In Jodhpur, there are two buildings which one can see from any three storey apartment. One is the Umaid Bhawan Palace, which is now a 7-star hotel and second of the astonishing Mehrangarh Fort.
I arrived Jodhpur from Pushkar which is a 4 hours road trip, as Jodhpur is 200 km away.
Now you may know that Jaipur is referred as the “Pink City“ because there is a whole region coloured Pink.
Similarly, in Jodhpur, many homes are painted with blue which gives the city it’s name – The Blue City of Rajasthan. {FYI – Not all home are coloured blue}
History of Mehrangarh Fort
Rao Jodha Statue
So, after resting at my hotel for a night, I reached Mehrangarh Fort which was just a 15-minute drive. The Fort is on the top of Bhaurcheeria Hill (not very tall).
Now there is a thing about the Jodhpur, which not many know.
You see, the majority of Northern India and Pakistan was once ruled by Mughals from 15th to 18th century. Mughals had their capitals in cities like Lahore, Delhi, Agra and all these towns are quite close to Rajasthan.
So, to be more efficient rulers, Mughals were always in action to keep the state of Rajputana (current Rajasthan & some parts of Madhya Pradesh) under their control.
The states of Jaipur/Amer, Bundi, Bikaner, etc tried to skip wars with Mughals by political & matrimonial tie-ups, but the Rajputs (Rathore) of Jodhpur, which is also known as Marwar, had a different approach.
Instead of seeking spousal tie-ups with Mughals, they preferred war.
One can check this wiki link on Jodhpur history, which I must say that it’s interesting, but moral of the story here is that Jodhpur is a land of the braves who always preferred to die instead of bowing in front of someone.
Morning tour of Mehrangarh Fort
Mehrangarh Fort Entrance
I reached Mehrangarh Fort by 10:00 AM just to avoid the crowd, but that didn’t go as plan as Mehrangarh is a popular tourist site, so you will always see a good number of visitors here.
Ticket Counter
The entry fee of the Fort is INR 100 for domestic travellers and INR 600 ($9) for foreign tourists, plus I paid an extra INR 400 for my camera and a tour guide (100+300)
Memorial of Soda Kirat Singh Jagmolat
Image Memorial of Soda Kirat Singh Jagmolat
The first site at Mehrangarh Fort is Memorial of Soda Kirat Singh Jagmolat.
He was a brave soldier who died while fighting against the forces of Jaipur in 1864 AD and to remember his honour, the king of Jodhpur build this memorial at the entry gate of Mehrangarh Fort.
Gates of Mehrangarh Fort
Jai Pol
Jodhpur is named after Rao Jodha. It was him who laid the foundations of Mehrangarh Fort, as the current fort of Marwar (Mandore Fort) could never be a stronghold from where the forces of Marwar could bear the attaches of Mughals or other forces.
So a total of seven gates were built in Mehrangarh Fort, as if any army somehow entered the fort premises, they could have been still stopped for hours because of their seven gates.
To make this point clearer, I have visited Bundi Palace, which has just two main entry gates, Amber Fort of Jaipur also has two, but Jodhpur’s Mehrangarh Fort has seven…
A Gate of Mehrangarh Fort
The Loha Pol
The entrance gate of the fort is called Jai Pol (Victory Gate), and anther which caught my eye was Loha Pol. Both these gated have a glorious and dark history behind them.
Jai Pol was built in 1806 AD as a symbol of victory of Jodhpur on Jaipur and Bikaner kingdoms, and Loha Pol, reminds travellers about queens of Maharaja Man Singh 1843 AD) who choose the path of Sati after their king died.
Sati Queens Hand prints
Ode of Human sacrifice
Human sacrifice
While walking from Jai Pol (entry gate), I also noticed a red coloured stone slab, mentioning about a human sacrifice, conducted on the opening day of the Fort.
The story behind this act is that when Rao Jodha (creator of Mehrangarh Fort) finalised Bhaurcheeria Hill to build his mighty fort, a saint name Cheeria Nathji was forced to move from this hill where he lived his whole life. Later he cursed that Rao Jodha’s kingdom will always face drought.
However, the Rao was able to calm the saint and even arranged a new home for him, at the back side of the fort. But still, the curse was placed.
So to make things better, the saint suggested him to give a human sacrifice to ease the effects of the curse. Even till today, Jodhpur still faces the water shortage as it comes under Thar desert.
The Musicians
Musicians at Mehrangarh Fort Jodhpur
The best way to welcome a guest in India is with chimes. And Jodhpur’s Mehrangarh Fort has dome a marvelous job.
From the entrance to the seventh gate, I enjoy some great local music, especially the musicians sitting at the Loha Gate.
Thanks to my guide, I was able to record this small video. Have a look.
And with this, I walked all seven gates and entered the first of many mansions of Mehrangarh Fort. The first one is named Shrigar Chowk, and as there is so much to share about Mehrangarh Fort, I will split my trip into two posts.
So for the remaining story of Mehrangarh Fort beautiful palaces, wait for my second post, coming in a week time.
Now thats a beauty… :)
Yeah it is
Jai rajputana
Yep. great work of Rathore Rajputs is done here :)
WOW
Thanks Loretta, do check the part of this article.
You travel every month, now I think, I should also try and get some time and travel alone, shouldn’t wait for anyone to join me. May be I won’t be able to write like you but I will now make sure that I got to get some time to travel.
Thank you.
I actually also thought of joining group tours as with them you can save some buck. But there are many complications with them. Like if you hire a cab, lets say from Jaipur to Jodhpur, you can stop anywhere, like I did for 5 hours in Pushkar & a village in near Jodhpur. You can’t do that with group tours.
But , fort of Chittor also had 7 -gates
Will count them again soon… :)