The Fort had its own temple and Linda, our guide, and I went inside though it was quite crowded and hard to see what was happening in the chamber in the front of the room. Before going in we had to remove shoes and belts to avoid bringing leather into the temple. Also, unfortunately, no cameras. Randal remained outside in his shoes and held the cameras. At one point the curtain in front of the small chamber was closed and some very loud bells were rung and drums banged while “the gods were eating their meal.” Then there were more bells rung and drums banged encouraging everyone to leave. That’s how I remember it anyway. Around the opening to the chamber were carved and painted huge green banana leaves and bunches of bananas. Quite lovely. Inside was a lot of red something. Not a very accurate description but you can Google Shila Devi Temple to learn more.

There were many different levels and sections within the Fort and we walked up and down and around.

Looks like a scene from the Arabian nights….

The Raja had many wives and each had her own set of rooms and separate entrances so they didn’t have to interact with each other.

Individual rooms for the various wives and members of the harem were built along the perimeter and the center area was where they could meet if they chose to meet. No men were allowed into this area but the Raja could look down on them from his palace. There was also a story the guide told us about the bangles worn by the wives. If they wanted a visit from the Raja they would jingle their arms and the sound was a signal. The women weren’t allowed into the Raja’s palace so that was the way they got his attention. Or something along those lines.

An example of the paintings depicting hunting scenes, but the ones depicting the Karma Sutra were too graphic for me to put on the website. Many of the Karma Sutra painting were covered with white paint.

I told Randal I had no idea how this lock worked but he said our friends Peter and Jane would so I’m including it for them and because it is quite interesting.

As we left the Fort we passed several shops selling copper wares.

Then came lunch…

Then we were off again for a fairly disappointing afternoon. Our first stop the “handicraft demonstration/sales pitch.”

We were to see a demonstration of cloth stamping.

A small square of cloth was stamped with the green paint and then re-stamped with yellow paint.

Some type of powder was added to the water which turned the cloth red but didn’t was off the paint.

This one had been done earlier but you can see how red the cloth turns.

It was pretty interesting and it would have been fun to make one and really learn how it all worked. However the man doing the demo was a grump and just wanted to rush us off to the sales area.

We didn’t bargain and we didn’t buy anything either. It is all just too high pressure. And I still have a beautiful blue shawl I bought in China that I haven’t worn so who needs more.

Next email..the carpet shop, the City Palace and the puppet show.

Ru

Doramac