Jaisalmer - Hands of the Departed

Jaisalmer is not more than 100 miles from the Pakistani boarder and near the old trade route of the Silk Road, so could reasonably be said to be to be a pit stop on one of history's great highways. The impression however, as you cross the sparse and arid landscape to be confronted by the otherliness of this fortification, is that this is one of the last outposts before the ends of the earth. Ramparts rise out of the sand so majestically and coherently that they seem shaped from the desert itself.
Within the fort the there are six temples which serve a substantial Jainist population - another outgrowth from Hinduism like Buddhism and similar in its devotion to vegetarianism and pacificim. This committed nonviolence however stands in contrast to athe sad and savage story played out in three equally tragic episodes some few hundred years ago. Unlike the Jainist's the Rajput kings lived the hard edge of unforgiving barbaric war.

On these three occasions jauhar was performed. This was when the Rajputs found themselves at war yet surrounded and outnumbered, without hope of relief and too proud to sue for peace or offer surrender. The rule of order was death before dishonour, and this code was not limited to the warriors in this totalitarian society.
Once defeat had be assessed as certain the wives and daughters were instructed to prepare themselves as an enormous bonfire was constructed in the main square. The women would say prayers, braid their hair, adorn themselves with their best jewellery and ritually dance. As drums were played and songs sung, the girls and ladies would file up to the balcony of the palace and throw themselves onto the fire while husbands and fathers watched impassively as they burned silently in the flames. After this the menfolk armed themselves and charged out into battle to die in man to man in combat as had been predicted, and the city then overtaken by the invaders.
Hauntingly the women left handprints on the door before they burned themselves, and these are still maintained to this day.