Fantastic bright and beautiful Rajasthan
Bold colors of magnificent Rajasthan is utterly hypnotic
Band member at the Ranakpur Horse and Camel Polo tournament
Remarkable Rajasthan is one of India’s largest states
Bordered by Pakistan on its northern boundary, Rajasthan has been washed by centuries of invasion and internal conflict, leaving a remarkable legacy of culture, tradition and architecture within one of India’s largest states.
Ranakpur dancer
Once agrarian based, today there’s a steady drift of migration from rural areas to crowded modern metropolises seeking better paid jobs, education and lifestyle.
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Even in the remotest of places, locals have embraced technology. Just about everyone, from youngsters to the elderly, has a mobile phone, and the selfie is passionately embraced.
Ranakpur camel polo – Detail of decorative flower nosepeg
No matter where you are in Rajasthan, bold colours and the brightness of the light define this magical place – from the garish glitz of painted and bejeweled trucks transporting goods, to the shimmering brilliance of wild peacocks, India’s national bird.
Detail of carved marble flower vase
Many visitors simply flit across the state from one tourist draw card to another, taking in the lake city of Udaipur with its romantic white marble Lake Palace Hotel, or the rosy-pink walled capital, Jaipur.
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Further north, there’s the ochre-coloured fort city of Jaisalmer.
Rajasthan festival – two oxen with flowers and painted horns
Comparatively few journey into its rural backwaters and dusty back roads, where scarlet-turbaned village elders tend raggedy, flop-eared sheep.
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And in doing so, they miss the most wonderful of journeys and one that’s best made using horsepower.
Dr Ajeet Singh, noted Marwari horse breeder and three Marwari horses at Kumbhulgar Fort
Marwari horses, like those belonging to the Jodha Stud Farm of renowned breeder and Horse India travel company co-owner, Dr Ajeet Singh’s, are the perfect way to travel across Rajasthan.
Marwari horses are a rare and restricted breed
Once owned by warriors and royalty, Marwaris are a rare breed, and the Indian government restricts their exports.
Ranakpur Camel Polo tournament with Marwari stallion
This elegant, centuries-old breed is noted for its endurance, courage and beauty.
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With super-model looks and long legs, it also has very unusual ears that are lyre-shaped and end in a distinctive curl.
Dancing stallion at the Ranakpur horse and camel polo tournament
Marwaris stallions also perform – they dance. Prancing and high-step to a cacophony of folk music at the Ranakpur Horse and Camel Polo festival, each is urged on to greater efforts by their team of male handlers, with the aim of winning the festival’s dancing horse competition.
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Victory is a matter of personal honour, and loud protests erupt when the winner is eventually announced.
Dancer with traditional hobby-horse at the Ranakpur horse and camel festival
Not to be outdone, camels prepared for Ranakpur’s inaugural camel polo tournament (which made front page news the next day as an India versus the rest of the world match) are adorned with flowers in their nose pegs, garlands and jingling bells.
Ranakpur Horse and Camel Polo festival a cacophony of dance and folk music
Played on a dusty field, a far cry from the manicured green fields of traditional horse polo, the match was chaotic; at one stage an audience member enthusiastically joined in and made off with the ball.
Ranakpur camel polo – camel and rider
At half time, crimson-dressed dancers took to the field and performed the Kachhi Ghodi, a Rajasthani folk dance where dancers whirl sufi-like around a central dancer encased within a hobby-horse.
Ranakpur Camel polo tournament in action
And then contestants in the moustache competition obligingly untwirled their exceptionally long facial hair for individual appraisal.
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Normally these super ‘staches are tucked out of harm’s way, wrapped neatly around the ears.
Camel rider and decorated camel at the Ranakpur Camel polo tournament
Festivals are huge attractions. Being caught up in one, dodging between ox-drawn carts, elephants and masses of people, is quite an experience.
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And it’s also a chance to be “adopted” – taken into the cool interior of a local house for chai and sweets, and to discover that many homes are now simply used by families returning from their businesses and study in Mumbai to their village for key festivals.
Man taking part in the Rajasthan festival parade
Ranakpur also has one of the largest Jain temples in Rajasthan, although with less than one per cent of Indians identified as members of this religion of peace, harmony and vegetarianism, it’s very much a minority religion.
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Meatless cuisine in an elevated artform of spicy curries is accompanied by flatbreads like chapatti.
Rajasthan art, a stone carving with snake
Restaurants displaying signs for “Pure Veg” cuisine dot roadsides and towns, together with teahouses selling sweetly addictive milky masala chai.
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In this part of the world, summer heat is fierce, so it’s best to visit between October and March.
Stallion with elaborate harness on a wall mural
Most of Rajasthan’s rain is delivered by a south-west monsoon that falls between July and September, but yearly fluctuations mean farming relies heavily on irrigation drawn from aquafers, as the wide gravel river beds we rode across are dry by December.
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Even in the driest months, patches of deep green lucerne (Medicago sativa) and yellow-flowering oilseeds dot the fields, irrigated by an intricate series of hand-operated channels that allow water to flow through a network of metre-wide plots.
Detail of stained glass window
One of the joys of riding across this magnificent countryside is that wildlife is less inclined to hide.
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Rajasthan is a bird-watching paradise, from the ubiquitous peacocks to waterfowl that thickly crowd around perennial lakes.
Remarkable Rajasthan is one of India’s largest states
Wild camels, antelope and the large, oddly-shaped Nilgai or Blue Antelope, whose bluish colouring and downward sloping back can be spotted within the thorny acacias and in open forests.
Detail of traditional Rajasthan door with horse and rider
The most unexpected sighting was one quietly turning the tables on us riders– a magnificent leopard, sitting on top of a huge granite dome, gazing down on the plain below.
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The government recently announced the launch of Project Leopard – a series of sanctuaries to protect this endangered species.
Detail of wall fresco with two figures
And at the end of each day’s ride, after an exhilarating canter through tiny hamlets and narrow country lanes, there’s no better way to enter a town than on horseback.
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Riding through the streets, past waving children, shyly smiling women and through traffic, to dismount in the courtyard of one of Rajasthan’s magnificent palace hotels is utterly bewitching.
Decorative flower arrangement
The Hotel Ghanerao Castle is still a family home, filled with personal belongings.
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The cool, refined and utterly romantic Rawla Narlai, with its wonderful restaurant, is a serene oasis beneath a massive rock dome.
Two Rajasthan horse heads
At the Fateh Bagh in Ranakpur, the sweeping mountain views, kind staff and rooms furnished with original pieces make you feel like you’ve stepped into colonial India, although you’d never guess that this hotel was actually relocated to its present location.
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But then again, it’s just another one of the many surprises in magnificent Rajasthan.
Text & Photos Ingrid Piper
