Tuesday, November 28, 2006

SINGING PRINCESS OF RAJASTHAN

SINGING PRINCESS OF RAJASTHAN

Generally all the people in the world have faith in god. Among them some are there who had intensely devoted themselves in the prayer of god and still rare are there who becomes the synonym of the devotion to god. One of such devotees was Mira, the wife of prince Bhoja. She had intensely devoted her life, body, mind and soul in the ecstasy of Lord Krishna.
There is a famous tale about the initiation of this devotion of Mira for Lord Krishna. It is said that in her childhood she saw a bridegroom sitting on a mare, who was going for his marriage. Seeing this she asked her mother excitedly that who was her bridegroom. Her mother merrily told her that her bridegroom is Lord Krishna. From that day onwards she considered herself to be his bride and became his intense devotee. Now she was having nothing in her life except Lord Krishna's prayer. She was feeling him all around her and thus missed herself only in Krishna's prayer. Mira was married to a crown prince Bhoja in her early teens. He was very happy to have a wife like Mira. But at the time of her marriage also she took the statue of Lord Krishna when she sat in her palanquin. But no one took it seriously as it was only showing her faith in god. Soon Bhoja realized that he had married a mystic instead of a bride. He became unhappy because every now and then he use to find Mira lost herself in Krishna's prayer. She was showing no response to any other relation. In other words she had crossed all the limits of her divine madness. Her husband and her in laws have tried everything to bring her out of her madness. They tried every trick by hook or crook but all was in vain. She was tried to make threatened by venomous snake and torture. But she never agreed to leave Lord Krishna's prayer. Once to break her blind faith, she was given a cup of poison to drink with a comment that if your Krishna is really there you will not be affected otherwise you'll have to forget him. In no time she drank away the poison and she was safe. That much strong was her faith and trust. After this incident everyone accepted her belief to be true and regarded her feelings.
Wreathed in her ecstasy she sang many beautiful and unmemorable bhajans that is hymns in praise of Lord Krishna. Eventually after the death of her husband and father-in-law she left her kingdom and devoted herself fully in the prayer of Lord Krishna. She went on a pilgrimage. It is said that at Dwarka her soul got mixed up with her lord in the form of a flame.
Many hymns of Mira are still very much popular among people and sung all over the land. Her bhajans as "mere to girdhar gopal doosara na koyi.." give an inner satisfaction and peace to the mind. She had truly proved that belief is the supreme power and for this it is not essential to see someone physically, it’s only the internal feeling and faith that makes your trust true. In this way she had presented an example of devotion, faith, prayer and divinity beside the world. The temple where Mira spend most of her time composing song of adoration to Lord Krishna can still be seen at Chittor.

Pushkar Fair in Rajasthan

Pushkar Fair in Rajasthan

Pushkar Fair takes place every year at Pushkar near Ajmer in the month of Kartik that is in October or November. It is one of the most famous fair in Rajasthan (India) where lakhs of people flock together from all over Rajasthan. It is said that Pushkar is the ‘Father of all the pilgrimages’ and without a bathe in the holy water of ‘Pushkar Lake’ the journey to any pilgrim is incomplete.When this grand fair takes place a mini tent city springs up on the sandy ground along with beautifully decorated shops. These shops contain various architectural, cultural, religious and decorative items.
The fair is not only commercially important but also has a religious significance. The beautiful lake of Pushkar is considered as a sacred lake. According to legend, the Lord of creation-Brahma performed a Yagna (sacrifice) here on the full moon day of Kartik after killing a demon with a lotus flower. The place where the lotus petals fell, a lake was originated which was named as Pushkar .On the Yagna side a grand temple has also been built which is dedicated to Lord Brahma. This temple is only one of its kinds in India. Pushkar has been grew into a temple town from last many centuries and today it has become a great temple town with more than 500 beautiful temples.
The festivities here reach a climax on full moon day when million of pilgrims and traders take bathe in lake’s holy water and pay their homage to Lord Brahma. It is considered that one can get rid of his or her sins if the bathe is taken in this sacred lake. Anoher attractive feature of this fair is the Deep-Daan. This is an important ritual practice done by the devotees during the fair in which the pilgrims offer lamps to the Pushkar Lake. It is a beautiful view as the night falls because thousands of tiny earthen lamps float out in the lake, flickering their glow in the darkness of night in the holy water. The fair becomes colorful when one have a sight of women in bright swirling skirts (Ghagras), which are made of about 20 meters of cloth and the men, in colorful twisted turbans along with their Dhoti-Kurta.
The camel race is another characteristic feature of the fair that is greatly enjoyed by the pilgrims. Besides this ‘loading of the Camels’ is very popular during the fair. It is a kind of weight-lifting contest for the Camel. In this contest dozens of men climb over the poor animal for a ride and the Camel having the largest ‘load’ wins the contest. Here all the facilities of hotels and various cuisines are available for a traveler.
Thus along with ritual practices a pilgrim can have full entertainment of the beautiful view and the various contest taking place here. So it could be an event from where a person could have a wonderful collection of beautiful memories.

JOURNEY OF RAJASTHAN-PALACE ON WHEELS


Rajasthan is a place that is well known in the world for exploring out the real culture of India for which it is famous all over the world. Thus to have a look of this typical and prestigious culture Palace on wheels provides a luxurious and most comfortable journey right across the glorious RAJASTHAN. This provides a royal and exciting journey, which is not only famous in INDIA but is well known all over the world.

It has been started on 26th January 1982.This was the first train to provide tourist with a stately ride through the treeless Thar Desert. It served as a miniature traveling palace provided with vintage saloons of various Maharajas of Rajasthan and Viceroys of India. A modification in the facilities of the train was done to give more comfort to the travelers in 1991. It was engaged with all sort of modern facilities along with a cultural look. It was made fully air conditioned along with vestibules. In the modern days the train starts from Delhi and covers Jaipur, Chittorgarh, Udaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Bharatpur, Agra and Fatehpur Sikri. Thus it provides a magnificent and glorious journey of 8 days and 7 nights. One can fully be beneficial of having a view of unique sight seeing and the wildlife by this journey and thus can collect some memories of the best journey.
The train has now 14 saloons, restaurants, and a bar-cum-lounge car along with four service cars. Each cabin of the train is facilitated with restaurant cars which serves Indian as well as continental cuisine. It has also a well stocked bar and a library. For entertainment television, video, soft channel, music are there. Facility of STD and ISD has also been given in the cabins. The cabins are provided with attached bath, having running hot and cold water and shower. The saloons are engaged with an attended that provides personalized services in Royal tradition. Each carriage of the train is well furnished with rich velvet and crystal chandeliers. The train provides full time to enjoy the various spots and gain the invaluable information of the various places of Rajasthan. Seeing the progress and requirement of these days, the train has been converted from meter gauge to broad gauge now.

The Palace on wheels has turned out to be a best mean to move around Rajasthan. After having a journey in this train one can have a pride of being on a royal journey. This has also been rated as one of the ten best train journeys in the world. Not only this but it is earning a valuable foreign exchange for the county and has also acquired an important place for Rajasthan on the world tourism map.

ENERGY LOCATIONS OF RAJASTHAN

ENERGY LOCATIONS OF RAJASTHAN Although Rajasthan is famous for its Art, culture and history all over the world, but it has engraved its name in the region of modern technology also. It has been a center for many energy tests. Rawatbhata near Kota has been a place where two Atomic reactors were built. These reactors were based on the Canadian design. These reactors have started its production in 1972 and 1980 respectively. It has created a new chapter in Rajasthan’s history for which Rajasthan could feel proud of. Previously Kota was a part of Bundi State. It was situated on river Chambal. It became an independent princely state in 1624. Kota has been a region where development was continuously occurring. It became a famous centre for major Industries, which include Oil, Textiles, Paper, Matchsticks, Precision- instruments, electric cable and rubber. At present it has achieved an important place as Rajasthan's major commercial and industrial center. The credit of this achievement goes to the electric power also that has been provided by the atomic plants and the Chambal dam. Thus Kota along with its artistic popularity is also famous for energy plants and industries. Due to these industries it also gives a great support to the nation economy. Another place which is memorable for every layman of Rajasthan in Pokhran. This small town is located 106 Km. from the Jaisalmer town. It lies in the heart of the Thar Desert. This place came into world fame on 18th May 1974. As this place has been chosen for India's first underground nuclear device explosion. Although the explosion has many adverse effect on the living world but this explosion took place 100 mts. below the earth's surface. Therefore the Pokhran’s soft sandy soil effectively sealed off the negative effects of radioactive gases that explode out during the huge explosion and thus there was no harm to animals or human life. Before this event Pokhran was only a sleepy, dusty and little known town. But this small desert town became world famous due to this energy test. This place was so suitable for this event that after 24 years again it was in news due to the second energy test. In 1998 Indian scientists have decided to explode three nuclear devices here. Thus Rajasthan has provided the places, which were helpful in nation’s development and due to these experiments it has also engraved its own name in Indian history.

Pious woman of Rajasthan

Pious woman of Rajasthan Although Rajasthan is famous for the tales of the bravery of kings and Maharajas but one can’t forget the womanpower of the state. The ladies here have also acquired a special position in the history of Rajasthan either because of their bravery or due to their devotion and sacrifice. They have presented an example beside the world and one could be greatly inspired and influenced from their Virtuous lives. One great woman of such pious character was Rani Padmini, wife of Rana Ratan Singh of Chittor. She was the owner of the enormous beauty. The praise her beauty had been spread all around. The Sultan of Delhi, Ala-ud-din Khilji also heard this fame. Hearing this praise he became excited to have a look of her beautiful face. But it was an impossible task as she was the wife of a Rajput king and they were not allowed to come before a strange person. But Ala-ud-din was determined to have her as his wife. So he lay siege on Chittor fort in 1303A.D.to capture Rani Padmini. But the brave rajputs struggled against this huge force and the result was the prolongation of the siege. This made Ala-ud-din impatient. At last he proclaimed to withdraw if he would be allowed to see a glimpse of Padmini’s beautiful face. Rana Ratan Singh agreed for this, but Ala-ud-Din Cunningly abducted him. Now he offered his freedom in exchange of Rani Padmini. The Rajputs got enraged from this incident and they decided to outwit Ala-ud-din. The warriors planned to go to the Khilji's camp to rescue their Raja. So, disguised as rani's maids and hidden in their palanquins they reached the camp and rescued their king.Ala-ud-din became furious due to this event and decided to take the revenge. Thus he stormed Chittor. Rajput fought bravely to protect their pride. But when the defeat became inevitable, these brave defenders of Chittor tied theirsaffron robes, which is a symbol of sacrifice and forfeit their lives fighting. Soon this news spread in the Chittor fort. Hearing this sad news, women in fort decided to save themselves from dishonour. Rani Padmini and other women of the fort dressed themselves in bridal finery and immolated themselves in the sacred fire of ‘Jauhar’ and protected their honour. It is said that Ala-ud-din was never succeeded in seeing Padmini in the flesh but he was only able to see her bewitching reflection in a mirror as she stood on the steps of her palace-the Jal Mahal. It was Padmini's summer palace that still exists amidst a lotus pool. In this way the lady sacrificed her life for her self-respect and gave a lesson to a proud king that determination of a person is more powerful than the strength of a sword. She had presented an example before all the Indian women that they are not weak but have a strong will power to convert an impossible task possible as she had done by defeating a proud and strong king. For her courage and strength, still today she is being remembered amongst Indian women.