We began Thursday by visiting the City Palace, a vast complex of courtyards, gardens and buildings. The royal family still occupies part of the palace and the rest is open to the public as the Sawai Man Singh Museum. Immediately south of the City Palace lies the remarkable Jantar Mantar, an observatory begun by Jai Singh in 1728. He built five observatories (we saw one in Delhi) but this one, the fifth, is the largest and best preserved. The most impressive construction is a 27-meter sun dial which can calculate the time to within two seconds. Unfortunately, since it was a cloudy day, we weren’t able to verify this. Another device, composed of six curving marble slabs with a suspended ring in the center, marks the day, time and zodiac symbol. Astrology has always played a key practical role in Indian culture and this device was vital for the calculation of auspicious days for major events like marriage. We then stopped at a carpet and fabric place where they make wool carpets (not quite as time consuming and expensive as silk carpets) and hand-blocked fabric. Although many in our group made purchases, we came out empty handed.
On the way back to the hotel, Harold decided to leave the bus and explore the old city on foot. As usual, he let his camera break the ice with the locals and enjoyed the time wandering and seeing the sights.
We regrouped at 5:00 and drive to the Birla Mandir or Lakshmi Narayan Temple, a Hindu marble edifice built by the fabulously wealthy Birla family, the creators of one of India’s largest industrial corporations. The dazzlingly white marble exterior is embellished with fine carvings and statues featuring an eclectic array of religious figures including Jesus, St. Anthony, Moses, Confucius, Zarathustra and Socrates. We were lucky enough to be there for a “service” which included singing and the sprinkling of water from the Ganges.
After a delicious buffet dinner at the hotel, we went to bed in order to be ready for the 6:30 AM wake-up call.
From 8:00 until 1:00 on Friday, we were in the bus (with several stops), driving from Jaipur through the rural areas of Eastern Rajasthan to Sawai Madhopur City, the gateway to Ranthambore National Park. As always, the sights along the way were fascinating and presented us with tons of photo ops.
We arrived at our hotel in time for a delicious buffet lunch. The Nahararh Ranthambore is an incredible theatrical-looking hotel, built in the style of an old-fashioned Raiput hunting palace and looking every inch the regal retreat. After getting settled in our rooms, we met at 3:30 and boarded a Mitsubishi Canter (open top buses seating twenty people) for our trip through the Ranthambore National Park then a long climb to the ruined tenth-century Ranthambore Fort, towering above the forest canopy from atop a dramatic crag. The story goes that there was a battle between the Hindu rulers and the Moghus in 1569. The Hindus agreed that if they won the battle, a green flag would be raised and if they lost, a red flag would be raised giving the women time to commit suicide before being ravaged by the enemy. Someone compromised the flag raiser. Although the Hindus won the battle, the red flag was raised. The women killed the children, then themselves. When the king returned, expecting a celebration, he was devastated to find that everyone in the fort was dead. He then committed suicide, too. At the top of the fort, there is a 1000 year-old Hindu temple which is a popular pilgrimage site for local Indians. At this temple, they pray to Ganesh, the elephant god, for a new house. Since we already have a house, we said our devotion for Michelle and Ray to find the home of their dreams! We returned to the hotel and were greeted with tea, coffee and cookies. We met with a naturalist who gave us information and a slide show about the Ranthambore National Park. This was followed by another wonderful meal, then bed.
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| Our hotel in Ranthembore |
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| Ranthembore Fort |
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| We are ready to roll in the Canter. |
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