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Yesterday’s royal
pursuits are today’s modes of relaxation. Leisure opportunities that are as exotic as
they are varied. Not that the people of Rajasthan lacked for occasions where they could
practice their skills in the vast terrains that lay at their command. The land may
appear, at first sight, unexciting for the pursuit of sports, but the people clearly
though otherwise, and under the patronage of the nobility, a well- entrenched system of
skillful outdoor activities was encouraged.
Since the people lived in
close proximity to their land, it was inevitable that they saw in it the ability to
transform the mundane into the exciting. Skilled warriors and horsemen, for example, the
Rajputs were able to refine their riding skills when it came to competitive sports,
creating among the finest polo teams in the world. At a less privileged level, the
villagers too responded with races for camels and cattle, unusual competitions that
ranged from turban-tying to racing horse carriages and carts.
If polo was nurtured in
Rajasthan, safaris and safari camps were an essential part of their defence strategy.
Later, the advent of their defence strategy. Later, the advent
of the British resulted in the formalisation of many of these activities, and
golf was introduced. In more recent years, outdoor lovers have found the open
countryside with its undulating dunes ideal for recently introduced
sports opportunities such as ballooning or gliding, while traditional pursuits
have been turned into a host of leisure activities such as rallies and desert safaris.
The extensive waterbodies in Rajasthan are now seeing the origin of water-related
sporting activities.
Warfare would not have
been possible without detailed planning, especially in this desert region where all
supplies had to be carried when the armies came the pitch camp where the battle lines
were drawn. From the repertoire of this experience were drawn the state processions,
inter-kingdom journeys and royal pilgrimages when the families came out of their
fortified settlements to create alternate, moving cities. Of this rich past were safaris
created.
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