Bikaner

Our drive from Jaisalmer to Bikaner was greater than three hundred kilometers and took more than five hours. By this time we had figured out our driver, a timid and passive aggressive man who recoiled at the sight of narrow roads, shied away from scooters and tuktuks, would be driving below the speed limit on national highways. On our trip he drove so slowly that at one point I observed that the only vehicles we ever passed were stopped on the side of the road. In fact, anyone who sat in the front eventually expressed a desire to grab the wheel from him - and I tried not to sit there to stay calm.

Because of our slow driver, we left bright and early so we could have some time in Bikaner when we arrived. There’s really three things to see in this town - a cluster of temples in the south west; the fort complex, and the Karni Mata rat temple outside the town. Confusingly there are two smaller shrines to Karni Mata in town, one actually in the fort. We dropped the Karni Mata temple from our priority list, risking a Hamlin style divine retribution.

We stopped by the triple temple complex - Shri Neminath and Seth Bhandsar Jain temples and a third Hindu temple that we did not see. One of the Jain temples was open, and the second was closed - but with a bit of cajoling we managed to get the second temple also opened for us to see. Both temples are a few hundred years old, built of white marble and plaster and quite clean. Despite being active temples they were havens of peace and quiet. After seeing these two, we saw the spectacular Rampuria Haveli. It’s unique feature was a wedge shaped facade that gave it an imposing presence. Once we were done seeing this area, we went to our hotel to check in.

Our hotel was named after Ganga Singh, the most famous king of Bikaner who was favored by the British Raj and a member of the Imperial war cabinet in WWI. A heritage property that was once a palace, it sat in faded glory in the middle of the town on the edge of a park, and had nice grounds. There seemed to be some sort of noisy fair going on at the park, but that shut down promptly at 10 pm.
The next morning we checked out and went to Junagarh fort on our way to Jaipur. The fort is situated on level grounds instead of a hill simply because Bikaner has no hills, it’s a desert town that started as an oasis. Junagarh is the second fort in Bikaner. The first fort and the town itself was established by Rao Bika, second son of Rao Jodha (who established Jodhpur). As a second son, Bika had no inheritance and struck out on his own for fame and fortune. In this regard he was very successful.

Junagarh was started in the late 1400s and continually occupied and extended until the early 1900s, when Rao Ganga Singh constructed Ganga Nivas, a modern palace, and moved out. Junagarh fort is now maintained as a museum as opposed to a tourism opportunity, and I think this along with Jaisalmer were the most authentic forts we have seen. Tourists are gathered in groups and shown the fort. Our guide was excellent and spent time explaining various details to us since we were clearly interested in the exhibits instead of selfie opportunities. The connection to the British Raj was clear to see in the newer exhibits. I thought at this point I would be bored of seeing yet another fort, but Junagarh fort was a pleasure to see - clean, well curated, and not overly commercialized.

After the fort, we started on our drive to Jaipur, another six hours on the road. Rajasthan is a big state, and the spread of the land had become painfully clear to us by this time.