Breathtaking Desert City
Rajasthan, India
Like an unbelievable mirage the bastions and walls of Jaisalmer rise out of the wastes of the Thar Desert resembling, in an oft-used yet nevertheless accurate cliché, an Arabian Nights city. Within its walls lie stunning stone-carved havelis lining networks of twisting backstreets, a Maharaja’s Palace and numerous temples, whilst outside the desert floor gives way to dunes, water-filled tanks and remote tribal villages. The perfect spot for adventure.
Background
Rajput ruler Rawal Jaisal, after whom the city finds its name, founded Jaisalmer in 1156. On advice of a local hermit, Eesaal, he chose the Tricut Hills as the location for his new fort abandoning his vulnerable old one at Lodurva 16 kilometres northwest. In time beautiful havelis were built by wealthy merchants their prosperity due to the city’s location on the main trade route linking India to Egypt, Arabia, Persia, Africa and the West. The Bhatti Rajput rulers lined their coffers with gains from traditional taxes on passing caravans and sometimes through illicit gains made by rustling cattle.
In the 13th century Ala-ud-din Khilji, Emperor of Delhi, besieged the fort for nine years in an effort to take back the treasure taken by the Bhatti Rajputs from his imperial caravan train. When the fall of the fort was imminent the women of the fort committed jauhar, an act of mass self-immolation, while men donned saffron robes and rode to their certain death – echoes of Chittorgarh.
Duda, son of Jaitasimha and a Bhatti hero also perished in the battle but his descendants continued to rule Jaisalmer. In 1541 they even fought Mughal Emperor Humayaun, though their relations with Mughals was not always hostile. Sabala Simha won the patronage of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan for battle distinctions in Peshawar and the right to rule Jaisalmer.
Later in the dying days of the Raj Jaisalmer was the last to sign the Instrument of Agreement with the British. The magic of Jaisalmer is self-evident, the 99 bastions of its fort standing firm as they have done for centuries against the swirling desert sands, poetry in stone.