Celebrity Gods and more in Jaipur

Sunday 30 September: Royal Heritage Hotel, Jaipur

An interesting way to transport a ladder!

Another leisurely morning at our beautiful hotel, the Royal Heritage Haveli in Jaipur, before setting off by bus to the Krishna Temple to experience the Darshan ceremony. During the bus trip, guide Jessica gave us a Hindu 101 briefing.

There are over 330 million Hindu Gods. Many people have a personal god to whom they pray every day. They may also have a family god, to whom they pray several times each year. Idols are very important in worship and households may have their own shrine where the idol of their god resides. The idol is cared for with regular baths, offerings of food and rest periods.

Jessica told us about some of the more important gods. Vishnu is a vegetarian, rides a mythical bird, and his wife is Lakshmi. Shiva is not a vegetarian and rides a bull. Kali sounds fairly terrifying. She was created out of the energy of all the gods, to kill the buffalo headed demon. She managed this by drinking all of his blood. Krishna had over 5000 lovers!

Not sure if we should have felt reassured or
worried about this!

Spot the tourist: Linda and Jan blending into
the waiting crowd

We drove into the City Palace and then walked to the temple, arriving a bit before 11am. There was already quite a crowd, working into a frenzy about the anticipated appearance of the Lord Krishna idol. The crowd surged forward and the chanting increased. Just after 11am the curtain was drawn and there was Lord Krishna in all his glory. The crowd went wild! It was quite an experience.

Hands waving as the Krishna statue is revealed

 

And here he is!!! Sort of a weird character that didn't look familiar to any of us from all of our temple visits

One of the holy men performed a ritual to bless the Krishna statue using fire and chanting. 

Then he walked along the steps of the temple splashing as many devotees as possible with holy water. The crowd pressed forward to receive the water and some touched the holy steps for a blessing.

These peacock feather dusters
seemed a terrible waste of beautiful
feathers!

During the walk back to the bus Jessica pointed out shops where accessories for your home shrine gods could be purchased - different outfits, swings and seats.

We next visited a jewellers for more shopping. The gems were quite spectacular and many dollars were spent.

One very beautiful building.........

......and one not so beautiful -
 a very public urinal!

We returned to the hotel for an afternoon at leisure - lunch, massages and a dip in the pool were popular. Our clothes from the tailor arrived later in the day - there was a mixed reception with some items not as expected and requiring some adjustments. As we were leaving in the morning there was a flurry of activity at the tailors as adjustments were made and then all was well!

Dry roasting the spices

We had a cooking demonstration in the garden later that evening. Chef cooked up a chicken curry, dahl, tempered spice potatoes and fried garlic raita on an open fire. These formed the basis of a delicious dinner in the garden.  

He is going to publish a cookbook which would have been well-received by us. The management of the fire in the local version of a cooker was just as difficult as cooking the food he said.
The recipes were provided the next day so no excuses for any tasteless curries ladies!!

The completed chicken curry - delicious

Beautiful ambience! Hotel Basset Hound Julia joined us for the evening.

A relaxing day that enabled us to regroup for the busy last few days ahead.

Your guest correspondent

Linda