Feb 27
On 5 hr drive to Rohet, we drive through many villages. I notice that I see mostly men on the streets, and much fewer woman. I am told that traditional married woman don't often leave the home, and cover their face with a carf when a man is present. There are stands selling 3 ft high stacks of toasted bread since many homes do not have toasters. I notice that at the food stands people drink from small metal pitchers that have been dipped in a bucket of water by tilting their heads back without touching their lips to the rim. This is often after eating very spicy food.
30 minutes outside Jodhpur, we stop at Via Bishnoi Village Craft, a wholesale store where I find that the goods here are priced 50% less then I paid for them in other cities, including the hand made patchwork and emroidered pieces, and the silk and pashmina products. I have a jacket made out of Royal family wedding skirts with hand stitched silver thread on green silk.
After reaching my hotel, I leave on a jeep safari with another woman who is also traveling alone. We connect and I enjoy her company. I see blue bull Antelopes that have a face of a horse and body of a cow, many deer, and camels. We stop at a Vishna family compound with 4 adobe style structures that are made out of bricks, cow dung, and mud. I bring pencils, pens, and markers to give to the children (picture 4). This sect are strict vegetarians, and protect the enviroment and all animals. We continue on to a Brahman village, where we are offered liquid opium in a welcoming ceremony.
Feb 28
We leave early since the jacket I had made needs some adjustments. On our way to Udaipur, a guide meets me at the Ranakpur Temple, the inticately carved white marble Jain Temple built in the 15th century (picture 1 and 2). The enlightened ones who started Buddism and Jainism where sons of kings, and therefore, these religions survived due to the support they recieved from the kings. Both religions are offshoots of Hinduism and were triggered by the inequality of the caste system in Hinduism, and the manipulation of the rituals and cremonies of the priests.
Jain people are only 1% of the total population of India, but provide 65% of the total income taxes collected by the gov,t and therefore have great political power. This is because they would not engage in agriculture due to their extreme belief in non violence, and their unwillingness to even hurt an insect. Therefore, they were businessmen and have been sucessful for generations. This area is a dry forest and part of the Aravalis mountian range. There is green and white marble, soap stone, phosphorous, zinc, silver quarries, cement factories, emorald, and onyx.
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