Travel + Leisure - India & South Asia
SANDS OF TIME
Jaisalmer’s sands have witnessed hundreds of caravans of traders and travellers over the course of centuries. This has lent the desert destination a unique diversity of flavour. On a trip to this ancient Silk Route junction, ANANYA BAHL unravels the many secrets of Thar.
TI’ve just alighted from my trusty camel to see vibrant swaying cloth break the stark monotony of the desert. After a ceremonial welcome in royal fashion, I settle down to enjoy the mesmerising view. My fellow travellers and I are seated on majlis-style cushions shaded by canopies, gin-and-tonic in hand, and are being served generously by a team led by Nakul Hada, general manager, Suryagarh Jaisalmer. In front of us, Mehboob Khan and his troupe croon ballads against the backdrop of the setting sun. They belong to the Manganiyar community who used to sing for royal families on important occasions like festivals, childbirth, death, and even the onset of war. They narrated tales about families, and in return, received positions in royal courts and land as patronage.
It is August, the perfect season to experience their monsoon singing tradition. Mehboob Khan traces his ancestral roots to Sindh (once a part of United India, now in Pakistan) but he was born in a village
in Rajasthan called Phalodi, located between Bikaner and Jaisalmer. This oral tradition is handed down generations, and most of his troupe, the women included, are from Khan’s extended family. Hada tells me about Jaisalmer’s reputation as the ‘land of gypsies’ and how some of the most primitive musical instruments are still widely played here. These include the
(double flute) and khartal (wooden castanets). The evening’s final act is performed by a musician who adeptly extracts folk and popular tunes from the morchang (Jew’s harp). So, this is how the Silk Route travellers romanced a starry night during those long, hard months of travel!
People from Mongolia, China, and the Far
East journeyed for months through these lands. Evidence of its status as a renowned stop on the
Silk Route can be seen today in the 1,100-year-old Jaisalmer Fort, ancient havelis, and architecture pre-dating the Mughal period. Even the populace is varied: Muslim communities, the singing Manganiyars and Langas, the Bhati Rajputs, and the Bhils (nomadic settlers) call this region home. Suryagarh Jaisalmer is located about 20 kilometres from the city, and as Hada and I drive past the dunes, a mise en scène reminiscent of this glorious past unfolds at a leisurely and indulgent pace. The most striking evidence is in the locals’ attire. The Hindu Rajput women are veiled and appear in bright yellows and pinks, wearing both gold and silver jewellery, while the men wear white kurtas and dhotis along with brightly coloured turbans. Muslim women wear bottle-green, black, and grey robes along with a round, bulky nose pin; the men are dressed in long kurtas and a wrap-around called a tehmat, along with a white safa.
We stop at the Khaba outpost of Jaisalmer’s royal family, which served as the first resting station for travellers on the Silk Route. The royals would take a fee or surcharge from these travellers, give them provisions along with security so that they were rejuvenated to resume their trading journey into Central India. This was mostly done through a barter system that resulted in the introduction of goods and artefacts from Central Asia. It was some time during this juncture in antiquity when the Paliwal Brahmins of the region rose in prominence. They were expert craftsmen, farmers, and opium traders who left Pali and settled in Jaisalmer. The thriving business
their pasture lands, and reservoirs. Further into the hinterland are the cemeteries of the community—as per tradition, they were always situated about three to five kilometres away from the residential settlements. Even in death, there is a mark of trade, evidenced in the cenotaphs adorned with Egyptian and Phoenician symbols. These were traders from foreign lands who died during their travels and were buried alongside the Paliwal Brahmins. The Kuldhara ruins were also a part of the Paliwal community’s settlements. According to a legend, the community packed its bags and fled the place one night, leaving behind the ghost town that we see today. The story goes: around 400 years ago, a local minister in the region, Salim Singh, set his sights on one of the girls in the Paliwal community. When he expressed his desire to marry her, the community chiefs protested. But with little recourse, they resorted to their last option—escape. Today, the ruins are rumoured to be haunted, and during eerie night drives through the area, guides tell tales of scorned spirits and chudails who inhabit the place. During the day, it looks like a regular collection of broken structures and a temple. Sceptics, however, say that the place was abandoned because of decreasing water supply and a possible earthquake.
About 15 kilometres away from Suryagarh Jaisalmer is the quiet hamlet of Mundhari. The residents are mostly nomadic farmers and goat herders who are blissfully cut off from the rest of the world. What makes the area special is the presence