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MEET AN EXPERT
Our co-founder Jay Tindall is a regular visitor to India, where he loves staying in the palace hotels of Rajasthan. His favourite experience? The amazing Kumbh Mela festival.
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Visit Bada Bagh, also called Barabagh (literally "Big Garden"), which is about halfway between Jaisalmer and Ludharva, the old capital of Jaisalmer. Bada Bagh is situated next to a dam built by Jaisalmer's 18th-century maharaja and is surrounded by chhatris, the Hindi word for cenotaph. The gardens have lost their former grandeur, but the hill with the cenotaphs is still quite impressive.
Go on a private camel "safari" amid the sand dunes outside Jaisalmer. You can visit the Maulana Dunes, where you will pass thatched clay huts with straw roofs and the locals' beautifully decorated camels.
Explore the impressive Jaisalmer Fort, which virtually blends into the desert sand at certain hours of the day. Though its heyday is long gone, it remains one of the world’s rare “living forts,” with about 25 percent of Jaisalmer’s current population residing within the forts' series of three ramparts.
Highlights inside the fort include stately havelis, originally designed as homes for the area’s wealthy traders and court officials, as well as several Jain temples.
Visit the deserted village of Kuldara, located to the west of Jaisalmer. Established in 1291, it was once a prosperous village with about 600 houses, most of which are two stories high. Many of Kuldara's builders came from Pali, a town that was a center for trade and commerce. Their richness is evident in the fine sculptural and architectural details of their homes in Kuldara and the wells, water tanks and temples left behind.
Stop at Ludharva, the ancient capital of the Bhatti Rajput kings. The magnificent Jain temples here make Ludharva an important place of pilgrimage spot of the Jain faithful. An offshoot of Hinduism, Jainism has become one of India's major religious traditions. It is distinguished by a dedication to non-violence towards all living beings; strict Jains, for example, do not eat tubers like potatoes and yams, as they see uprooting such plants as killing an organism, nor do they permit clothes made from leather, as it is made from animal hide.
Visit Hamira, a village populated by Manganiyars, a caste of world-class Rajasthani folk musicians whose ancestors performed in various royal courts in Rajasthan. Enjoy a private performance here.
Go on a walking tour of Jaisalmer, including Gadesar Lake, Jain temples, the city ramparts and the old market. Gadesar is actually a massive catch-water for rain that once supplied all of the water for this desert city.
by Bloomberg Pursuits 
by Departures Online 
