Weaver Village, Untouchable Village and Shepherd Village

The day when I (Aaron) went to the Bishnoi village (in May), I also went to a weavers village, untouchables village and a shepherds village.

This picture is from the weavers village. This is a weaver working on a rug known as a "durrie". These type of rugs look different depending on which part of the state and/country they are made. The ones in this area look remarkably like Native American. The workmanship here was amazing and by far the best that I have seen anywhere. The durrie in the picture will take two men working together a couple of weeks to complete; larger ones can take months.


This picture is also from the weavers village. Here is a picture of some of the finished products. They are made from various materials such as sheep wool, camel wool, goat wool and cotton.


This man is a weaver but he is in the untouchable village. He is the only weaver left in this village. The work is long and hard and the finished product is not profitable because of modern machinery. Notice the difference in the weaving style as well as the tools used from the weavers in the pictures above. It was interesting to see that this man sits inside the floor and works the loom with his feet as well as his hands. The materials used by this man were mainly goat wool; the shepherd village was very close and so goat wool is readily available.

The untouchables were called "harijans" which means "Children of God" by Ghandiji ("ji" is a respect marker- Ghandiji is a honorific way to refer to him). Ghandiji fought for the rights of all Indians but especially those who were in such dire straights as the untouchables. They had terrible existences and were harshly treated. By referring to them as the "Children of God", Ghandiji was showing that they were also humans who deserved to be treated fairly and have opportunities that were only for those not of untouchable status.

Walking through the untouchable village there was a stark contrast to the shepherds village that was just across the dirt road. The homes in the untouchable village were better built, had wells and the whole area was extremely clean. There was no trash thrown on the paths, the buildings were not in disrepair and the living conditions were very sanitary. This was in part to the work of Ghandiji who worked to educate them on cleanliness and sanitation and also worked to see them eligible for government assistance for needs such as wells and housing. These people were unable to get work because of their social position and therefore could not afford basic necessities of life.


This is a view one of the homes in the shepherds village taken from the roof of another home. The untouchable village is just through the trees. The fences are made of scrap sandstone which is readily available. A full trailer load of this stone pulled by a tractor is only about Rupees 400 (US $ 10).


This is a home shrine/altar to Pabuji in the shepherd village. I was excited to see this because I had just read about Pabuji as well as the epic written about him.

Below is an excerpt from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pabuji.

Pabuji is a folk deity of Rajasthan in India. He lived in the 14th century in Rajasthan. He was one of four children of Dhadal Rathore of village Kolu, two boys (Buro and Pabuji) and two girls (Sona and Pema). The historical Pabuji was a mediaeval Rajput prince; he is now widely worshipped as a deity by Rabari herdsmen and others throughout the Rajasthan countryside; and he is served by low-caste Nayak priests.

Pabuji lived in the remote desert village of Kolu, and in that village are to be found the only well-known conventional temples to him -- two small temples within a single compound, where puja (worship) is offered to the deity. Small shrines, commemorative stones etc. abound, but, outside Kolu itself, the absence of actual temples is conspicuous. There are two reasons for it: first, Pabuji has yet to achieve sufficient prestige as a god to warrant the construction of pieces of architecture; and, second, many of his worshippers -- in particular, many Rabaris -- are semi-nomadic, and are thus not in a position regularly to visit a temple in a fixed spot.