Prior to the mid 15th century, the region that is now Bikaner was a barren wilderness called Jangladesh. In 1488 Rao Bika established the city of Bikaner. Rao Bika was the second son of Maharaja Rao Jodha of the Rathor clan, the founder of Jodhpur and conquered the largely arid country in the north of Rajasthan. As the second son of Joda he had no chance of inheriting Jodhpur from his father or the title of Maharaja. He therefore decided to build his own kingdom in what is now the state of Bikaner in the area of Jungladesh. Though it was in the Thar Desert, Bikaner was considered an oasis on the trade route between Central Asia and the Gujarat coast as it had adequate spring water. Bika’s name was attached to the city he built and to the state of Bikaner (“the settlement of Bika”) that he established. Bika built a fort in 1478, which is now in ruins, and a hundred years later a new fort was built about 1.5 km from the city centre, known as the Junagarh Fort.
General Maharaja Ganga Singh, who ruled from 1887 to 1943, was the best-known of the Rajasthan princes and was a favourite of the British Viceroys of India. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India, served as a member of the Imperial War Cabinet, represented India at the Imperial Conferences during the First World War and the British Empire at the Versailles Peace Conference. His contribution to the building activity in Junagarh involved separate halls for public and private audiences in the Ganga Mahal and a durbar hall for formal functions. He also built the Ganga Niwas Palace, which has towers at the entrance patio. This palace was designed by Sir Samuel Swinton Jacob, the third of the new palaces built in Bikaner. He named the building Lalgarh Palace in honour of his father and moved his main residence there from Junagarh Fort in 1902. The hall where he held his Golden Jubilee (in 1938) as Bikaner’s ruler is now a museum.
Rammat : Rammat is a marwadi word which stands for “PLAY”. Rammat is performed in adjoining days of Holi at Bhattron ka chowk, Barah Guwar, Bisso ka chowk etc. local actors portray the role of ancient legends like Dhola Marwaani, Amarsingh Rathod . Rammat starts in midnight and get finished in the dawn with the pray of goddess . Localite take delight to participate in the chorus and spread different color over the crowd present there . Rammat of Harsh & Vyas attract huge crowd owing to its distinctive nature of water play. Both community member of harsh & Vyas get themselves loaded there area with water tank and they hit each other with water with help of leather made jug . The one who loose water early face the defeat ! However it is a fixed game since inception of this game vyas are declared the winner that too cordially, then also huge crowd turn up at the site and cheer their favorite team with full of passion .
Gangashahar is the city’s southern suburb. Important landmarks include Gandhi Chowk, Indira Chowk, Chandmal Ji ka Baug, Hariram Temple old line,chopra bari,Roshani Ghar, Sarda Chawk, Mahavir Chawk and Daga Chowk. Other attractions include shre kheteshwar temple kheteshwar basti,karni mata temple chopra bari Sujandesar Ramdev Ji Temple, Jain Dadabari, Shakti Peeth – Acharya Shree Tulsi Samadhi Sthala, Kali Mata Temple, Goga Ji kesaria jee Temple. Schools and colleges include Seth Tolaram Bafna Academy, Jain P.G. College, Jain School, Govt. Chopra School, Bothra Girls School & College, Vidhya Niketan, Adarsh Vidhya Mandir, Balbari School, Hanumant School, Vidhya Vihar, Bhattar School and Little Genius preschool. Notable buildings include Hansa Guest House, Daga Palace, Terapanth Bhawan, Oswal Panchayati, T.M Hall, Maloo Guest House, Mahaveer Bhawan, Sampat Palace and Aasriwad bhawan.
Around a century after Rao Bika founded Bikaner, the state’s fortunes flourished under the sixth Raja, Rai Singhji, who ruled from 1571 to 1611. During the Mughal Empire’s rule in the country, Rai Singh accepted the suzerainty of the Mughals and held a high rank as an army general at the court of the Emperor Akbar and his son the Emperor Jahangir. Rai Singh’s successful military exploits, which involved winning half of Mewar kingdom for the Empire, won him accolades and rewards from the Mughal emperors. He was given the jagirs (lands) of Gujarat and Burhanpur. With the large revenue earned from these jagirs, he built the Junagarh fort on a plain which has an average elevation of 760 feet (230 m). He was an expert in arts and architecture, and the knowledge he acquired during his visits abroad is amply reflected in the numerous monuments he built at the Junagarh fort.
Lalgarh Palace was built between 1902 and 1926 according to Rajput, Mughal and European architectural styles. The building was commissioned by Maharaja Ganga Singh (1889–1925) in memory of his father Maharaja Lall Singh and was designed by the British architect, Samuel Swinton Jacob. It is coated in red sandstone and has several grand halls, lounges, cupolas and pavilions. The building features magnificent pillars, elaborate fireplaces, Italian colonnades and intricate latticework and filigree work. The palace houses the Shri Sadul Museum as well as a large and important collection of Sanskrit manuscripts, the Anup Sanskrit Library. Though the Bikaner Royal Family still live in the palace, part of the building has been converted into a Heritage hotel operated by the Royal family of Bikaner.
Punarasar Fair : This fair is held at punarasar village of Bikaner. The village is named after lord Hanuman who is considered the god of power, knowledge, health and wealth. Hindus of Bikaner and its adjoining cities head towards this holy village twice (Sarad purnima & Bhaadava) in a year and celebrate this pious occasion with lot of offerings to Punarasar baba. Devotees who approach this holy occasion (following the path between hamlets) are served with food and refreshment by the gathering of another devotees. This fair is considered must visit among local public of Bikaner hence a very long queue (more than 5 km) of devotees is witnessed at this occasion before the temple. Punarasar temple is situated closer to highway leads to Jaipur that’s why this highway is known as Punarasar highway too!
The fort was built by Raja Rai Singh, the sixth ruler of Bikaner who reigned from 1571 to 1612. Rai Singh had conquered part of Marwar and had been granted territory in Gujurat and Burhanpur by the Mughal emperor Akbar as a reward for his services as military commander. This, as well as funding from Jodhpur, enabled him to build the fort. Rai Singh held high rank in the imperial courts of both Akbar and his successor, Jehangir. During his imperial service he travelled extensively, giving him an appreciation of art and architecture. These ideas have been incorporated meticulously into the architectural style of Junagarh Fort.
Bikaner was and is the centre for Usta Art, a generic term for the Manoti-Naqqashi (embossed and unembossed floral and geometric patterned objects layered with gold) media produced by Usta family master artistans of Bikaner. The Usta artists and artisans also controlled all production of the Bikaner School “miniature” paintings using translucent and opaque vegetable and mineral watercolours from the late-16th to late-19th Century. Famous painters of the Bikaner School were Hamid Rukn-ud-din, Ahmad, Nathu ji, Nure, Rahim, Isa, Iso, Sahab-ud-din, Rehim ji,Murad, and Abdul Shakoor.
The internal transport system in Bikaner consists of autorickshaws and city buses. Bikaner is connected to some of major Indian cities via broad gauge railway. The city has direct rail connections to Delhi, Mumbai, Bhubaneswar, Sambalpur, Bilashpur, Kanpur, Agra, Jalandhar, Baroda, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Guwahati, Jaipur, Surat, Jalandhar, Puri, Coimbatore, Thiruvananthapuram, Chandigarh, Kota, Jammu, Jodhpur and Ahmedabad. However, there is no rail connectivity for other major Indian cities like Chennai, Indore, Jhansi, Ranchi, Bhopal, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Kurukshetra.
Karan Singh, who ruled from 1631 to 1639, under the suzerainty of the Mughals, built the Karan Mahal palace. Later rulers added more floors and decorations to this Mahal. Anup Singh, who ruled from 1669 to 1698, made substantial additions to the fort complex, with new palaces and the Zenana quarter, a royal dwelling for women and children. He refurbished the Karan Mahal with a Diwan-i-Am (public audience hall) and called it the Anup Mahal. Gaj Singh, who ruled from 1746 to 1787 refurbished the Chandra Mahal (the Moon palace).
The Laxmi Niwas Palace is a former residential palace of the king of the former Bikaner state, Maharajah Ganga Singh in Bikaner in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It was designed by the British architect, Samuel Swinton Jacob in the year 1902. The style of architecture is Indo-Saracenic. It is now a luxury hotel owned by Golden Triangle Fort & Palace P. Ltd. The magnificent structure in red sandstone is one of the most popular destinations for tourists in Bikaner.
1) Its camel research farm (NRCC). 2) Its “Bikaneri Bhujia. 3) Its wool production. 4) Its sweets. 5) PATA culture ( Wooden made big square size table which is laid upon the streets where localites sit at their leisure ) 6) Heartful peoples Bikaneri Bhujia is a spicy snack made from moth dal, spices and edible oil. Bikaner is also known for its handicrafts and leather articles, for its palaces and for having Asia’s biggest camel farm.
Bikaner is well connected by road, rail and air links to the rest of the country. Bikaner has an airport named Nal Airport, which is 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) away from the city centre and which is still not fully functional. Basically it is an Indian Air force station, however a domestic terminal is under construction at the same airport site. It is expected that flight operation will start from Jan 2013 onward.
The Bikaner Camel Festival is an event organized by the Department of Tourism, Art and Culture, of Bikaner, Government of Rajasthan. It takes place every year in the month of January. At this festival the “ships of the desert” are seen at their best. Some spectacular and unusual camel performances like camel races, camel dances, and the bumpy, neck shaking camel rides take place at this event.
Maharaja Karni Singh – in full HH Maharajadhiraj Raj Rajeshwar Narendra Shiromani Maharajah Sri Dr Karni Singh Bahadur, also known as Dr Karni Singh, was from 1950 the last ruler of the princely state of Bikaner State, as part of India. He was also a politician, serving as a member of the Lok Sabha for twenty-five years, from 1952 to 1977, and an international clay pigeon and skeet champion.
Ganga Singh’s son, Lieutenant-General Sir Sadul Singh, the Yuvaraja of Bikaner, succeeded his father as Maharaja in 1943, but acceded his state to the Union of India in 1949. Maharaja Sadul Singh died in 1950, being succeeded in the title by his son, Karni Singh (1924-1988). The Royal Family still lives in a suite in Lalgarh Palace, which they have converted into a heritage hotel.
Constructed in 1486, Moolnayakji was the first Vaishnav Temple built in Bikaner. It was the principal seat of the Vaishanv sect. The first of the Bhagavad Katha Vachaks of the Rattani Vyas clan of Bikaner Shri Rattoji Vyas gave the Bhagavad Updesh to the king, Rao Bika and his aide Salloji Rathi. This practice is carried on till date. The presiding deity is Lord Moolnayak Krishna.
On both evenings the festival ends with a performance by the renowned folk singers and dancers of Rajasthan. The jubilant dances swirling the ghagras, the awe inspiring fire dances and many other interesting and enthusiastic performances entertain visitors. In the grand finale a magnificent display of fireworks takes place which illuminate the desert city of Bikaner.
Siyana Bhairoon mela : This fair is known for the utmost celebration by Hindu casts Ojha, Bhadani, chhangani and derasri. Devotees from this community along with others reach siyana village of bikaner by cart, buses, car, bike and on feet. Siyana village is known for the temple of lord bhiroon who is believed to bless all amenities to his devotees they prayed for.