The Rajasthan circuit - Day 3 - The Lallgarth Palace - The 17th of November 2012

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We stopped at one of the several Bikaner Heritage Hotels - The Bhanwar Niwas Palace built under the orders of Seth Bahanwarlal in early 19th century before heading to the Lallgarth Palace, where we would be spending the night.

Bhanwar Niwas Palace

Commissioned  by Mahraja Gaga Sing Ji in 1902 and designed by the British  architect Sir Swindon Jacob the Lallgarth Palace  is said to reflect the essence of  Mughal, Rajput and European architecture with beautifully incorporated lattice and filigree work.

Lallgarth Palace 

 

Though the Bikaner Royal family still live there, part of the building has been converted into a Heritage Hotel, which we were fortunate enough to "take advantage of" as guests.

The evening ended up being a delightful surprise, as two musicians playing traditional instruments and accompanied by a dancer got through to our hearts with the pungent sound of the piano accordion and the magic sound of the singer's voice. 

Ghoomar, Bhavai and Chari dances were magnificently performed by the dancer, as Christian and I tried to capture the essence of the Rajasthan folk music and dance in multiple photos and short films.

Soon after the performance I didn't resist paying them my compliments, particularly the dancer, though getting the message across was not easy once they barely spoke English.

 

Note:

Ghoomar dance - derives from the word "Ghooma"  and means twirling, which the dancers perform in their beautiful long dresses (ghaghara) which sway along with them.

Bhavai Dance - Basically a village dance in which dancers balance eight brass pitchers or pots on their heads while balancing themselves firmly on the edge of swords or brass glasses.

Chari Dance - a village dance in which dancers balance brass pots graciously while forming patterns  with their hands , followed by having a cotton cloth set aflame and placed on their heads.

This particular dancer performed two additional dances, one of which  moving about on the ground with her feet on balanced on the side of a plate that moved along, as well as a "peacock" dance after having had a rather heavy looking peacock feather structure" attached to her waist.