Nagaur, close to Jodhpur destination

It is a one street town in Rajasthan on the highway between Jodhpur and Bikaner. Well everybody has seen it on the Pepsi and Coke ads on TV. It had all vegetable stalls and a Gandhi chowk, poster commercials and village boys swaggering as if they it for living. Tourism hasn’t reached here. But it was because of one man Naguar was blipped on map, amar singh. Amar singh Rathore was the hot tempered most interesting men in Indian History. Locals say that he was a 17^th century Salman Khan but with a shirt on.

Naguar was a stop on the medieval trade routes, and hence the Rajputs and Mughals knely contested control over it. It has the Ahchitragarh fort which after the demise of amar Singh went to the Mughals and thereafter it came under the British. After independence, the fort went into decline as the government neither looked after it nor protected it from vandalism. However it is now looked after by Jodhpur’s Mehrangarh Trust. It is built on a slightly hilly elevation, and once you get there you will park by the entrance to Hadi Rani’s Palace and enter the section of the Zenani Deodi, which was the women’s wing at that time. There are many ghostly remains of gardens, water bodies and fountains inside the fort. To another side is the Diwan I Khas, the hall of private audience, wher an elaborate system for trapping fresh breeze, as well as channeled water through a network of shallow canals, must have added to the comforts of the apartments. Most of their floral paintings have survived. And the most interesting part in the chambar is the hammams, where the ruler bathed in water tanks with pied hot and cold water. The Maharaja gaddi was kept before a water pool with a fountain, more to Mughal style than the Rajputs. Ahchitragarh and the pillared pavilion called the Baradari overlooks a pool which was a bathing section for the queens.

The next stop was the Kaanch Ka Mandir. It has large eyed marble tirthankaras their images multiplied a thousand times in the bits of colored glass covering the walls, pillars and ceilings. It is amazingly beautiful in the evening.

Bansiwale ka Mandir nearby has a series of huge courtyards. Inside are the idols of Krishna and Radha, whose attire is changed for a jhanki, which takes place a number of times during a day. Khwaha Hamiduddin ka Dargah also known as Tarkin ka Dargah is a mosque with an elaborately carved entrance. Inside I was surrounded with graves, and right in front are two domed structures that are clearly modern. It is behind then you will find the original domed stone cenotaph of Hamiduddin. To one side there is Dharamsahala with 1 locked room

Naguar is also known for its cattle and one of the largest cattle fair is held here.