Hey guys, I know it’s been a while and the photos from my India trip are long overdue. So I’m going to resume posting pictures from my India trip. This here is “Bheem Bharak” it’s a temple for Lord Shiva and it was founded by a group of Hindu monks a long time ago, I tried finding out when but my efforts were useless because the locals said that that there was always a place of worship there. But it started because the monks needed a quiet place to worship and since then locals have been contributing to the cause and as you can see from the pictures it’s no longer an ordinary temple it’s quite big and has gone through development. But with big donations came the threat of robbers and the monks decided to take charge of the situations, the monks wouldn’t let me take pictures but then they showed me their weapons they had heavy weaponry desert eagles, high power shotguns and many other imported and note SHINY guns. But they are some of the nicest monks/sadhus I have encountered in INDIA. It was a really quick trip because it was getting dark and the temple is located near one of the major Indian military bases, so we had to leave right away but yeah here are some of the pictures I was able to take. As usual feedback would be highly appreciated.

 

Radar, Just shows how high risk that area is.

Sunset

Monkeys and flying crows!

More monkeys!

Entrance of the main worship area where the first monks prayed.

Navigating the cave. (note this place had no lights before, a cat directs you to the main area. There is still a cat there until today but i didn’t take a picture because i did not know it’s importance until i left the place)

The main worship area where the early monks used to pray. Now just a place to worship for anyone, people still visit because the people believed that the amount of time spent here by monks praying has made this place sacred.

Oh yes bats, i didn’t see this at first but yeah the guy told me there were bats on top and i took a picture and when it flashed all the bats flew.

Saddhu praying

A very nice statue of Lord Krishna in the temple, it’s amazing how they incorporated it to the cave. It looks like it’s lifting the whole cave with it’s pinky.

Sorry for the late upload guys, I know some of you were waiting for my next post because I was posting really quick last week. So before you look at the pictures I would like to give you a brief history of The Mandore Gardens. Mandore was constructed around the 6th century in “Mandorva” and it was where King Nahar Rao Parihar who was a part of the Parihar dynasty ruled from. But then in 1395 AD, a Mohil princess of the Parihar rulers of Mandore married Chundaji, who was part of the Rathore clan. Keep in mind guys this was the part when the Rathore clan was becoming more powerful and stronger, so the dowry must be suitable for a strong empire. Therefore the Mandore fort or now the Mandore gardens were given to Chudanji the Rathore clan ruler as part of the dowry. So yeah the Rathore clan ruled Marwar then on from the Mandore fort. So for those who read my last two posts this is where you connect the dots.”The Mandore Fort” was the predecessor of “The Mehrangarh fort” which was the predecessor of “The Umed Palace”. So from that you can see that whenever the Rathore clan was entering a new era they showed it by ruling from a place that sent a strong message.

So yeah, now some details about the ruins left from The Mandore fort. The Mandore fort was a piece fine architecture when it was made all buildings or “chatris a.k.a. umbrellas” as the locals call them have finely carved botanical designs of Gods, plants, birds and animals. So yeah now Mandore is just a garden. The architectural relics left from the once glorious fort are available for public viewing and honestly for me it still looks beautiful. I wouldn’t even have known that these were ruins; I just thought the kings took the furniture with them when they moved. So if you are in Jodhpur for a visit a quick stop at Mandore won’t disappoint you because what more could you ask for in a desert? Mandore has all the things to make a traveller happy from lush gardens, ancient ruins and wild life. Drop by im sure won’t regret it. So yeah here are the pictures guys I hope you like what you see and I would definitely appreciate feedback. Thanks guys. 🙂

Some ice cream before i enter. 🙂

People getting some fresh air.

This tree was supposedly planted when the fort was made in the 6th century. Now thats one tree a tree hugger can’t hug. haha

Oh yes, Monkeys just chilling out.

Im guessing he is the boss.

After a short walk, here they are the ruins of an ancient kingdom.

As you can see even in ancient Marwar they loved their beloved sandstone and for a lot of people the ability to acquire and transport these stones was already a status symbol.

1400 years old but it still looks better than other new buildings made today.

An engraved sculpture of a hindu Godess.

Im guessing this would be the kings Chatri.

This place is so beautiful even the locals can’t get enough of it.

Almost every section of it has something carved on it.

A view of the dome.

The pillars and little view of the next chatri.

If i were to choose two words to describe these pillars i would choose “strong beauty”.

And that was what I saw in my walk to Mandore, so guys if you ever end up in this side of India definitely pass by Mandore it will be worth your money. So yeah I hope you liked my last 3 posts about the palaces in Jodhpur and maybe learned a thing or two about the ancient and present Jodhpur. Comments would be highly appreciated guys, Thanks. 😀

The Merangarh Fort, yet another jewel from Jodhpur’s royal heritage. If you have seen my previous post then you will already have an idea about The Merangarh fort. So yeah The Merangarh’s foundations were layed down on a 410ft hill in Jodhpur on May 12, 1459 by Rao Jodha the 15th Rathore ruler. Before that the Rathore Dynasty’s 1000 year old royal fort was located in Mandore, but due to the rapid growth of the size of their kingdom; they had to move because the Mandore Fort did not provide sufficient security anymore. The fort is located at the center of the city and it’s a daunting but beautiful sight that can be seen from any major road of Jodhpur. The fortress doesn’t only represent strength it represents Indian royal culture at its best, because whatever idea we have on Indian kings are based on Rajasthani kings. Mughals were outside conquerors that had their own values, beliefs and lifestyle that may have been passed down together with their power on some Indian territories from centuries, but Rajput kings were Native Indian Hindu kings. By the way I’m not saying they were the only Native kings, all I’m saying is they were the more… hmmm… glamorous ones? So that being said below I have some pictures of Mehrangarh Fort’s overwhelming architecture. so yeah take a look guys.. comments would be appreciated. 😀

The Mighty Fortress

If this was a modern residence im assuming thats where the security guard will be.

Pigeons!

Oh yes, everyones got to love water in the desert.

Water fountain, Indian style! haha you don’t need to move your head, it gives you a cup.

How mountains are meant to be climbed. Man India is so advance you climb mountains with elevators.

The great wall of Jodhpur. locals call it the wall.

The almighty canons of the never conquered Jodhpur.

Well placed canons.

Again, plants in the desert amuse me. 😀

A view from a far of Jaswant Thada, A moseleum where remains of some of the members of the royal family can be found.

My mom. 😀

Look how clever they are, little holes for sticking rifles out.

A shot of the 120 foot palace wall.

Tourists having a goodtime watching the local guy teach them how to wrap a fancy turban around their head.

Palace security personel chilling and probably wondering what im going to do with his picture.

Singers outside to create a Rajasthani ambiance.

More musicians to create an ambiance around.

My sister and my two nieces.

My mom all jai ho’d up.

A humble little Mosque.

My mom with the sudden urge to make the pigeons fly.

The gathering.

And this was The Mehrangarh fort, unfortunately due to time constraints I couldn’t take pictures of the relics and artifacts inside. So anyways was this worth replacing with Umed palace? in my opinion, maybe because this fort showed the strength of the Rathore clan and this heavily fortified palace was an ideal building to keep their kingdom secure and considering the fact that despite all the sieges it has faced it was never conquered. We can safely say that yes this was important, but then centuries passed and the king had to show that Jodhpur is a city with its eyes on the future. So keeping wars and greed aside the successor of this palace the Umed palace was made by the grandfather of the current king to show that Jodhpur was ready to become a modern and peaceful society.