Marwar Festival

Focuses on the classical folk music, heroic desert poetry, and traditional dances of the Marwar rulers at Mehrangarh Fort.

The festival honours the rulers and heroes of Marwar who gave their lives on the battlefield, and celebrates the region's culture.

Folk musicians sing in the traditional Maand style, with Mehrangarh Fort and Umaid Bhawan Palace as the great backdrops. There are puppet dances and safa (turban) tying contests.

Lamps are lit in memory of the heroes, and the ballads of folk deities and warriors are performed as theatre at Mandore gardens. Young men take part in the safa-tying contest.

The people of Marwar believe the festival earns the blessings of their ancestors and passes the region's heroic heritage to the next generation.

The festival was begun by Rajasthan Tourism to keep alive Marwar's courtly Maand singing tradition, which once enjoyed royal patronage.

Two days in Jodhpur around Sharad Purnima, built on the music of the Marwar courts — sarangi, kamaicha, dhol — with Kalbeliya and Ghoomar dancing. The evening programmes are staged inside Mehrangarh with the fort lit, which is the reason to buy a ticket rather than watch from the maidan below.