Shopping in Rajasthan

Rajasthan is a treasure trove for the traditional art lovers perhaps more than any other state in India. Rajasthan is known for its traditional art and crafts all over the world. These unique art and crafts have captivated the heart of people of the entire world for many decades. The royalty of Rajasthan is present in every aspect of its art and craft like murals, paintings, wood craft and the multi-coloured tie and dye garments. The beautifully accomplished art and crafts are admired and preserved not only by the local people, but also popular among the tourists. Every year, millions of travellers travel to Rajasthan, just to purchase the unique range of art and crafts. Today, Rajasthan has earned a immense popularity, due to its rich handicrafts, which is also a striking part of the Rajasthan culture. Rajasthan is also popularly known as the Shopper’s paradise. Here, the tourists can buy the tie-and-dye fabrics in vibrant colours, block printing, embroidery, wooden furniture, carpets, blue potteries and mirror work in some of the famous cities of Rajasthan. Other famous handicrafts comprises of Bagaru prints, Sanganer prints, fine block printed textiles, Meenakari work, Rajasthani Jooties, wood and ivory carvings, tattoos, lacquer and filigree work, delicately cut precious stones, semi precious stones, traditional paintings, Kota-doria and lahriya sarees, murals and exquisite enameled jewelleries. Wood, metal and Stone are used by today’s craftsmen to create decorative and utility items that shoppers often find irresistible.

originated locally. The advantage for the local people of many states and regions was that their areas was on the trade route to central Asia and the contact with the traders made possible to know about the arts flourishing in the other parts of the world. There was such a hunger to learn the new arts that even the master artists were kidnapped if they did not agree to teach their talent. Kings used to honor good artists by gifting them the gold coins on their achievements. The Mughals also added a rich flavor to the arts of Rajasthan. It would not be wrong to say that Rajputs and Mughals, both profited from each other, brought new ideas and so were the hybrid highlights of this era including Taj Mahal which benefited every participant. Using colours in the desert of Rajasthan has its own significance. May this be veils (Odhnies) of the women, or turban of man – by the colour and the way they are worn one can make out which area this people locate from and which status these people may have (royals, farmers, warriors, traders) – something which is complicated to understand for the people not from Rajasthan.

The delightful and colorful rural bazaars of Rajasthan still have the distinct easy going atmosphere, typical of the medieval times. Nothing much seems to have changed till today not even the commodities in the market. Fairs and festivals in Rajasthan provides an opportunity to people from far areas to gather at a single place and shop for the essential commodities. One can buy from these haats the exotic trinkets, beads, lac bangles, old tribal silver jewellery, a range of handicraft items, fabric items, utensils and animals as well. In the olden days, the bazaars were divided according to different products. Now although a few stray shops have come up, but still the tradition is same. For example in one place there are shops of jewellery, in other place there are shops of utensils and in other place there are shops of fabric items. Walking through the bazaars of Rajasthan which are filled with a vast choice of articles is an amazing experience. Some of the highlights should not be missed. Some of them are : silver ornaments sold by kilos, buying handful semi-precious and precious stones from the local people in many of the local markets, having a look at some of the hand-block printed fabrics piled up in shops, Feeling amazing collections of light waited quilts – are just a few examples to be mentioned of the medieval bazaar of Rajasthan.

Cities in Rajasthan famous for Shopping

(Betel nuts), Jooties (traditional Indian shoes with Rajasthani embroidery, embroidered hand-bags and fabrics, popular lahariya saris and other saris, leather goods, furniture. Jaipuri quilts have become very famous as they are light in weight and give you the real warmness for being so low weighted – in addition to that they have the covers in tie-and-dye patterns and even the quilt covers are available in large verities and can be changed easily. But the Highlights of Jaipur markets are Jewelry and Gem stones. Jaipur enjoys the reputation of being one of the biggest centre of the world when it comes to cutting and polishing the rough stones. Roughs stones are brought from within and out of India and are cut and polished manually. A considerable number of the local population of Jaipur is employed in the filed of gemstones and jewelry making. With the modernization there have been the finest setups of factories in and around Jaipur producing high quality of silver and gold Jewelry being sold in the local market and exported as well all over the world.

Udaipur
Udaipur is the second main city ideal for shopping after Jaipur. Udaipur also has many shopping arcades. Some of them are Bapu Bazaar, Khadi Gram Udyog, Kala Niketan, Clock Tower and Hathipol, from where you can buy the famous ready made textiles, jewelleries, local bheels images, Rajasthani jootis, Rajasthani silver articles, block printed bedspreads, wooden and camel souvenirs, handicrafts, Enamel artifacts and the popular lahariya and other saris. Locally dyed fabrics and textiles, embroideries, wooden toys, white metal objects as well as articles made of soap stones, especially the images of the God and Goddesses and miniature paintings are famous among the famous articles of Udaipur. The Shilpgram is a popular craft village, which is about 3 kms from Udaipur and famous for unique collection of handicrafts, weaving, embroidery and mirror work.

Jodhpur
From Jodhpur, you can buy tie and dye saris, handicrafts, textiles, leather goods, embroidered shoes and utensils. Jodhpur is also famous for the wooden articles. Wooden Chairs or any kind of new and old wooden furniture is available here. Jodhpur also fulfills the need of wooden toys for the whole state of Rajasthan. However one has to take care while so called antique furniture that it may not be as old as it looks as there has been aggressive techniques to make the new look old – as long you know the truth, this is a good buy for reasonable amount of money and if it is really an antique you need to ask for the related papers as you may not be able to take the articles otherwise out of the country. Another attraction what Jodhpur has to offer is the polo dresses. Jodhpuri people claim that Polo dress was discovered here only and later adopted by the English and is a standard today among the polo players.

Shekhawati
In Shekhawati, you can buy the unique art and crafts. Shekhawati is famous and associated with the low-legged Shekhawati chairs. This kind of chairs were used widely in the olden Royal days by the local rich people. The Shekhawati region is known for its wood carving, metal utensils, made-as-old furniture as well as for tie dye fabrics. From Shekhawati, you can buy the Shekhawati painting, murals, souvenirs, furniture, chairs, cradles, and tie-dye fabrics. Mukundgarh is known for beautiful textiles, brass and iron scissors whereas Mandawa is known for bangles and fabrics.

of the main shopping areas in Bikaner are Kot Gate, King Edward Memorial Road and Station Road, from where you can buy souvenirs and handcrafted items.

Jaisalmer
Jaisalmer is another preferred tourist city for art and crafts. There are scores of narrow lanes shops in its bustling markets, which still retain a medieval charm. In Jaisalmer, you can buy Rajasthani mirror work, wooden ornaments, rugs, blankets, antiques and old stonework, colorful handcrafted items, bandhini fabrics (tie and dye), silver jewelleries, puppets, Rajasthani jooties, woven jackets, leather items. In Jaisalmer, you can also buy the wall hangings. Wall hangings are made from pieces of old clothing, with mirror work and intricately embroidered fabric. These hangings ranges from small cushion-sized squares to bedspread-sized pieces. Jaisalmer is famous for its wooden boxes with its interesting patterns and motifs. Fabrics and textiles with embroidery has made Jaisalmer famous though most of the products originally come from Barmer and surrounding villages.

Mount Abu
Mount Abu is an enchanting hill resort for shopping. From here you can take back home the variety of Rajasthani fabrics, Kota saris, linen with Sanganeri prints, lightweight Jaipuri quilt, metal, stone, marble and wooden curios, handicrafts, Textiles, Jewellery. Some of the popular areas for buying art and crafts in Mount Abu are Nakki Lake, Khadi Bhandar, Kashmir Cottage emporium.

Barmer
Barmer is famous for Vibrant embroideries, woolen durries, and stone carvings. Sadar Bazaar is the famous local markets. However as Barmer is not visited by most of the tourists coming to Rajasthan so you may not find the products in the local markets as the stitching and embroideries work take place in the family atmosphere in the villages of Barmer.

Chittorgarh
Chittorgarh is Known for its wooden painted toys made by the families in the houses of surrounding villages. A “thewa” gold jewellery in its own distinctive style has also made Chittorgarh known. Leather Jutties made in Chittorgarh are also famous in Rajasthan.

Kota
Kota has become famous for its small checked-weave cotton Sarees called Kota Doriyas. The Sarees with light floral prints are specially high in demand. The saree is the traditional dress for Indian women in many sates of India. A Saree is a piece of fabric (could be cotton, polyester, silk with or without a work on it) has a length if 5-6 yards in width. A saree is worn with a petticoat (a kind of under skirt) of a similar shade (so that the colours of Saree and the underskirt are matched and do not reflect while in sunlight and is no more transparent). What you in addition need is a matching or contrasting blouse or choli (upper part of the Saree, available in different designs and works, choli is a typical kind of Blouse, mostly of bright colours, used in Rajasthan. The saree is in general wrapped three times around the under skirt (Paticoat) with the inner end tucked on the right side and wrapped around the front to the back, pleated in the front on the second wrap and ending with the extensively embroidered or printed end (also known as pallau) draped over the left shoulder. A saree alone can be considered as a dress. It is just fabric which is draped in a particular way according to the custom and style of the particular place or state of India.

produced during the whole year. Now due to interest of the tourists in the huge gathering and cattle markets (main attractions are and remain camels) there are many products being offered for the tourists only. To mention some of the products which one should really look for while being in Pushkar are utensils, terracotta pots, camel saddles, bangles and agriculture products of wide range. It is also interesting to see the villagers negotiating and buying all possible products of their daily life.