Shopping in Rajasthan

Durry

The Rajasthani durry is a descendant of the Afghan carpet. The durries, woven from yarn, wool, or even felt, were a staple in every Indian household once. They would be spread out on the floor when the family gathered for a meal, and even today, you can see the durry used to seating large gatherings.

These blue and red, green and yellow rugs are a form of high art. Each area in Rajasthan has a distinctive style of creating durries.

Metalworks

Rajasthan desert nomads are the more prolific practitioners of this trade. They beat red hot iron into kitchen tools, saws, hammers, and nails. What they sell is the hardy stuff of everyday use.

If you are looking for something more in the way of “high art”, try the filigree work. Silver and brass filigree are both popular (though the prices, as you might have guessed, are very different). Another style is engraving figurines, patterns, and symbols on metal, mostly brass.

Dyed Fabrics

One of the most popular shopping items happens to be the dyed fabrics. These fabrics, apart from use across the length and breadth of India, have also caught on with the rest of the world. The block printed fabrics are created by hand in Bagru region, while the bandhej style is prevalent in the districts of Jaipur, Udaipur, Jaisalmer and Jodhpur.

Tie and dye, a unique craft where knotted pieces of fabrics are dipped in dye to get that distinctive pattern, is practiced in Bandani and Lehriya. Another style here is the Batik.

Leather

Leather goods include traditional footwear, bags, and modern accessories such as belts. The leather, after it is treated, is embellished in a thousand different ways to create that distinctive Rajasthani look. You can purchase leather with beads, leather with sequins, leather with embroidery, leather with mirrorwork, many other styles. One very popular method of embellishing leather is to remove part of the outer layer to create patterns on it.

Woodcraft

Wood crafted objects are so common in Rajasthan that sometimes locals may express mild surprise at their popularity with visitors. Toys, spoons, trays, musical instruments, boxes – there are a thousand and one items that are made from wood. Many of the objects are deliberately left without a finish to retain the natural grainy look of the wood. Other items are painted in the most vivid colors.

Jewelry

The popularity of jewelry in Rajasthan cuts across all classes, genders, and ages. The women of the nomadic tribes roaming the desert can be seen in an armful of bangles, while the men are not far behind in their love for jewelry. The richer traders and descendants of the royal family still sport expensive rings and necklaces, a trait inherited from their ancestors.

Meenakari, or enameled gold work, is one of the more popular buys here. Thewa is the use of gold to create patterns on glass. Rajasthan has been, for centuries, a center for cutting and polishing stones. Kundan jewelry refers to use of precious and semi precious stones in gold.

Paintings

Rajasthan’s miniature paintings are a collector’s item. You can go in for the exquisite paintings of women, birds, animals and deities. If your pockets are not quite so deep, don’t worry. You can always purchase the smaller, less elaborate, but nonetheless beautiful creations from some of the master painters of the region.

Art in Rajasthan is a family affair, and the business of keeping the family fires burning by creating paintings of magnificent beauty is handed down from father to son. The traditional paintings such as Pichwai use themes related to deities.

The modern styles, designed to cater to those with less traditional tastes, involve the use of canvas, marble, mica, and many other materials for creating the artwork.

Stone

Stone, that most unyielding of materials, takes the form on gauzy lace in the hands of skilled artisans. If you have paid attention to the latticed windows in the traditional apartments and palaces of Rajasthan, you would realize how much skill is required to give stone the semblance of mesh.

Today, you can buy objects made from sandstone, available in plenty in region. You can also invest in marble artifacts, including figurines, fountains, bowls, vases, busts, and marble gold inlay work.

Shopping in Rajasthan is not just about purchasing items you have listed out before starting; it is more about imbibing an atmosphere, understanding the lives of the artisans, and picking up products you never planned on buying.

And budget is never a constraint, because art in Rajasthan, apart from pleasing royalty, was also meant to add color to the lives of the common people.