21) Jodhpur and its mighty Mehrangarh Fort

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We came to Jodhpur by luxury bus with quite comfortable seats, Klaudia even managed to read a book. Once we had not decided upon a hotel beforehand, which turned out to be quite a mistake. Upon our arrival, we were immediately surrounded by an impressive number of rickshaw drivers, who seemed to smell our indecisiveness. One was shouting louder than the other trying to outwit his colleagues. We were quite helpless trying to fend them off until Stephan resorted to a trick, saying that we were taking another bus and would not stay in Jodhpur. He made them laugh when he asked whether we were the only tourists in the city. Once you prove to them your sense of humour, they also show theirs. They left reluctantly, far from being convinced, but polite enough. Then we could consult our guidebook in relative peace. A couple of the drivers had been cheeky enough to stay nearby and when we had made up our minds, someone was already waiting. When you get used to the Indian way, it can be rather practical.

Jodhpur is a rather big city with 850,000 inhabitants, the second city of Rajasthan actually, after Jaipur. It became the Rathore capital in 1459 due to its strategic location at the edge of the Thar Desert. We had chosen our lodging quite in the centre of the old town with a nice view of the fort, to get there the rickshaw had to squeeze its way through narrow streets in the bazaar area, we enjoyed it a lot. Stephan still had not completely recovered and here we could finally buy some medicine. The incredible thing is that you can buy any medicine over the counter without prescriptions, included antibiotics, all at very low prices. In fact, India is the world's number one producer of generic medicine.

We immerged into the town's atmosphere by wandering around, admiring the curved balconies, half crumbled houses, the numerous blue buildings and courtyards. We happened to step into one of them by curiosity, discovering that it was the wholesale green market, but it was closed on Tuesdays. We were curious and looked around, marvelling at the huge grain sacks, then we had a drink and a nice conversation there. Unfortunately Klaudia also got sick, but now we had some medicine at our disposition. This is the reason why we again spent more time in a place than planned, but certain things cannot be foreseen. As we were not feeling were well, there are no other pictures than those from the palace. Maybe the photographer is getting tired, he pretends to have more grey hair since he got one year older...

In the end, we managed to visit Jodhpur's impressive fort from the 15th century and it was really worth visiting. Rajasthan is one of India's main tourist regions and it is well developed compared to other parts of India we have already been to. In the Mehrangarh Fort the visitor gets an audio guide, and a good one indeed. The fort covers a huge area with different palaces and in some of them shows an impressive collection of palanquins, miniature paintings and all sorts of weapons. It is made of the red sandstone of the region, only a few parts of it have been painted over. The Mehrangarh Fort displays a system of interlinked courtyards at various levels and can be considered as a typical example of the architecture of the region. Moving from one courtyard into the next you can admire the outer walls of the palaces with their swooped curved stone eaves, which were inspired by the roof of the huts. The Rajasthani princes were romantic figures and conceived palaces of great beauty and mystery, always taking into account the natural shape of the hills on which they are perched. All palaces strictly embrace the principle of the segregation of the sexes, the women have their own courtyards and separate bedrooms, this fort gives wonderful examples of hand-carved screens - each of them unique - which filter the sunlight but allow the air to circulate, and finally shed the women of the lusty eyes of the men still allowing them to watch everything. We cannot know how the women felt these days, but it cannot be denied that they lived in extraordinary beauty.

If you look down on Jodhpur from one of the innumerable rooftop restaurants, you will perceive a big amount of blue houses. From the Fort you can even see a district where there are only blue houses, the blue city. This is the district of the Brahmans, the priest cast, one of the three highest casts in India. In former times, they were painted with indigo, the blue colour is supposed to cool and to be a protection against mosquitoes and other kinds of insects.

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Photos

Mehrangarh Fort Jodhpur
Overview of the mighty fort in Jodhpur, which dominates the entire old city

Palace within the Fort
The palace is protected by huge walls up to 36m high and 21m wide

Entrance towers
Some of the palace rooms offer the possibility to watch entering and leaving persons from a bird's view

Palace entrance
Once you have passed the last gate you come to a ramp which leads you into the palace

Palace facade
From the coronation courtyard you get the nicest view of the magnicifent palace

Courtyard
One of the many interlinked courtyards to be found within the palace

Arcades
Wonderful example of Rajasthan's palace architecture

Palace window
The main windows are surmounted by swooped stone eaves, which give an additional sun protection

Another palace window
The windows are made of red sandstone and allow the air to circulate in the room as well as to look out without being seen

Hall of public audience
This room was used by the Maharaja for his public audiences

Bedroom
Above the bed you can find a manual fan which is quite effective

Palanquin
When travelling, the Maharaja's wife was carried along and could also protect herself from any curious looks

Jodhpur the blue city
The houses in the Brahman quarter were formerly painted with indigo

Comments

[prakash sharma]

just wowwwwwwwwwww
its fantastic to view these images over net,when i will come across to jodhpur from newyork,i will get loads of photogrphs from my nikon