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Published: April 3rd 2012
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JODHPUR, RAJASTAN, INDIA. Sunday 25 March, 2012.
Our guide, Britham, was waiting in reception. He was a very cool looking dude with dark glasses about M's age.
Our first stop was the Meherangarh Fort. This massive fort dominates Jodhpur's skyline and stands on a rocky outcrop above the city. Mr Barun drove us through the Nagauri Gate and dropped us at the car park. This was as far as we could go by car so we walked the rest of the way up the steep hill to the Jai Pol entrance which is the first of the fort's seven defensive gates. The walk up to the gate was boarded on both sides by tall stepped walls. Britham informed us that this was where the elephants stood in order to be easily mounted by their passengers - a kind of elephant car park. The sixth of the seven gates, Loha Pol is approached by a sharp right angled turn designed to slow down the ascent of any attacking elephant calvary, and the gate is armoured with sharp spikes to stop the charging enemy elephants from breaking through. Just inside this gate on the wall we saw the handprints of Maharaja
M and D at Fort
Pictured with guy in traditional dress Man Singh's widows, placed there in 1843 as they left the palace to commit sati (suicide) on the Maharaja's funeral pyre. This is the last recorded mass sati by wives of a Marwari Maharaja. It was the custom for all the wives to kill themselves upon the death of their husband!
We entered the Coronation Courtyard where we could see the fantastic lattice work that covers the surrounding sandstone walls of the fort buildings. The adjoining buildings now house the museum. On our way in to the museum D spotted a guy dressed in traditional dress. A few pictures were taken with him before we entered the first of the museum buildings where we saw elaborate howdahs (elephant seats) made of solid silver and wood. Some were very ornate and encrusted with jewels. There was also a room contaning armaments. The upper level houses some fine miniature paintings of the Marwari school. M loved the style of these pictures and we spent a long time looking at them. Britham informed us that they had only recently been returned to the fort, having been on a world tour so we were lucky to see them. The paintings are valued at
millions of rupees.
After looking at the paintings we went to the Flower Palace which is one of the most elaborate of the royal apartments with stained glass windows and a gold ceiling. We then went to another room where Maharaja Takhat Singh had had the ceiling decorated with enormous balls like those you would hang on a domestic christmas tree. The Queen's Palace (one way only - though you wouldn't know it!) contained the baby cots of the former rulers. Britham then took us to the Pearl Palace which is the most important room in the fort and was used for state meetings. The alcoves in the wall allowed the Maharaja's wives to sit behind curtains and listen to the proceedinigs.
After we left the fort we rejoined the car and were driven the very short distance to Jaswant Thanda. This is a memorial to the popular ruler Jaswant Singh II and is made of white marble. The centoaphs of other members of the royal family who have died since Jaswant are located in the grounds of the memorial. It was a lovely building in its own right but was a fantastic spot from which to photograph
the fort. While Britham was making his explanations about this building D became totally preoccupied with a bright red crisp packet that had been discarded in the, otherwise pretty clean, lake next to the memorial. Britham said something to one of the guards and suddenly there was a hive of activity with long sticks being flung at the offending packet to try to bring it closer to the bank so it could be removed. After a while M got fed up with watching this and persuaded D to have a look at the memorial and to see if the operation had been a success on the way out. At the entrance we removed our shoes and walked around the building. It was a lovely respite from the blistering heat outside. We walked back to the car just in time to see the crisp packet being successfully removed from the lake.
Next stop was the Sardar Market in the old town. The landmark here is the tall clock tower which marks the centre of the town. Britham took us to a textile factory where M was persuaded to part with some cash on a few "bargain" bed throws. Once Britham
had succeeded in getting us to part with the cash we carried on back through the market towards the car. Many of the stalls were closed as it was Sunday but M spotted a small lace shop where she purchased some stuff for her craft. We returned to the hotel for a late lunch, a sleep and a swim in the lovely swimming pool.
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