Jodhpur and the Marwar Festival

For each day, one festival… It’s almost like that in India!!! Here in Jodhpur we were lucky to attend the Marwar Festival (to celebrate and commemorate the heroes of the Marwar Region).

But before telling you more about this festival let me tell you few things about the Jain Temple that we visited in Ranakpur, on the way to Jodhpur.

First let me try to explain you what is the Jain religion (sorry we didn’t understand everything, as it is really complicated, but if you want more info, you know where to search ;-) )

The Jain religion is based on the same principle as Buddhism or Hinduism : reach the Nirvana. But in this religion there is no God or Goddess. Jain people venerate “Tirthankaras” who are men who reached the Nirvana after several reincarnations. They are 24 and are represented without any “decoration” (as it can be the case for other religions) because Jain people have to follow 5 rules to reach the Nirvana:

-        - Non-violence (for all types of living, from a microbe to the biggest elephant)

-        - Sincerity (They have to tell the truth)

-        - Honesty ( They should not steal or cheat)

-        - Chastity (Or at least fidelity for the non-religious people)

-        - Non-property (They have to refuse all types of materialism and of property) 

The Tirthankaras are seen as “Bridge provider” to reach the Nirvana.

Okay, you know as much as we know, for the rest look on Google!!!  

Now that you have the basis, you can have a look at this beautiful Ranakpur Temple. It is the symbol for a celeste “boat” on the Earth (the Boat going to Nirvana). It is composed by 1444 pillars all different but with an impression of symmetry. The 4 entrances represent the 4 cardinal points. An amazing architectural challenge!

After this spiritual break we took a bus to Jodhpur. We had our breakfast in the sound of the parade composed with camels, dancers, musicians… Who walked in the street to announce the Marwar festival which takes place at the full moon of the Hindu Month of Ashwin (between September and October). The important moments of this festival are the traditional dances and the camel tattoo.

We followed the parade and we arrived at the football stadium where we were invited to enter. In fact, what we didn’t know, is that the city of Jodhpur uses this festival to promote tourism. The afternoon was also dedicated to small “competitions” where we were invited to take part!!! We had great fun:

We started with the lady race with water pot on head : In the tradition, women walked several kilometers to get water. And they used clay pot on their head to carry it. Here we had to carry a 7 kg pot for few meters while running. Flo reached the second place and won a beautiful trophy and a picture on the front page of a local newspaper!  

The following competition was as successful as the first one. We did the tug of war. First it was foreign ladies against local ladies and then the same with men. Each time, the foreigner team won!

The moustache competition and the most beautiful Maharajah were won by local people. About the turban competition, neither Romain, nor other tourists could compete with the dexterity of Indians. 

The afternoon ended with the camel tattoo accompanied by the unique in the world camel mounted band!

After a good dinner, we watched the traditional dances and then we felt asleep very fast as the temperature of 39 degrees made us really tired!!!

The next day we booked our train ticket (and if you think it is very easy as we are used to it in Europe, here it can be very difficult…) and we visited the fort of Jodhpur, the blue city (called like this because the rooftops of the old city are all blue... to preserve against heat and mosquitoes!!!)

Now direction Jaisalmer and its desert !