Jaipur Magic

27/12/2024

Announcing the Rajasthan Crafts and Culture Trail, March 1 to 5, 2025!
For detailed brochure, please WhatsApp wa.me/+919867707414
We will take people for the tour based on whoever confirms participation, on a first-come first-serve basis.

26/12/2024

Thali meals. The reason why you put on a few kilograms of weight on any trip to north India :)

On the plate - Tandoori Roti, Jeera Pulao, Creamy Black Dal, two vegetable dishes (one dry, one gravy), kadhi, salad, dahi, papad, and rasgulla. Served with side accompaniment of pickled onions, and mixed vegetable pickle. On the other plate, we have makai ki roti, made with corn.

07/10/2024

Jaswant Thada is a cenotaph for the royal family of Jodhpur. Jodhpur is about 350 km from Jaipur. The two royal families had a complicated history, sometimes at odds, and sometimes uniting against common enemies.

Photo credits: Harshvardhan

03/10/2024

27/08/2024

Family holiday in Rajasthan. Blockprinting Workshop in Bagru.

28/07/2024

Cusped arches in Amer Fort, on our Jaipur tour today for Julie.

These types of poly-lobed or poly-foiled arches developed in India under the rule of the Mughals. Not surprisingly, they were adopted by the Jaipur rulers as well. They became, in fact, a major characteristic of Rajasthani architecture.

Similarly, the Mughal love for symmetrical gardens also finds expression in Jaipur. Check out the patterned garden called Kesar Kyari, just outside the fort in Maota Lake.

16/07/2024

It may be the monsoon season but Jaipur has great weather for photography this week! Amer Fort is looking fabulous against a blue sky.

Photos by Ranjeet Bharadwaj, Magic Tours

03/07/2024

It's a mystery, really. How did this 4500 year old instrument from Sri Lanka end up in Rajasthan?

Raavan Hatha - Origin: 2500 BCE (the Hela civilization, Sri Lanka). Legend says the great devotee of Shiva, king of Lanka, Ravana used to play this. And Hanuman the monkey god brought it to India.

Researcher Edward Heron-Allen believes Arab traders took it to Middle East, where it provided the basis for the rebab; which is widely played in many countries, and which influenced the development of the violin in Europe.

01/07/2024

The fabulously smooth and long lasting Araish lime plaster of Rajasthan invites your tactile exploration, while delighting your visual senses too.

Araish is a time-consuming, multi-layer plastering tadelakt technique.

The base layer called Surkhi is made using slaked lime, brick powder, incense, natural gum, water of fenugreek seeds, jaggery and palash (flame of the forest).

The next layer called Zikki uses slaked lime and marble dust.

And then the final Araish surface layer uses yoghurt :) along with lime milk. Lime putty is matured for six months, and the milk from that is combined with curd. This is then fermented for another six months before it is applied as a final surface layer. The Araish is then polished with a smooth round stone to give these stunning walls.

Photo of Amer Fort from our Jaipur tour day. See how smooth the plaster is even today. The fort was built in 1592.