Jaisalmer is one of India's most precious jewels. Fortified in golden stone, its 99 bastions silhouetted against the sky, it rises like a mirage from the barren Thar desert of Rajasthan. This remote settlement was renowned for the valour of its rulers, the ferocity of its warriors - during British rule it was the last to sign a treaty with the British - and for the aesthetic sense represented by the architecture of the palaces and havelis of its successful merchants.

Founded in 1156 A.D. by the Rajput ruler Rawal Jaisal a Bhatti Rajput, and located on the western edge of the barren Thar Desert, Jaisalmer was India's gateway to the silk and spice routes and a flourishing trading outpost for 700 years. Camel caravans heading towards Arabia, Persia, and Central Asia, laden with silks and spices, would have seen Jaisalmer, shimmering in the desert haze much as it appears today.

Jaisalmer grew in strength (with territories annexed from the bordering districts of Bikaner and Jodhpur) and riches (by levying taxes on caravans passing through Jaisalmer to Delhi). Its location on the main trade route linking India to Egypt, Arabia, Persia, Africa and the West assured its prosperity, reflected in the magnificent havelis the townspeople built. Wood and sandstone mansions with intricate carvings can be seen elsewhere in Rajasthan, but nowhere are they quite as breathtaking.

With the downfall of the Mughal Empire in the mid 1700s, commerce shifted to the sea ports, and the age of camel caravans drew to a close. Isolated, a five-day journey on camel from the nearest city, Jaisalmer, having grown wealthy on the proceeds of the trade routes, slipped into obscurity, frozen in its medieval history.


Today, walking through the narrow cobbled streets, evidence of the city's rich trading past is everywhere. The ancient fort, the oldest in Rajasthan, and perhaps the oldest still-inhabited citadel in the world, soars 300 meters above a maze of streets, squares, palaces, and clusters of dwellings, all in the local golden yellow sandstone. Atop the Trikuta (triple-peaked) hill, where, as legend has it, a Brahmin hermit related to Jaisal the prophesy that Krishna and Arjunaruler would one day build a fort, life goes on, almost as it has for centuries.