The villages of Rajasthan has its unique charm.
Rajasthan is amazingly populated: its Iandscape scattered with a number of towns and villages, on signs of forests of trees and livestock populations is the only indication that there is a solution in the vicinity. The typical village has always been difficult to detect until you are really on it. Its simple villages, the most basic form of civilization with a way of life that has probably remained unchanged for centuries, is a collection of huts that are circular and have thatched roofs.
The walls are addressed with plaster of clay, cow dung and hay, as a termite-free (antiseptic) facade that mixes with the sand of the surrounding countryside. The boundaries of the houses and land holdings, called Baras, the branches are dried nettle-like shrub, the long, sharp thorns a restraint for lost livestock.
If a village looks bleak, it is barely surprising: the resources for building these homes, which are the most eco-friendly living unit, are made with what is accessible at hand, and in Rajasthan, and especially so in its western desert areas, this can mean valued little. A village that is even a small larger may have pucca houses, or larger living units, generally belonging to the village zamindar family.
It consists of courtyards, and a large Nora or cattle box, attached to one side or the entry, these are made of a mixture of clay bricks in the sun covered with lime plaster. Houses are made from a mixture of lime stones struck the limestone, and water.
Ornamental facades in such unites are limited to creating a texture in the plaster in the facade, or using easy lime colours to make lively patterns at the access, and outside the kitchen. These households capture, for lots of of its residents, the only cosmos they know. For the women, but for visits within the village community, the only social events were in the nature of pilgrimages which were usually mixed with fairs.
But when they leave the desert and marking up the break of the people a feast of color: turbans bob past in saffron and red, skirts below the wave mantles that veil the face of their women - if not, the jewels shine on the forehead and face add to the shocking surprise of magenta and orange, blue and green and pink.
Ornaments of gold ribbon add to this feast of color and bracelets jangle not just dolls, but all the way to the arms above the elbow. In the bleak, baking desert villages, the life of the people who breathe is palpable, carrying on their progress joyful, the spirit which is their destination.
Each village is a multicommunity settlement, the different castes creating a structure of dependence free-based on the nature of their work. While varies are person wrought in this structure, with ceilings on land holding, and with the young searching exployment opportunities in towns remote from their villages, the social fabric has still not been rent. A head of population settlement are usually the Rajputs, the warrior race whose kings ruled, until recently, in these lands. The Rajputs served their kings, joining their armies, and raising their horses, but a search wizard was as farmers. Often used manpower to work on their extensive fields, and kept cattle for dairy products: in fact, the density of livestock in Rajasthan is very high, and milk from desert settlements is supplied to major cities around the state, including Delhi.
Rajput houses, therefore, became the axis around which revolved the life of the people. In use were the bards and minstrels who sang their praises in verse and song; tradesment supplied them, and the others in the community, with the items needed for daily life, and this was unrealistic, as it increased its grain by their own land, potters and carpenters for their services were required, and if the people are big enough, there were also responsible for ornament and cloth dyers and printers. The priests of the Brahmin family horoscopes, perform the elaborate rituals of festive ceremonies, and served in the temples.
A deeply religious people, each residence in Rajasthan will have a room or at least one hole into which they fold their hands and say their prayers before calendar pictures of their gods. To find the benevolence of the gods, because in this hostile landscape, it is easy to be superstitious, and pray to the terrible image of Kali, the wrathful form of Shiva's consort, to protect them from the demons of the elements, and scrouge of humanity. Outside their homes, and their peoples, it is not unusual to find images of local deities daubed with vermilion, and kept in the gnarled roots of a tree peepul, or set on the steps leading to the village pond.
An intensely religious people, each residence in Rajasthan will have a room or at least an alcove where they fold their hands and say their prayers before calendar pictures of their gods. To seek benevolence from their gods, for in this hostile landscape, it is easy to be credulous, and they pray to the terrible picture of Kali, the furious form of Shiva's consort, to defend them from the demons of the elements, and the scrouge of mankind. Outside their homes, and in their villages, it is not odd to find pictures of local deities daubed with vermillion, and kept in the gnarled roots of a peepul tree, or set into the steps leading to the village pond.
There are images of Bhairuji that keeps a watchful eye on their community, and Sagasji that, when prompted, can provide an adequate harvest. And we must Pathwari task is to ensure that states in travel and pilgrimages. And it is the large number of folk heroes and gods that provide immunity from everything from snake bites to livestock diseases. When you live so close to the elements, you naturally want to bow before them: a little can go a long obedience in the struggle for existence.
Temples can be one of several places in a town where people come together, the others being in front of the shops, or in a tea shop, or "plaza" of the people which is usually an old tree with a lush PEEPLE large platform built around it for people to sit. Wells are also meeting places, the men bring their sheep and cows to drink here in the mornings and evenings, and women gathering to fill their clay pots with water to take home for use in the kitchen and bath. Because water is so crucial to their survival, wells are often elaborately decorated, and have tall pillars to indicate their presence for travelers on long journeys through the desert. Songs about the wells, and walking long distances with pitchers are part of the repertoire of music that swells in the state.
At home, women are confined to the kitchen where the rows of shiny brass and copper plates and cups are lined up on the wall shelves. The stove where cooking is done firing, in which cow dung patties, also feed on fuel. On the stove, put on the floor, women put clay pots for cooking. The main meal to assist the work of the day, and lunch is a frugal meal of unleavened bread is eaten with a spicy chilli and garlic. Most meals are vegetarian, and even eat meat, the Rajputs too do not eat regularly. In the old days, the game could be hunted, and the spoils shared with families in the village.
With the ban on hunting, meat now comes from goats raised in the communities, but they are slaughtered only for special occasions, and at the time of the parties that the offers of the demand for blood. It is this frugal diet that keeps the people of Rajasthan, in good shape, slim build, not fat, and an erect posture. Betrothal, marriage, even death are occasions for all people to join, in a show of solidarity and participation in their good times and bad.
Cooking for wedding parties asked the cooks to dig holes in the ground where fires are lit by huge pots in which food is prepared. The whole town dressed up to welcome the festive procession of the wedding, and Dholis and other breed singing lead the party at the house where the wedding is held may take several days and can become the social event season.
Just as women adorn and decorate their homes, and the men wear ear rings and slip your feet into the shoes of bright embroidery, so it is not unusual for them to create special jewelry for their camels, or to reduce their coats in complex applications. The camel is the ideal pack animals for the desert. Its ability to store enough water in your stomach for a period of a few days makes it ideal for long distance travel along routes where even the wells can be a rarity.
No wonder that friendship is so close between the long-legged animal and its owner. From transportation to plouging in the field for pulling carts, camels, even provides milk, although its consistency sweet, thick, not nice for everyone. In death, his skin has application to make leather saddles, bags and shoes.
Visitors will find smoke still coming out of the window, modern kitchen, gas stoves have not yet reached the village in the desert. The postman brings mail to the backs of camels. Most villages now have electricity, though strong gusts of wind can interrupt your supply, so that the light of kerosene lamps still light the night. The government has provided phone lines and even the smallest village has at least one of these services, but this is her contact with the inner world.
What other uses that villagers have telephones, where his neighbors are not just a shout away? Television is a new wonder in their homes, something to do when there is no electricity, but those arising strange reflects far from theirs. And a road network which means they can travel more easily between villages and towns.
