| For What is referred
to as a desert, Rajasthan is amazingly
populated: its Landscape scattered with a
number of villages and hamlets, telltale
signs of tree groves and populations of
cattle being the only indication that there
is such a settlement in close proximity. The
typical village has always been difficult to
spot till one is actually upon it. Its
simplest hamlets, the most basic form of
civilization with a way of life that has
probably remained unchanged since centuries,
consists of a collection of huts that are
circular, and have thatched roofs. The walls
are covered with a plaster of clay, cow
dung, and hay, making a termite-free
(antiseptic) facade that blends in with the
sand of the countryside around it.
Boundaries for houses and land holdings,
called baras, are made of the dry branches
of a nettle-like, shrub, the long, sharp
thorns a deterrent for straying cattle. If
a hamlet looks bleak, it is hardly
surprising: the resources for building these
homes, which are the most eco-friendly
living unit, are made with what is available
at hand, and in Rajasthan, and particularly
so in its western desert regions, this can
mean precious little. A village that is even
a little larger may have pucca houses, or
larger living units, usually belonging to
the village zamindar family. Consisting of
courtyards, and a large nora or cattle
enclosure, attached to one side or at the
entrance, these are made of a mixture of
sun-baked clay bricks covered with a plaster
of lime. Floor are made with a mixture of
pounded lime, limestone pebbles, and water.
Decorative facades in such unites are
limited to creating a texture in the plaster
in the facade, or using simple lime colors
to create vibrant patterns at the entrance,
and outside the kitchen. These homes
capture, for many of its residents, the only
cosmos they know. For the women, but for
visits within the village community, the
only social occasions were in the nature of
pilgrimages which were usually combined with
fairs. But it is when they step out that the
stark desert and the village break unto a
feast of color: turbans bob past in saffron
and red; skirts billow beneath mantles that
veil the faces of their women - if they
didn't, the jewels that glint on their
foreheads and faces would add to the
shocking surprise of their magentes and
oranges, their blues and greens and pinks.
Trims of gold ribbon add to this feast of
color, and bangles jangle not just on
wrists, but all the way up to the arms above
the elbow. Into the bleak, baking hamlets of
the desert, the people breathe life that is
palpable, carrying in their jaunty strides,
the spirit that is their destiny.
Each village is a multi community
settlement, the various castes creating a
structure of dependence based on the nature
of their work. While changes are being
wrought in this structure, with ceilings on
land holding, and with the young seeking
employment opportunities in towns distant
from their villages, the social fabric has
still not been rent. At the head of the
village settlement are usually the Rajputs,
the warrior race whose kings ruled, till
recently, over these lands. The Rajputs
served their kings, joining their armies,
and raising their cavalries, but an
attendant pursuit was as agriculturists.
Often, they employed labor to work on their
extensive fields, and kept cattle for dairy
produce: in fact, the cattle density in
Rajasthan is very high, and milk from desert
settlements is supplied to the large cities
close to the state, including Delhi.
The Rajput homes, therefore, came to be
the fulcrum around which village life
revolved. In their employ were the bards and
minstrels who sang their praises in verse
and song; tradesmen supplied them, and the
others in the community, with the goods
required for their daily lives, and this was
little, since they grew their grains on
their own lands; the potters and carpenters
were required for their services; and if the
village were large enough, there were also
ornament makers and cloth dyers and
printers. The priests of the Brahmin
families cast horoscopes, performed the
elaborate rituals of their festive
ceremonies, and served at the temples. |
