Bikaner

Bikaner was founded by Rao Bika who left his family and empire of Jodhpur to chart out his own destiny. The story goes like, one day on being admonished by his father for whispering in court, Rao Bika walked out with 100 horsemen and 500 foot soldier’s and reached Janglu, where he took possesion of 84 villages abandoned by Sankhlas. Later he made bikaner as his capital and began extending his empire. By the time of his death in 1504 A.D the Bikaner Estate compromised of 300 villages.

Famous for it’s large well’s and sand dunes it is situated on the north of the Thar desert and being the desert region Camel’s form an integral part of life and transportaion. Made of Red-Pink Stone it’s Fort and Palace’s have a lot of historic weapon’s and things which in my opinion can’t be found elsewhere in Rajasthan. The narrow streets of Bikaner houses large mansions with artistic work of stone carvings and lattice windows. The city also house the one of it’s kind in whole Asia the “Camel Reserch and Fertility Centre”.

The Rulers of Bikaner became the chosen Ally of the Mughal’s during the 16th century which got them power and name across India as being close to the Major . Supreme power’s of the time. Then during the British Rule Maharaja Surat Singh negotiated a treaty in 1818 and bikaner became a protectorate at the British Empire.

Maharaja Ganga Singh (1880-1943) was the most illustrious ruler of Bikaner, he transformed it from a small pricipality into one of the premier princely state of India. He promted the Ganga Canal project, which converted the large tracts of desert land into rich farmland. He also extended the railway lines for easy accesibility and is remembered as the founder of Modern Bikaner.

Bikaner is well known for it’s school of miniature paintings which are a mixture of the Mughal and Rajput style. It’s savouries the Bikaneri Bhujia & Rasgulla’s which became an exportable commodity are famous across the globe.