The goddess of the desert's ruling family
Every Charan home around Bikaner keeps her picture: a calm woman with a stick in her hand and a white kite bird circling above her. At the fair, you see that picture carried down the road by thousands of hands.
The legend says that when her son Lakshman drowned at Kolayat, Karni Mata declared that her family would never pass into the hands of Yama, the god of death, but would be reborn as kabas in her temple and then as Charans again. To pilgrims at Navratri, a kaba may be a great-grandmother or a cousin.
A Charan woman: the Charans were the bards, poets and genealogists of the Rajput courts, regarded by the Rajputs themselves as sacred.
Her birth: tradition says she was born in 1387 in the village of Suwap, near Phalodi, and named Ridhi Kanwar.
Facts to know
- When
- Chaitra Navratri, March or April, and Ashvin Navratri, September or October
- Where
- Deshnoke, about 30 km south of Bikaner
- Lasts
- The nine nights of Navratri
- Best day
- Dawn on the pilgrim road; busiest the first and eighth days
- Book by
- Three to four months ahead, earlier in spring
- Good for
- The curious about faith, photographers, early risers
- A holy woman: the stories of her childhood are full of miracles. She chose the life of a holy woman rather than a wife, tending cattle, settling disputes and guiding rulers across the desert.
- Deshnoke: around 1419, by tradition, she settled here and declared the land an oran, a sacred grove where no tree could be cut and no creature harmed.
- Not dead: she is said to have lived about a hundred and fifty years and disappeared into a flame in 1538. Devotees say she is still here.
- Kuldevi of the Rathores: she became the family goddess of the rulers of both Jodhpur and Bikaner.
- Founding blessings: tradition says she laid the foundation stone of Mehrangarh at Rao Jodha's request in 1459, and blessed the citadel of his son Rao Bika, who founded Bikaner in 1488.
- Royal gifts: Maharaja Ganga Singh gave her temple its marble facade and solid silver doors in the early twentieth century.
- Still honoured: royal weddings and family occasions in Bikaner still include a visit to Deshnoke.
- The kabas: the temple is famous for its rats, around 20,000 of them, whom the Charan families who serve it call kabas, the goddess's children.
- Read more: our guide to the Karni Mata Temple tells the full story and walks you through the building.
- The fair: twice a year, during the nine nights of Navratri, the festival of the goddess, this whole part of the desert turns towards Deshnoke.
- A homecoming: after 1947 the Charans' great shrine of Hinglaj, in the hills of Balochistan, became very hard to reach, and Deshnoke became their most important place of pilgrimage.
- For everyone else: for farmers, herders and townspeople of Bikaner, Nagaur and beyond, it is the season of the vow, the walk and the fulfilled promise.
When the fairs are held
Karni Mata has two fairs, as the goddess has two Navratris. Which one you choose changes the weather, the crowds and the mood.
Facts to know
- Calendar
- Lunar, from the first day of Navratri
- Moves
- Up to three weeks a year
- Spring fair
- Chaitra, late March or April, the larger
- Autumn fair
- Ashvin, late September or October
- Our pick
- Usually the autumn fair
- Dates
- We confirm them each year
- The start: both fairs begin with the first day of Navratri, the day after a new moon.
- Why we confirm: the dates move by up to three weeks from year to year, so we confirm them for each year before planning your days.
The spring fair, Chaitra Navratri
The larger fair: it falls in Chaitra, usually in late March or April, in some years beginning at the very end of March, and ends with Ram Navami.
- The heat: the desert is already warming, with days in the thirties, so we plan the temple and the road for early morning and rest in the afternoons.
- Its character: the greatest crowds and the longest walks.
The autumn fair, Ashvin Navratri
The timing: in Ashvin, late September or October, after the monsoon.
- The desert: often green with fresh grass, with the millet harvest coming in.
- Its character: slightly smaller crowds and pleasant nights, leading straight into Dussehra and the start of the travel season.
- Our view: for most of our guests, this is the better fair to see.
The walk to Deshnoke
Ask a pilgrim why she walks thirty kilometres when there is a bus, and she will look at you as if you had asked why she visits her mother in person.
The road at three in the morning, lit by stalls and full of singing, is one of the most moving sights we know in Rajasthan.
Who walks: many devotees walk the road from Bikaner, and some walk much further, from villages across the districts of Bikaner, Nagaur and Churu, over several days.
How they walk: in families and village groups, often through the night to avoid the heat. Some carry red and saffron flags for the goddess, and some walk barefoot.
Facts to know
- Bikaner to Deshnoke
- About thirty kilometres
- Walkers from
- Bikaner, Nagaur and Churu districts
- Roadside stalls
- Bhandaras, free food and tea
- Oran parikrama
- About forty-two kilometres
- Trees of the oran
- Khejri and jal
- The vow: many have made a mannat, walking in thanks for a prayer answered: a child born, an illness healed, a son safely home from the army.
- Bhandaras: families, businesses and village associations set up stalls and tents offering free water, tea, food and a place to rest, with devotional songs from loudspeakers.
- Care on the road: doctors and volunteers set up first-aid tents, and police direct traffic away from the walkers.
- The oran parikrama: thousands walk this sacred circuit around Deshnoke and its protected grove, the land Karni Mata declared sacred six hundred years ago.
- A desert woodland: the oran is one of the old community-protected woodlands of the Thar, sheltering khejri and jal trees, birds, blackbuck and chinkara.
- Why walk it: to honour both the goddess and the land she protected.
- Read more: our page on the Bishnoi villages explores the desert's own tradition of conservation.
The fair at Deshnoke
By sunrise on the busiest days, the little town of Deshnoke has more people in it than it holds the rest of the year. The square outside the temple becomes a bazaar, a kitchen and a camp all at once.
The temple and the queue
Before dawn: queues stretch from the marble facade into the square, each pilgrim carrying coconuts, sweets, red cloth or a small offering of silver.
- Inside: the kabas gather round great bowls of milk and grain, and the Charan families who serve the temple keep the worship, the feeding and the crowds moving all day.
- Be warned: on the busiest mornings the temple can be very hard to enter, and the press at the doors is real.
Offerings and prasad
What is offered: coconuts, sweets, ghee and money, with prasad given in return. Some bring silver figures of rats to fulfil a vow.
- The sweet shops: they work round the clock, frying and boiling milk sweets for offerings and the walkers' breakfasts.
- Blessed by the kabas: prasad they have nibbled is considered especially blessed. No one expects you to eat it, and no one is offended if you politely decline.
The market
- What it sells: pictures and small images of the goddess, red and gold cloth, bangles, toys, steel pots, puja supplies, sweets, snacks and souvenirs.
- Who it is for: the people of the desert, not visitors, which is exactly why we love it.
Songs and stories
Late into the night: groups sing devotional songs of the goddess in the shade of the rest houses and under canopies.
- Charan elders: they tell her stories to children, in old Marwari verses sung about Karni Mata for centuries.
- Ask for a translation: the stories are often funny as well as holy.
The shrines of her life
- Around Deshnoke: smaller shrines connected with her life, among them the Nehriji temple, which pilgrims visit during their stay.
- Why go: busier than usual during the fair, but calmer than the main temple, and a way to understand the goddess as a woman who lived in this landscape.
How we see the fair, hour by hour
The fair is crowded, and the temple on its busiest mornings is not the place to push forward. So we see it as a thoughtful local would: the road in the dark, the town at dawn, the temple on a quieter day.
Facts to know
- Before dawn
- The pilgrim road, tea at a bhandara
- Sunrise
- Walk into Deshnoke
- Early morning
- The square and the market
- Mid-morning
- Part of the oran circuit
- Late morning
- Back to Bikaner to rest
- Another day
- The temple at a quiet dawn
Before dawn, the road
- Set out in the dark: from Bikaner with a flask of tea, driving slowly south.
- The story: your guide tells of Karni Mata as the sky turns grey and then gold over the millet fields.
Sunrise, the edge of the town
- Arrive on foot: we walk into Deshnoke from its edge with the last of the night's pilgrims.
- The square: full, with bells ringing and sweet shops lighting their stoves.
Early morning, the square and the market
Watch first: rather than join the longest queue, we watch pilgrims arrive at the facade and touch their foreheads to the threshold.
- Then: walk the market, buy sweets as an offering and drink tea with the shopkeepers.
- The temple: if the queue is manageable, your guide takes you in. If not, we return another day.
Mid-morning, the oran
- The sacred grove: drive along part of the oran circuit to see the walkers among the khejri trees.
- Wildlife: our naturalist points out the birds and, with luck, a blackbuck or chinkara in the distance.
Late morning, back to Bikaner
- Rest: a late breakfast, a bath and a long rest through the heat at your palace hotel.
- Afternoon: Junagarh Fort, whose ground the goddess is said to have blessed.
A quieter day, the temple
- At dawn: before or after the busiest days, for an unhurried visit.
- What you see: the courtyard, the silver doors and perhaps a white kaba, and you understand what the crowds came for.
Local tip
Stop at a bhandara before dawn and share a cup of tea with the walkers. That hour on the road, more than any other, shows you what the fair means.
What the pilgrims eat, and what we eat after
Bikaner is one of the great snack cities of India, and during the fair it feeds a desert on the move.
Free on the road: at the bhandaras, volunteers ladle out puri with potato curry, kadhi, sweet halwa and endless tea, and walkers eat on durries by the roadside.
Fasting food: because it is Navratri, many pilgrims fast, so you will see sago, potatoes, fruit and roasted makhana, the puffed seeds of the fox nut.
- How to accept: with your right hand, and thank the cook. It is one of the most generous meals you will eat in India.
- In the square: the sweet shops fry and boil through the night, with fresh milk sweets made for offerings.
- Bhujia: back in Bikaner, the fine, crisp noodles of moth bean and gram flour flavoured with spice, made in the city for well over a century.
- A protected name: Bikaneri bhujia carries a Geographical Indication tag.
- More to try: Bikaner's rasgullas, kachoris and milk sweets are just as loved.
- Read more: our food and royal kitchens page and the Rajasthani food guide cover the wider table of the desert.
Local tip
At dawn in Deshnoke's square, try a glass of hot, sweetened milk thick with cream from a sweet shop that has been boiling it all night.
Etiquette and respect at the fair
The fair is an act of devotion by thousands of ordinary families. Visitors are welcome, as guests at someone else's prayer.
A temple first: and a famous sight second. Treat the kabas, the priests and the pilgrims with the same respect.
Shoes off: at the entrance. Bring thick cotton socks you are happy to throw away, and wash your hands and feet afterwards.
Shuffle, don't stride: slide your feet so you never step on a kaba, and never kick, push or chase one.
- Dress modestly: shoulders and knees covered. A scarf over your head in the sanctum is a respectful gesture. Our temple etiquette guide has more.
- Photography: never photograph people at prayer without permission, keep your flash off, and ask first, because customs inside the temple change.
- The queue: don't push in or ask to be taken to the front. If the crowd is too great, come back another day.
- Hospitality: accept tea or food at a bhandara if offered. Refusing on the pilgrim road is unkind. A small donation is welcome but not expected.
- On the road: don't drive fast or use the horn near walkers. Many have walked all night.
- Know yourself: with a weakened immune system, open wounds on your feet or a real fear of rodents, enjoy the road, the square and the market rather than the temple. There is no shame in that.
How we plan around the Karni Mata Fair
The fair asks for flexibility. The goddess keeps lunar time, the crowds keep their own, and the best plan leaves room for both.
How long: at least two nights in Bikaner, and three to see the temple on a quieter day as well.
Choosing days: once we know your travel window we check the lunar calendar and suggest the right days.
Facts to know
- Nights in Bikaner
- Two, or three for a quiet temple visit
- Busiest days
- The first and eighth of Navratri
- Book autumn fair
- Three to four months ahead
- Book spring fair
- A little earlier
- Bring
- Hat, sunglasses, scarf, water, socks
- Full hotels: Bikaner's palace hotels fill during the fairs with pilgrims' families, wedding parties and travellers, and the Ashvin fair often coincides with the start of the travel season.
- On the way: Deshnoke lies on the main road south towards Nagaur and Jodhpur, so the fair fits neatly into a journey between the two cities.
- Spring heat: the desert can be hot by late morning, so we plan everything for the first hours of the day.
- Autumn warmth: kinder weather, but early October can still be warm.
- For the temple: bring socks, wet wipes and hand gel for afterwards, and small notes for offerings.
- Tell us: if you have mobility issues or dislike crowds, and we will plan the day around them.
Where to stay for the fair
There are no luxury hotels in Deshnoke, and you don't need one. Bikaner's palaces are less than an hour away, and one of them was built by the maharaja who restored the temple.
Laxmi Niwas Palace
- What it is: part of the Lalgarh complex built by Maharaja Ganga Singh, the ruler who gave the temple its marble facade and silver doors.
- Why choose it: carved red sandstone and grand rooms, a fitting base for the fair.
Narendra Bhawan
- What it is: the last home of Bikaner's last maharaja, Narendra Singh, reimagined as a playful, stylish hotel.
- Who it suits: Narendra Bhawan is for guests who want character and good food after a dawn on the pilgrim road.
Bhanwar Niwas
- What it is: a merchant's haveli in the old city, built by the Rampuria family.
- Why choose it: Bhanwar Niwas puts you in the lanes of Bikaner, close to the havelis and the bazaar.
Khimsar Fort, on the road south
- Moving on: if you continue to Jodhpur after the fair, the fort hotel at Khimsar, on the road via Nagaur, makes a comfortable next night.
- Compare: our guide to luxury hotels in Bikaner covers all the options.
What to combine with the fair
The Karni Mata Fair sits in the heart of the northern desert. These are the places and festivals that complete it.
Bikaner itself
The royal story: the forts and havelis of Bikaner, Junagarh above all, show you the family whose devotion built the temple.
- Lalgarh: Lalgarh Palace, Ganga Singh's great red sandstone residence, completes the story.
- Pacing: our Bikaner itinerary shows how we plan the days.
Kolayat, where the legend began
- Where: about fifty kilometres from Bikaner, where the legend says Karni Mata's son drowned in the sacred lake of Kapil Sarovar.
- When: its ghats and temples are lovely at dawn, and at the full moon of Kartik, in October or November, they host a great bathing fair.
The desert triangle
- A natural stop: Deshnoke sits on the road between Bikaner and Jodhpur, on our desert triangle journey of Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Bikaner.
Navratri and Dussehra across Rajasthan
- The wider season: the autumn fair is part of Navratri across the state.
- In Jodhpur: pair it with the Chamunda temple at Mehrangarh, and stay on for Dussehra and the folk festival at Mehrangarh around the Sharad Purnima full moon.
Winter in the north
- Come back in January: for the Bikaner Camel Festival.
- Or in winter: for the Nagaur Cattle Fair and the blackbuck of Tal Chhapar.
Who will love the Karni Mata Fair
We bring many guests to Bikaner, but only some to the fair, and we always ask first.
Faith in the desert: you will love it if you are curious about how faith is lived here, enjoy early mornings and long conversations, and prefer a festival of the people to one for visitors.
Photographers: they find the pilgrim road at dawn extraordinary, if they ask permission and keep a respectful distance.
Facts to know
- Loves it
- The curious about lived faith
- Also
- Early risers, patient photographers
- Think twice
- Crowd-averse, uneasy around animals
- Alternative
- Deshnoke on an ordinary morning
- It all makes sense: travellers who have seen the temple on a quiet day often say watching the walkers arrive explained the whole place.
- May not suit: those troubled by crowds, distressed by animals underfoot, or wanting the temple at its busiest hour.
- The alternative: come to Deshnoke on an ordinary morning, when the temple is calm and the kabas are busy with their milk.
- Read more: our page on ethical animal encounters explains how we think about animals in sacred places, and our Navratri guide suggests other goddess temples for the festival.