photo JO3P

An architectural gem that comes in the Thar desert, built in golden sandstone, which gives bright hues of sunsets over the desert that is why we call it the Golden City.

Jaisalmer is located in the western Rajasthan, a land of nomadic warriors and merchants, yet its atmosphere radiates looting, romance and adventure. Witnessed an intense trade caravanserai connected with the Silk Road, is for this reason that appears fortress, near the troubled border with Pakistan.

The Thar desert is a sand that stretches north and south of the site with sand dunes that are constantly changing in size, with a rain of sand between May and June, when a warm wind blows and violent, with temperatures that can reach the 45 º C, with low and irregular rainfall. Winter appears between December and February, when the weather turns cool and invigorating, during the day the thermometer rises to 25 ° C, with an amazing sun that shines in a cloudless sky, and at night can also be frozen, that are very cold nights. '

The most precious gift any desert is obviously the water comes from reservoirs or wells after the 30 meters deep underground where there is a napa. Surrounded by limestone of pale yellow, longer hills located north of the city, the stone was the basic element for Jaisalmer to build houses and palaces richly carved.

The city was founded in 1156 AD by Rao Jasil, Prince Rajput belonging to the warrior clan that ruled for ten centuries Rajasthan. Considered the feudal lords of the Middle Ages, who were standing in a territory dispute. Its political power was unstable, because when not fighting with the invaders, they had each other, it is for this reason that only small principalities ruled. The tribe that populated the Thar desert wine from the north, and this geographical domain was his abode for a few thousand years. Fortified towns were built that had a haphazard history until the founding of Jaisalmer.

photo jungle boy

This historic city is located within a walled area of 5 km in length and a height of 3 to 5 meters, guarded by a strong, one of the attractions most visited by tourists, situated about 100 meters on a hill overlooking the city from the South. With its towers and ramparts which rise to about 10metres, with three walls, the most important of which is located outwards.

Access is through four doors made with blocks of stone, and covered by a grounded arc. Inside the while doing our route we will discover five palaces, Jain temples, three, four Hindu temples, as well as beautiful carved facades. There was also a market for grains, the Sadar Mandi, since many remote areas of merchants here kept their property.

photo Pavangupta

Gyan Bhandar at the library, founded in the year 1500, curious manuscripts preserved in palm leaves or slats of wood, among the oldest of Northern India, which deal with various subjects in languages like Sanskrit, mauve, pali, and others. In addition there are paintings by Jain School pre-Mongolian and Rajput. Over the centuries XII, XIII and XIV, the citadel stand sieges, where rituals were held as strangers Johar, men and women dressed in their wedding dress, rather than captured by the invader, and funeral pyres are lit in fire.

The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were prosperous times, as the caravans of camels passing by various articles with which the city paid taxes transit through its Prime Minister. Ivory and silk, indigo, opium, precious wood, dried fruit and nuts, came and went through the desert. Some communities chose the site Jain nomads to settle, and offered privacy and tranquility. They brought their wealth, they built beautiful temples and palatial mansions, then remained in the rainy season. Then she departed and left their wives to return, so the music of the desert and his songs are themes of love and nostalgia that recall that era.

When the Mongolian empire, began to decline Jaisalmer, because during the British occupation was built the railway that connects the region with the ports of Mumbai and Calcutta. There were great migrations of merchants with their families, the population collapsed, their palaces and mansions were closed and the passage of grain to be remembered.

In 1959, when India became a territory, the city was virtually deserted. It was after 1971, during the war with Pakistan, which began to have value as a strategic position. Came the establishment of military groups, along with commissions for the development of natural gas and oil, which carries out prospecting in the region.

The current inhabitants are engaged in livestock transhumance have flocks of sheep and goats. They also grow small quantities of wheat and barley in depressions north frog calls, and receive water for irrigation through the Indira Gandhi canal, which brings supplies from Pundjab through the desert. The valleys between small and elongated hills rocks and dunes of the desert, staying small dams to harness rainwater.

The camel is the most precious animal as cargo transport and for men as it can withstand days without food, nothing more than small portions of raw sugar, being the desert their natural habitat. The traveler who arrives on the Thar immediately feel the charm that emanates from this site and legend of courage, as well as stunning works of art in sandstone that artisans have carved in Jaisalmer.

Photo Day

Walking through the city to admire are five houses or havelis richly adorned with sculptures, balconies and beautiful carved windows and fountains everywhere, with carved ceilings and beautiful wall paintings, made between 1800 and 1885 on behalf of the family Patva, merchants gold and silver thread. The Diwan Nathamal Raja was a gift from your Prime Minister. It has a beautiful facade of three floors and a basement or a warehouse. The first floor boasts a beautiful decorated with birds, elephants, horses and soldiers.

Salim Singh Palace is a wonder, this was another prime minister who struck the province with taxes. A lover of the arts, hired the best stone sculptors silavatas or to make a six-story residence of all cut and styled. You can also see his thirty-eight balconies looking fonts embedded in the corners. Each window has a lattice of sandstone that filters the light and lets the fresh air, and at the main entrance two large elephants that guard the area.

Photo Day

In the midst of narrow streets and sacred cows, the maze walls really surprises the tourist with its beautiful facade, not to mention the exquisite temples that we learn along the journey.

When sightseeing in Jaisalmer, in addition to its history, incredible attractions, Lake Gadsisar, with numerous interesting temples around and a strange variety of aquatic animals and others, is also the possibility of camel rides across the desert to capture the possible true essence of this sea of sand, just 45 km is located or Sun Set Sam Sand Dunes, where there are no traces of vegetation and the sunsets are unforgettable for every traveler fan photos.

photo Sarahlane

Tourist accommodation is outside the walled city, with the exception of a former caravansaray restored, Narayan Palace, which offers musical performances during the high season from December to mid February. Jaisalmer is like a golden mirage in the desert of Thar is like living the Thousand and One Nights in India.

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