Religion
So many gods…
Rajasthan is dominantly hindu, but there are several possibilities, to visit other religious places and communities. And Rajasthan wouldn’t be typical indian, if there wouldn’t be also very special places/temples, which we think are a lot more to discover than what we have mentioned here. And thirdly there is also superstition, which influences in some areas the daily life. Best to ask your guide about these.
For Hinduism a most special place is Pushkar with it’s holy lake, surrounded by 52 bathing ghats. There you can observe many hindus doing their rituals or also have a puja for yourself doen by a priest.
Most exciting is a visit of an active Village-Temple, which we can include in your itinerary.
The biggest centre of Islam is in Ajmer with its impressive mosque. But also in Jodhpur you can hear the muezzin calling early morning through the old town.
Same in Jodhpur there is a protestant-methodist community with approx. 500 members, who go to church every sunday morning at 9:00 am. You are very welcome to join! Also in Bikaner there is a church to visit. The christian population here is about 5 %.
The centres of Jainism are in Mt. Abu and in Ranakpur. In Ranakpur iyou can see the most impressive temple – many smaller temples are in several places in Rajasthan.
Regarding the “special places” we can offer the following:
– rat-temple Karni Mata in Deshnoke (nearby Bikaner)
– exorcism-temple in Balaji (between Agra and Jaipur)
– Bullet Baba Temple nearby Rohet (there a Bullet Enfield is said to have spiritual power)
– Amaj Mata Tempel with a kind of Oracle (nearby Kumbalgarh)
Most known of the folk-religions is the one of the Bishnoi, becoming famous due to a tree-hugging-campaign in 1730, protesting against the cutting of trees and prefering to die then to stop the fight.