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spotted from
highways to which they are usually connected by narrow roads.
From the distance, old, large trees and cows, buffaloes,
sheep, goats, camels, and other domestic animals can be seen.
Villages are often located near village ponds or talabs that
provide the source of water for cattle, people and irrigation.
Most of the houses in the villages are connected to each other
through a network of winding, kuchcha lanes. The principal
road, which may or may not be metallic, usually ends at some
central point of the village. The typical village home has a
compound marked by mud walls or tree branches, and is entered
through a gateway that leads to the open courtyard where men
meet, and cattle may be seen. The doors of the houses open on
to the road, and on both sides of the door there are small
chabutras or platforms where people sit, children play, and
women discuss the day-to-day matters that affect their lives.
Village communities tend to live in joint families due to
their work of agricultural ploughing, irrigation, harvesting,
selling. For organizing weddings, death rituals, betrothal and
other festive ceremonies, people stay in touch, visit other
villages, convey messages, and discuss daily matters. More....
People of Rural Rajasthan
The villagers of Rural Rajasthan are friendly and helpful, but
wary of strangers. Men and women never mix or talk in public
except for business. Amusements for the people are in plenty
but are enjoyed in segregated groups. In temples, small
fortress, or at tea shops, the people sit and exchange
information, or merely pass time. On the occasion of a baby’s
arrival, a betrothal, or a wedding, women gather in groups,
dress beautifully and sing in a chorus for hours, with the
accompaniment of the dholak (small drum). Almost all villagers
in the rural Rajasthan are multi-caste. Traditionally, there
is one or few families of the Rajput caste who usually have
larger land holdings. They hold agriculture land and employ
workers from other caste groups. A few Brahmin families in the
village supervise ritual activities, work as priests in
temples, give information about fasts and festivals, and
regulate the local calendar of festivals and social
activities. The priest chart the auspicious day and time for
beginning a new venture at home or in the field. The Brahmin
priests are also the village astrologers. Kumbhars make
earthen pots and serve the needs of their village. Carpenters
are required for making and maintaining agricultural
implements. Various craftsmen, puppeteers, singers, dancers,
drum beaters, record-keepers, dyers, printers and other
serving caste are also there in the village. Child marriages
are quite common and mass marriages take place on auspicious
occasions. The brides and grooms are often toddlers, and ride
in a wedding procession on horseback or camelback under the
watchful gaze of guardians.
Folk people or Tribes of Rural Rajasthan
Nomads constitute about seven per cent of the population of
Rajasthan, and out of these, about one or two per cent are
non-pastoral or service nomads who comprise about two to three
hundred tribal groups with occupations like embroidery,
needlework, epic narrators, medicine sellers, fortune-tellers,
artisans, genealogists, dancers, singers, and hunters. Such
nomads visit villages in regular cycles to provide each
community with their services. Non-pastoral nomads offer more
specialized goods and services than any other culture area as
in Rajasthan, villages are located at greater distances from
each other. At harvest time, various nomads visit villages for
providing important services. Members of many families move to
other villages or urban cities to earn a living. The Rao-Bhats
are family record keepers, and usually maintain the records
for a number of neighboring villages, on account of which they
need to travel frequently. There are also mobile or gypsy
castes who inhabit villages for specific period of time,
providing a service while they camp there. The Gadia Lohars,
are ironsmiths who live and travel in their own bullock carts,
making and mending iron implements for their livelihood. The
Kalbeliya families also move between villages, camping in
family groups wherever they stop for a few days. The Jats,
Gujars, Yadavs and some other castes depend entirely on
agriculture. There are traditional caste families who work on
leather, weave cloth, grow vegetables, make ornaments, prepare
sweets, clean the village. More....
Clothes of People in Rural Rajasthan
The colorful head-wear (pugdi or turban) of men and the gaudy
dresses of women provide a wonderful contrast to the bleak
environs of the state of Rajasthan. In Rural Rajasthan, the
rural women usually cover their faces with a red or yellow
colour odhni or dupatta and wear thick, full-length ghaghara
or skirt of the dark colour such as deep green or dark blue
with innumerable pleats and a blouse with colorful designs.
They adorn themselves with the heavy jewellery, earrings,
bracelets and rings made mainly of silver, which tinkles and
jingles when they grind grain, pound spices or draw water. The
ornaments are representative of certain social groups. The
higher the caste group, the lighter its use of dress (material
and colours) and ornaments. At the highest scale, fine fabrics
and ornaments made of gold are preferred. But in rural areas,
silver ornaments are preferred. Silver jewellery is usually
heavier and uses intricate, ethnic designs. Traditional
patterns are used for making necklaces, earrings, bangles and
anklets. Rings are worn on fingers and on toes. A newly
married woman wear the boron on her head all times, while the
kankati or waist-belt, and bangles of lac and glass continue
to enjoy vast patronage. Weddings, the birth of children, and
festivals are great opportunities to find women dressed in
their finery.
Music and Dance in Rural Rajasthan
Music is the lifeblood of village life in Rural Rajasthan.
Songs are sung on various occasions like childbirth, marriage,
festivals, and during their work in fields, or at home, when
they take their cattle to the pasture, or when they walk for
long distances. Through music, traditions are expressed and
social systems are strengthened. No festival is complete
without music. Bhajans or devotional songs are also sung. On
various family rituals, neighbors and relatives are invited to
sing, especially at the time of Ratijaga, a ritual when women
have to stay awake through the night, singing songs devoted to
their ancestors and deities. Villagers also welcome and bid
adieu to their guests with songs. Dancing, too, is part of
community culture in Rural Rajasthan. In village life, group
dances are preferred, and men and women dance in separate
groups. In traditional villages, the professional castes are
employed for the purpose of singing and dancing for their
patrons. One or more Dholi, the drum beater caste is attached
with a village. This family has rights and obligations to
serve the village with drum beating and singing. Mirasi, Langa,
Dadhi, Kalavant, Bhat, and Rao are various castes who sing,
dance and maintain family records of their patron castes. Some
of the folk musical instruments are often simple and even
improvised from kitchen utensils like the thali or metal
platter, katori or metal bowls, cups, fire tongs and the
earthenware pot. The other instruments are jantar, ravanhatha,
tandoora, ektara, bhapang, kamaycha, while flutes, pungi-the
snake charmers' flutes, and dhols, dholaks, nagaras and changs
(all drums) are popular with folk musicians. Ravanahatta, a
stringed instrument, is played with a bow and is a forerunner
of the western violin. Some of the musicians roam villages
singing songs about the adventures of ancient Rajput heroes.
These wandering minstrels are known as Bhats.
Religion in Rural Rajasthan
In Rural Rajasthan, each village has its own deities (devtas)
with shrines (devata sthans) where the villagers go to pay
obeisance. In the summers, when most of the land has a parched
and barren look, such religious spots are characterised by a
denser greenery and a small pond for bathing, cooking and
picnicking. These spots also provide shelter for small animals
and birds. Most of the shrines are located near the source of
water since cleansing of oneself is a necessary part of the
ritual of worship. Pathwari, the goddess of the path, is found
in almost all villages in the form of a small earthen or stone
square structure which is worshipped whenever a person
undertakes a pilgrimage. There are other mother goddesses
before whom the villagers pray for shelter, nourishment and
protection from disease. The Bhairuji is a powerful deity who
looks after the interests of the people of the village.
Bhairuji's shrines are rarely in the form of a temple, and
only a stone platform is there. Sagasji is another local deity
who offers protection to harvests and animal life. Generally,
Sagasji is propitiated on the boundary of a farm, or near an
irrigation well. Regional heroes such as Deo-Narayanji, Gogaji,
Tejaji and Ramdevji are worshipped in villages. Some other
gods which are worshipped in the temples in Rural Rajasthan
include Lord Shiva, Krishna, Ram, Lord Ganesh and other
incarnations of Vishnu. In villages where Muslim families have
their homes, a mosque or a roadside shrine of Pir Baba can
also be found. In a cluster of villages, one deity is usually
more powerful or popular for a particular power or authority.
The shrines and trees are not only protected, but also
regarded as sacred groves.
Fairs and Festivals in Rural Rajasthan
Fairs and festivals lend vibrancy to village life in rural
Rajasthan. A large number of fairs are organized in rural
areas, and the rural population gather in large number to
attend such fairs. Such fairs have a mixed commercial and
religious aspect. For example, in the Pushkar fair, cattle and
camel trading is combined with the annual pilgrimage to the
Brahma temple and Pushkar lake for ritual bathing and worship.
Villagers use such opportunities for buying the things they do
not usually get in and around their villages. In the local
fairs, the villagers buy simple implements, tools, utensils
and jewellery. Women buy dresses, mirrors, utensils, printed
bed sheets, bangles and toys for children. Festivals are
celebrated as family or community events. During Gangaur
festival in the month of Chaitra (March-April), young
unmarried girls and those recently married visit gardens in
groups to bring flowers and water pitchers and worship Gangaur
or Gauri Mata, the mother goddess, for being blessed with an
ideal husband, or for the husband's well-being for about
fifteen days. Teej is celebrated in the rainy season, a
festival again for women, and linked with marital
celebrations. Amavasya, the dark night, is considered
inauspicious by villagers who neither buy nor sell anything on
that day. Craftsmen, milkmen, farmers and vegetable sellers do
not work on that day. On festivals such as Holi, Diwali and
Rakhi, rice and sweets are cooked as consecrated offerings for
the gods. The tradition of telling stories on those days when
people observe fasts is also popular in rural Rajasthan.
During such festivals, the women from the same neighborhood
tend to worship together, and recount tales related with the
fast. Remembering myths and history is one way of transmitting
culture from one generation to the next.
Cuisine of Rural Rajasthan
The cuisine of villagers in Rural Rajasthan consists of one or
two vegetables and rotis (breads) on which ghee (clarified
butter) is used. Rotis of wheat, maize, and millets (bajra)
are made. Rural cooking is a simple exercise, and done by the
women of the house. There are no sweet shops in the Villages,
and only milk and milk products like butter, buttermilk and
curds are consumed. Many communities are vegetarian, and in
most hamlets, these two frugal meals of Roti and Milk provide
their basic diet. Chai (tea) is prepared early in the morning,
and in the afternoon or evening, and whenever there are
visitors. It is usually strong, milky and very sweet.
Industries in Rural Rajasthan
In Rural Rajasthan, agriculture and allied industrial sectors
employ about 89.5% of the labour. Jowar and Bajra are
important food grains grown in Rajasthan. Some of the roads or
lanes are connected with the farms, and people are associated
with some form of agrarian activity. A few prosperous farmers
have substantial agricultural holdings to manage wells or
canals. The middle level agriculturists tend to work on their
own farms, while those whose holdings are small or not arable
enough find opportunities to work outside their farms.
Tractors, threshers and irrigation pumps have shortened the
manual work of most men on their lands. Most of the villagers
now have enough electricity to run irrigation pumps. Sheep
grazing is a common sight, and sometimes girls take up this
job. Wool, dyeing and hand-painting are the main industries.
Bandhani prints are the main example. Today, with improved
means of transportation, fresh vegetables have arrived at the
doorstep of even the most remote village which was even not
possible a decade ago.
Infrastructure of Rural Rajasthan
Agricultural activity is looked after and helped by government
departments. The cooperative banks provide loans and new
varieties of seeds, chemical fertilizers, medicines and
seedlings. Most of the villagers now have enough electricity
to run irrigation pumps. Drinking water facilities have been
created in almost all villages. Dispensaries and medicines are
not far off from villages. Roads have joined villages with
towns, and regular buses and other means of transport are
available. Television sets and radios are providing the basis
for more changes in rural life. Telephonic communications link
the smallest village with the world outside. Cinema and
newspapers are reaching across to them. But even as changes
are being brought about in their lifestyles, the villages
continue to be the heart and soul of Rajasthan.
Villages to Visit in Rural Rajasthan
There are many villages in Rajasthan which can be visited.
Some of these villages are located in the Shekhawati region,
around Jaisalmer, Udaipur and Bikaner. The villages of
Rajasthan are a classic way of exploring the arduous life of
Rajasthani folks who lives on the stubborn pulse of nature. If
you want to experience the true essence of Rajasthani village
life and that too from a close quarter, then you can stay in
the rugged huts of the village people and also enjoy their
unique lifestyle with delicious village cuisine. More.... |
