PLACES TO VISIT IN JODHPUR

#EPISODE 6

PLACES TO VISIT IN JODHPUR

From Jaisalmer, we reached Jodhpur after a 5 hours travel. Here we stayed for two days and visited the main spots and after finishing shopping, we left for Udaipur.

QUICK HISTORY OF JODHPUR

Before exploring Jodhpur, here are some of the histories and facts of Jodhpur.

• First of all, Jodhpur is called as “SUN CITY”, because of the extreme climate it faces, mostly sunny and rare rainfall.
• It is the second largest city of Rajasthan

• Jodhpur is named after the King Rao Jodha who founded Jodhpur. He was a Rajput chief of Rathore clan
• Rao JODHA – JODHPUR

• It is also called as the “BLUE CITY”, because of the blue painted houses and buildings in the old city.
• Some folks believe that the city is blue because of the following reasons :
  • To beat the heat of the city,
  • To attract the traders, as Jodhpur lies in the trading route.
  • Some believe that it is the Ruler’s orders.

PLACES WE EXPLORED IN JODHPUR

The places we explored in Jodhpur are Umaid Bhavan Palace and Mehrangarh Fort.

UMAID BHAVAN PALACE

One of the largest and grand private residence is Umaid Bhavan Palace in Jodhpur.

It was built by the King Umaid Singh in order to provide employment during the drought time, which was started in 1929 and ended in 1943.

Umaid Bhavan is also called  “CHITTOR PALACE” because the stones were obtained from Chittar Hills.

There are three functional units or sections. They are:

• Museum
• Royal Residence
• Taj hotels

This Indo-deco architecture based Palace is a grand, lavish place, build using Teak, marble, and sandstone.

PALACE

A section of this place, where still the Royal Family lives. It has more than 300 rooms, several courtyards, private, public meeting halls, library, dining rooms, tennis court, ballroom, billiards rooms, etc. Visitors are not allowed there.

MUSEUM

The museum exhibits the old vintage cars used by the Royal Family. This museum also includes old fort paintings, other Royal belongings. The place is well maintained.

Furthermore, the museum also exhibits some of the rare old vintage cars used by royal families. Some of them are:

 HOTELS

A section of the place is converted into luxurious, expensive hotels. A place must be visited, once in a lifetime.

MEHRANGARH FORT

One of the largest, giant and magnificent fort is Mehrangarh Fort. It was built by Rao Jodha in 1460. Also, this fort is still maintained by the Royal Families of Jodhpur.

There are seven gates in this fort. They are in brief as follows.

• JAI POL

This gate is the sign of victory over the wars with Bikaner and Jaipur. It was built by Maharaja Man Singh.

• FATEH POL

This gate is the sign of victory over Mughals. Further, it marks the western gate of the fort. Maharaj Ajit Singh built this gate.

• AMIRITI POL

Next, this gate has the iron spikes to stop the rambling elephants of the enemies. Maharaja Maldeo built this gate.

• DODH KANGRA POL

This gate still has the cannon bill hit marks. And this is the fourth gate of the seven gates.

• GOPAL & BHAIRON POL

These are the small gates in the fort, which has several rooms for safeguarding.

• LOHA POL

This is the sixth gate of seven gates. This gate has “hand imprints” of the royal queens of Maharaja Man Singh, who committed Sati.  And this wall remarks the last massive Sati.

• SURAJ POL

Finally, this is the last gate of the fort. It leads to the coronation courtyard, where the king is coronated.

CORONATION COURTYARD:

Coronation courtyard is located past Suraj Pol.  There is a special chair made of marble. Here is where the King is coronated.

ANCIENT TEMPLE

There is an ancient temple inside the fort. The Chamundi Mata Temple is one among them. It is located at one end of the fort, surrounded by a beautiful small garden.

FORT MUSEUM

The fort museum exhibits many heritage resources of Rathore.

• PALANQUINS

  

Palanquins is a travel medium for the Royal families. It has the extended rods on both sides. It is carried by the men.

• ARMOUR

Furthermore, the Fort museum displays weapons, the sword that is made of silver, ivory, iron. The swords of Akbar the great, other rulers which weighs overs 3kgs.

 

• ELEPHANT HOWDAHS

The following are some of the Royal People’s collection of elephant seats, decorated with gems, stones, silver, gold.

• DAULAT KHANA

Daulat Khana is known as “Wealth Stone”. It is a three-storey building often called Treasure Room.

• CRADLES

The fort museum displays the different cradles used by the Royal Children. Janki Mahal is now almost converted into the museum for cradles.

• PAINTINGS

The fort museum shows the finest examples of Marwar paintings.

MAHALS & COURTYARDS

There are different mahals and courtyard inside the fort for various purpose. Some of them are:

SHEESH MAHAL

The Sheesh Mahal also called mirror palace. It is mainly used for religious works.

JANKI MAHAL

This Mahal is also called as the peeping palace. Now displays the cradles of Royal kids.

PHOOL MAHAL

The “room of flowers” is the meaning of Phool Mahal, which is the private hall of the Royals.

Maharaja Abhaya Singh built this grand Phool Mahal. Furthermore, it is believed that the Phool Mahal was a private and exclusive chamber of pleasure. This Mahal is painted and decorated in gold.

MOTI MAHAL

Moti Mahal is the largest period room of the fort, also called the pearl palace. The king used to sit on his throne and meet all his officials. In addition, the Moti Mahal has five unique windows leading to hidden balconies.

It is believed that the balconies were built for the five queens of the Maharaja to enable them to listen to an on-court proceeding. Since they were intelligent, they participated in decision making.

KING’S PALACE

The following picture shows the King Takhat’s bedroom. He was deeply interested in art, therefore the ceiling was painted on a variety of subjects.

QUEEN’S PALACE

Royal women with their children lived at the end of the fort, where no men were allowed except the King.

IN AND AROUND THE FORT

 

Later, we returned back to the hotel and had our lunch. We had naan, paneer masala, dhaal, gulab jamun, cucumber, and sabji.

Finally, after enjoying our lunch, we departed to Udaipur. Most of all, we had a good time in Jodhpur. One of the most beautiful and admirable Place.

In case if you missed exploring Jaisalmer, click here – Jaisalmer.

For Bikaner, Click here – explore now.

To explore next episode, click UDAIPUR