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Pilgrims offer Baba Ramdev toy horses in affectionate remembrance of his love for horses, and women dance the famed Teratali, the Dance of the Thirteen Cymbals. A few years ago in the eighties, when a terrible seven year drought ravaged Marwar, it was to Runecha that Maharaja Gaj Singh II of Jodhpur turned. With his family and nobles, the Maharaja walked the almost 200 km to the temple to pray for rain. The monsoon did not fail that year. |
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Marwar's
most revered medieval saint, in the village of Runecha near
Pokhran, west of Jodhpur. Born into a Rajput family the Baba preached the
equality of all men and women and is worshipped today by all
Hindu communities as well as by Muslims. A huge fair for
devotees is held every year at the temple in the lunar month
of Bhadon, a monsoon month; to which thousands
come from all corners of Marwar. Most walk but some may take
special pledges to walk sideways or roll on the ground. Sins are
washed away in a small lake adjacent to the temple.