Arts and Crafts of Jodhpur
In their solitude, women became great patrons of art and really set the trend for the entire city of Jodhpur. Artists were hired to paint all the ceilings and walls, and embellish the pillars and arches. The fabrics they wore were hand-printed and were specially designed for them by master craftsmen. Rather like the ‘haute couture’ or high fashion of today. Family jewellers made the newer and more exotic jewels and they usually wore silver slippers decorated with multi-coloured threads and beads. Later Jodhpur became the epi-centre of western Rajasthan as far as enamelling of jewellery is concerned, and enamelled silver and gold ornaments for the neck called timniya are much in vogue here.
But, what really put the city on the map of the world was the invention of ‘Jodhpurs’ or riding breeches. Invented by Sir Pratap Singh, the most famous ruler of Jodhpur who reigned in the 1870s he was a keen horse rider. As his traditional pyjamas would get torn when he mounted his horse, he invented this item of clothing to meet his riding needs. Pratap Singh also invented the close-collared Jodhpuri coat, and Jodhpuri boots which became the staple dress at the court. Another interesting craft of Jodhpur is the painting of camel hide skins with gold to make small containers for storing asha, the precious liqueur that is a popular beverage in Jodhpur. Constituted of distilled rose or saffron embellished with crushed pearls and ground gold, with chunks of goat and sheep brains added on which are believed by the locals to be aphrodisiacs. Jodhpur cuisine is generally a question of making-do. With little chance of vegetables or pulses growing in the desert, dry meat preparations of venison or rabbit-meat are the favourites.
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