Rajasthan Shopping Tips

You can archive this one for your future use I’m sure. We haven’t explored that much. But whatever we explored, we want to share it with you all so that it could help you & invite you to add further.

Basically Rajasthan is very artistic. The richest & the poorest of the state are the custodians of this rich heritage and the authentic art. The rich have a heart for the art. And they know how to build it up and showcase it. Most importantly retain it. Every palace is so rich in paintings, art, artefacts. Every pillar, niche, ceiling, walls are decorated with rich artistry of various styles from locals as well as from foreign. Different coloured stones available locally make it Golden city, Pink City, Marble rich etc., The stone art, the glass art, natural paintings décor the monuments. By doing that they are paying rich tribute to the local artisans.

But the local artisans however have remained poor only. Because, they have a heart for the art. They would rather spend their life doing great art than go behind money. The middlemen make the most of the money from the art. The Marwaris coming from that region go everywhere doing business. A piece of art can be sold at Rs400 upto 10,000Rs depending upon where and when it is being sold & how much margin they want to make.

The state of Rajasthan is made from combining all the Rajput Royal states post-independence.  Most of the Royals have retained most of their wealthy Palaces and forts. Through trusts & committees they are managing the monuments quite fine. It is unlike in Mysore. The Maharaja in Mysore, they say was tricked to give up everything to the government. And in my opinion, Govt is not doing a good job of its maintenance and is a mistake in comparison to Rajasthan model. However in Rajasthan most entrance fee is very high, especially Udaipur Raja will fleece youL.

The shopping bonanza

Jaipur is like Bangalore only. Try to avoid shopping there. Of course don’t miss to have authentic Lassi in Lassiwala shops near Raj Mandir theatre.

Here is what we know of some shopping tips. All the below ones we got around by asking locals. The guides & driver were useless. They only take you to clothes shopping.

Where	What	More details
Bikaner	Bikaji Sweets, Mixture, Rasagolla etc.,	Near Jain temple; There is whole lot of homes from there it is made, packaged and sent across the world
Jaisalmer	Small artefacts made from Camel bone; Art or tumbler from Golden stone;	The Golden fort is called living fort. So inside the fort there are lot of shops selling camel bone art, small decorative items, dolls; Bargain & get the best. Don’t buy marble stuff. From the golden stone they make tumblers. It has medicinal value they say. Camel bone art & Golden stone artefacts you wont get anywhere else. Not even in Jaipur for this price.
Ranakpur	Rajasthani Dhuries	On way to Ranakpur near Udaipur from Jodhpur, you get to see many huts showcasing these Dhuries. Do give a visit. It is handicraft. Dhuries are like carpet. Beautiful indigenous designs made from the artisans. Bargain and buy if you like and appreciate handloom products than power loom products.
Kishangarh	Marble Art	It is near Ajmer towards Jaipur. Both sides of the highway you get whole lot of Marble art shops. Small decorative elephants, lamp, vase, Bharani etc., you get. Beautiful authentic natural paintings on it make it more elegant. Cost is definitely 10 times cheaper than in Bangalore, any item. You got to bargain though.
Pushkar	Camel Leather Items	In Pushkar, there is a large Ranganatha temple. Right infront of this there are few shops selling Camel leather items like Wallet, Shoes, Purse, Vanity bags etc., It is all cheap and completely worth it. For example a wallet costing about 700Rs in Bangalore you bargain & get it for 70Rs. Those shops are actually wholesale shippers to UK & Europe through online shopping.
Jaipur City Palace	Pashmina Shawl	Inside the City palace, the Maharani has a shop! J. I think it is authentic. You can try. I believe it is decent price. This Pashmina shawl is very special & rare.

The clothes are something you get everywhere. But it is most deceptive. You have to be cautious. Especially the factory outlet, driver suggestions, local guide suggestions are most deceptive. But you can’t do much but to explore within those options. I think if we explore Chikpet properly in Bangalore, you get everything here for exact same price. Bandhini is most favoured type of dresses. Block printing using natural colours is something to explore.

We purchased some clothes in Jaisalmer. We found it to be fine, authentic, decently priced. But I think it is as good as you bargain anywhere else too.

Natural painting is basically made from Vegetables, fruits, plants and metals like gold, silver, iron etc.,. It is not chemical based. It takes lot of time & manual labour.

Block printing is basically, design print made using wooden blocks. It is a manual work. For example to print a peacock, there will be an outline block in one colour and 7 other block to fill in 7 more colours. Between each block printing he has to leave time to dry up. So it is manual labour and time consuming.

Overall we felt we missed to do some more shopping of Camel Bone artefacts. It was really beautiful and unique. Jaisalmer is one of the best places. The palatial hotels but still cheap stay there, remind me of Las Vegas in the making. But is most distant and arduous journey to reach there. May be going & returning by train from Jodhpur is better option than by car.

Sprinkle of History

Rajasthan trip will make you proud Indian. There is so much rich history and heritage out there. They were great warriors, yet peace loving. When brotherly feuds erupted, they established new kingdom expanding into the vast unexplored deserts, yet developing unique, unmatched, long lasting monuments proclaiming their cultural interests and peaceful nature.

One baffling thing is, only Rana Prathap Simha challenged the Moghuls. Rest all made peaceful pacts, gave their daughters in marriage alliance with the Moghuls. But in return, Moghuls only deployed these Kings as generals to fight for them at frontiers across Bengal, Deccan, Afghan boarder etc.,

One stark example is that of Jai Simha, who founded the city of Jaipur which is named after him. He stands so tall with his varied persona of a great commander, administrator, strategist, scientist & keen interest in astrology, under whose guidance the great Jantar-Mantar is constructed. But under guidance from Aurangazeb he invaded Deccan with a very large army to suppress Shivaji raising. He was the most able and trusted general commander for the Moghul. But after Aurangazeb’s untimely death, his sons attacked him & his kingdom for treachery! What a way to payback for the loyalty!

If only these great kings of Rajputana had joined hands together to fight out the Moghuls instead of subjugating themselves to their superiority without challenging, history would have been different! How i wish it were!