The Bhatis, guardians of the caravan road
Before Jaisalmer: the Bhatis' earlier capital was Lodurva, about 15 kilometres from the present town, where a rebuilt Jain temple still stands among the ruins.
The move to the ridge: Lodurva lay open on the plain. In 1156 Rawal Jaisal moved the court to Trikuta, the three-peaked hill, and began the fort that gave the city his name.
The old name: many families still call the region Maad. It survives in maand, the slow, ornamented style of Rajasthani singing that began in these courts.
- Earlier capital
- Lodurva, about 15 km away
- Jaisalmer founded
- 1156, by Rawal Jaisal
- Fort hill
- Trikuta, the three-peaked hill
- Border closed
- 1947, at Partition
- Longewala battle
- 1971
- Caravan riches: spices, silk, opium, salt and indigo crossed the Thar between Sindh, Gujarat and the north, and the Bhatis taxed every camel that passed.
- Sieges and jauhar: the chronicles tell of sieges and of jauhar, the ritual death of the women of a besieged fort.
- War and marriage: the ruling house alternately fought and married its neighbours.
- The merchants: many were Jain. They built temples inside the fort and, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the carved havelis below it.
- The trade dies: Bombay's rise as a port in the nineteenth century, then the closing of the Sindh border in 1947, cut Jaisalmer off from the routes that made it.
- The remote decades: for a while it was one of the most remote towns in India.
- Roads and soldiers: the 1971 war, fought at Longewala on the border, brought new roads and a large army presence.
- The film that brought travellers: Satyajit Ray's 1974 film Sonar Kella, the golden fortress, brought the first wave of Indian visitors. Tourism has been the town's trade ever since.
The deep Thar
The driest corner: rain falls on only a handful of days a year here, and some years hardly at all.
Gravel and scrub: much of the land is flat, dotted with khejri trees and ker bushes.
- The tall dunes: here, more than anywhere else in the state, are the shifting dunes people picture when they think of the Thar. The best known are at Sam and Khuri.
- The park: both lie on the edge of the Desert National Park.
- The great Indian bustard: called godawan here, a heavy, long-legged bird, critically endangered and Rajasthan's state bird.
- Among the dunes: chinkara gazelle, desert foxes and desert cats.
- Winter raptors: eagles, falcons and vultures hunt over the plains.
- Stone forest: near Akal, outside Jaisalmer, a small fossil park preserves fallen tree trunks turned to stone, a reminder that this was once forest.
Music, dress and the people of the dunes
The Manganiyars: Muslim hereditary musicians who have sung for generations for Hindu Rajput patron families, at births, weddings and festivals.
Their instruments: the kamaicha, bowed, with a round skin-covered belly, and the khartal, wooden clappers held in the fingers.
- The Langas: they traditionally sang for Muslim Sindhi Sipahi patrons, and are known for the Sindhi sarangi and the double flute.
- What they sing: desert lovers, warrior heroes and the rain. Our page on the Manganiyar singers introduces the families we work with.
- Women's dress: heavy ghaghras and odhnis in red, orange and indigo, with silver anklets and ivory-coloured bangles. Desert dress is bold because the land is not.
- Men's dress: white, with turbans in strong colours. Herders often carry a carved stick and a cloth bundle for the day.
- The Kalbelia: their women dance in swirling black skirts.
- Rabari and Raika: camel herders who know every waterhole in the district.
The places of Maad
Jaisalmer, the golden city
The fort: on Trikuta hill, ringed with 99 bastions and still home to a few thousand people, living among Jain temples, a palace and small guesthouses.
The old city: full of carved merchant havelis below the fort.
- Gadisar: the tank dug in the fourteenth century was the town's water supply for centuries.
- UNESCO: Jaisalmer Fort was inscribed in 2013.
- Allow: two nights in town and one in the desert.
Sam Sand Dunes
The tallest dunes: about an hour west of Jaisalmer, the most photographed in Rajasthan.
- Busy at sunset: the nearest dunes fill with camel rides, jeeps and loud camps, so we take guests to quieter ridges beyond.
- Safari base: on the edge of the Desert National Park, Sam is the base for most camel safaris in the cool months.
Khuri
A mud-walled village: about an hour south-west of Jaisalmer, with smaller, softer dunes nearby.
- Quieter than Sam: closer to village life, and our choice for families and anyone who wants to sit in the sand without a crowd.
- Camps: several small ones operate in the season.
- Compare them: our journal weighs up Sam and Khuri.
Kuldhara
The empty village: half an hour south-west of Jaisalmer, built by the Paliwal Brahmins, farmers and traders who lived here for centuries.
- The legend: in the early nineteenth century the Paliwals of Kuldhara and dozens of other villages left in a single night to escape a cruel minister, cursing the land.
- The scholars' view: drought or an earthquake instead.
- Best light: the roofless lanes are loveliest in the late afternoon.
Barmer
Not Bhati country: these were the Mallani lands of a Rathore branch, named after Rawal Mallinath, later part of Marwar.
- Why it is here: it shares the deep desert, its crafts and its music.
- Crafts: ajrakh printing, embroidery and carved wooden furniture.
- Kiradu: about 35 kilometres away, ruined eleventh and twelfth century shrines. The Someshvara temple is beautifully carved.
The Desert National Park
One of India's largest protected areas: dunes and gravel plains between Jaisalmer and Barmer.
- The bustard's last stronghold: the great Indian bustard survives here.
- How to visit: by jeep with a forest guide, early in the morning. It suits patient birders rather than people expecting big animals.
Inside the fort and among the havelis
A working town: Jaisalmer Fort is lived in, which makes it different from every other fort in Rajasthan.
The way up: its gates climb in a zigzag to the main square, where the palace of the Rawals faces the old parade ground.
- The Jain temples: behind the palace, carved inside and out with dancers, musicians and tirthankaras.
- Fragile stone: the yellow sandstone has worn soft, and the foundations have suffered as water use inside the walls has grown.
- Patwon ki Haveli: five houses built for a wealthy trading family in the early nineteenth century, the facade a screen of balconies and stone lace.
- Salim Singh ki Haveli: the prime minister's house, its curved roof held up by peacock-shaped brackets.
- Evening: walk down to Gadisar Lake.
- Sunset: drive out to the royal chhatris of Bada Bagh, where cenotaphs of the Bhati rulers stand on a ridge above an old garden.
What the desert eats
Ker sangri: the dish of Maad. Small sour ker berries and long khejri beans, sun-dried and cooked with spices, mango powder and oil.
Panchkuta: adds three more desert ingredients to make five.
- Bajre ki roti: thick millet bread, often with a lump of white butter and a garlic chutney.
- Buttermilk and kadhi: buttermilk is drunk with everything, and kadhi, a yoghurt curry thickened with gram flour, appears at nearly every meal.
- Rajput kitchens: game-style mutton dishes and laal maas.
- Wedding sweets: made of ghee, sugar and gram flour.
- Camp dinners: usually cooked over wood, with bread baked in the coals.
- Where to eat: our food of Jaisalmer guide lists the places we trust, and our journal explains ker sangri properly.
Crafts of the desert
Embroidery: the great craft of the region. Each community has its own stitches, mirror-work and colours.
Rallis: patchwork quilts stitched from scraps of old cloth into bold geometric patterns.
- Ajrakh: Barmer's resist-printed cloth in deep red and indigo, with intricate geometric designs.
- Wood: carved chests and furniture, also from Barmer.
- Wool: shawls and blankets woven in the villages for cold desert nights.
- Stone: in Jaisalmer, carvers still cut yellow sandstone into jali screens and brackets for new buildings in the old style.
- Leather: camel-leather bags and slippers.
- How to tell old from new: our textile shopping page explains.
Festivals of the desert
- Desert Festival
- Three days to the Magh full moon
- Its months
- January or February
- Thar Festival
- Barmer, each March
- Diwali
- October or November
The Jaisalmer Desert Festival
When: three days ending on the full moon of Magh, in January or February.
- What happens: camel races and polo, turban-tying and moustache contests, folk music and dance, and a final evening on the dunes at Sam.
- Book early: the town fills up.
The Thar Festival in Barmer
A small festival: folk music, dance and crafts, held in Barmer each March.
- Tilwara: a cattle fair nearby in the same season.
- Why go: the district's music in its own setting.
Diwali and the winter weddings
- Diwali: in October or November the fort and havelis are lit with lamps.
- Wedding season: follows straight after. If you're invited to a desert wedding, go. You'll hear the Manganiyars at their best.
Where to stay in Maad
Suryagarh: outside Jaisalmer, a fort built in the traditional style in the twenty-first century, with courtyards, a pool and its own musicians.
The Serai: a luxury tented camp on a private desert estate, with stone-walled tents and a great deal of quiet.
- A night on the dunes: our guide to luxury desert camps lists the camps we use.
- What to expect: our journal on a night in a desert camp.
- In town: the best stays are a handful of restored havelis.
- Not inside the fort: we avoid booking rooms there, to spare its drains and foundations.
- The night sky: see our page on stargazing in the Thar.
How we'd travel Maad
By road from Jodhpur: about five hours, often with a night at Manvar on the way.
From Bikaner: five to six hours across the desert.
Flights: Jaisalmer's airport has had flights mainly in the winter season, so we check each year.
- From Jodhpur
- About five hours by road
- From Bikaner
- Five to six hours
- Sam
- About an hour west
- Khuri
- About an hour south-west
- Kuldhara
- About half an hour
- Barmer
- About three hours south
- The shape we suggest: two nights in town and one or two on the dunes. Our Under the Thar Sky journey is built around it.
- Stops on the way: our journal on the Jodhpur to Jaisalmer route.
- Kuldhara: fits neatly into the drive to Khuri.
- Kiradu: a short drive from Barmer.
- Trains: overnight and day trains link Jaisalmer with Jodhpur, Jaipur and Delhi.
- The border: the war memorial at Longewala and the Tanot temple make a long day trip.
When to come to the desert
Winter: warm, bright days and cold nights, often near freezing on the dunes in December and January. Camps light fires and lay quilts on every bed.
The shoulder months: October and March are pleasant but warmer.
- Best months
- November to February
- Pleasant but warmer
- October and March
- Coldest nights
- December and January
- Avoid
- April to June
- Festival and birds: the Desert Festival falls in January or February, and winter brings migrant birds to the Desert National Park.
- Summer: from April to June the heat is extreme, often well above 40°C, and dust storms are common.
- Monsoon: only a little rain, but the desert grasses turn briefly green and the town is very quiet.
- Month by month: our best time to visit Jaisalmer guide.
Three days in Maad, the way we'd spend them
Day one, the fort and the old town
Morning: walk up into the fort as the town wakes, visit the Jain temples and the palace museum, then take tea on a rooftop with the desert below.
- Afternoon: after lunch and a rest, wander the haveli lanes with a guide who knows the families.
- Evening: Gadisar Lake as the light goes gold on its pavilions and ghats.
Day two, ruins and dunes
Morning: the royal chhatris of Bada Bagh, then the Jain temple at Lodurva.
- Afternoon: the empty lanes of Kuldhara, then on to a camp near Khuri or the quiet dunes beyond Sam.
- Evening: sunset from the top of a dune, and dinner by the fire while Manganiyar musicians play.
Day three, the desert at dawn
- Dawn: a camel walk, or a jeep drive with a forest guide into the Desert National Park for chinkara, desert foxes and, with luck, the great Indian bustard.
- Then: breakfast on the sand, and a slow lunch in Jaisalmer before driving on to Jodhpur or Bikaner.
With more time
Add the south: Barmer and the Kiradu temples.
- Add the border: a day to Longewala.
- More versions: our Jaisalmer itinerary.
What we tell friends going to the desert
Pack for dust and cold: a warm layer, a scarf for the dust and good sunglasses, even in winter.
Choose your camel man: pick a handler who treats his animal well, and walk if the camel looks tired. Our page on camel safaris explains what to look for.
- Skip dune-bashing: the jeep rides scar the dunes and frighten the wildlife.
- People live in the fort: ask before photographing doorways and families.
- Tip musicians directly: carry small notes and give them after a performance you enjoyed.
- One evening without a screen: sit on a dune and watch the stars come out. That's the real Thar.