists throughout the year...........please do not rely on guides!

We were not happy to leave Udaipur, a few more evenings on the lake front.... sigh............but budget and time demanded we move on.

Driving for a few hours north west brought us to the great fort of Chittorgarh.........with a great ring of some seven walls, one time capital of Mewar, before the capital was shifted to Udaipur. Unfortunately, on account of morning fog and pollution, we could not view the fort as we approached, the whole huge complex, spread over several acres of the hill top, vaguely visible.......a ghostly apparition!

Chittorgarh fort has a checkered history. It is the site of numerous jauhars, self immolation by womenfolk, and saka, men going into battle against overwhelming odds, certain of no return, fighting to the last man. The rulers of Mewar (later Udaipur) took on a belligerent attitude with the invading muslims, so each conquering horde, and dynasty (at Delhi) or from central Asia had to deal with this people..........so Chittorgarh witnessed several victories, and several defeats.........and women falling into a burning pyre rather than fall into the hands of the muslims......and men, donning saffron clothes, storming out from the gates, knowing there is no return, killing every man they could before being overcome and slaughtered............"Ala-ud-din Khilji, Sultan of Delhi, sent a marauding army across India at the turn of the 13th century; this army, commanded by Malik Kafur, soundly defeated the Guhilot rulers of Mewar in 1303. The impending fall of Chittorgarh, the main bastion of the Guhilots, occasioned the famous Jauhar of 1303, when the womenfolk then resident within that fort collectively committed suicide rather than risk personal dishonour at the hands of the victorious invading army. The brave men wore saffron turban as a mark of performing saka, of running into battle with no hope of coming back. The injured and surviving Guhilot menfolk and their retainers are said to have subsequently took refuge in the nearby hills."

After a long drive from Chittorgarh, we arrived at Ajmer, around 4.30 in the evening; Ayub, our driver, a muslim, requested, we stroll around the town center, whilst he went a kilometer down a winding narrow road to the walled enclosure where the great saint of Ajmer, Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti is buried. I learnt later that that day was his "urs"-his birth anniversary.

When Ayub never turned up, two hours of waiting for him, we decided to go down the same narrow road.............and the experience will remain with me for the rest of my life.

As we walked down the "alley," the number of pilgrims was so thick, that, literary, you rubbed shoulders with people all around you, most of them staring at us..........we, a bewildered group, in "western" touring clothes, aliens here.

Something told me this was big........something unique, so we ventured further to the gate of the "dargah"-(enclosure/burial spot of a saint,) the gate an imposing structure in Islamic style. A huge cluster of poor people, some with physical handicaps, lining both sides of the gates. A scene out of a biblical movie!

The entrance was strewn with footwear-shoes, slippers ET all, that went out across the gate for a hundred feet (in the east, footwear is left out before entering a sacred place), dissuading us from going further..............a man, in a long black fez (Islamic cap) appeared from now where and assured us he would take us in.............the man was of some importance here, because the crowd, pushing into the gates, made way for us.

The pious man showed us the main sections of the great enclosure, particularly impressive were two huge cooking vessels, six feet deep, used for cooking rice and lentils- food for thousands of pilgrims.

The main domed structure (picture above) that housed the saint's tomb was so thick and jammed with pilgrims, we were literary picked up by this surging tide of people and deposited inside for a few seconds, and with equal ferocity "thrown" out!!! What has left an enduring impression in my mind is the intensity of religious fervour I saw, the poorest of the poor, more often with some handicap, sightless or lame, moving up the alley.

We went back to the car park, a kilometer away, picking our way through the poor folk lining the street, found Ayub waiting impatiently(!!!), piled into our car .............and our drive to Jaipur with some worries we would arrive there well after 10.00 p. m.