Do you know what we did this November? — p2
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Jaisalmer to Jodhpur
After finishing Jaisalmer, we started towards Jodhpur. Actually, not Jodhpur. We had booked a stay in Mandore which is very close to Jodhpur. It was almost a half-day drive. While driving down, we noticed sand dunes on both the sides of the roads. Wait!, isn’t this the same road we took while driving onward? Yes, we just didn’t notice it due to the night drive. It appeared as though the roads were formed in between the desert.
Mandore and Jodhpur belong to “Marwar” kingdom. King Rao Jodha was ruling the kingdom with Mandore as capital city. Later, for safety reasons, he decided to move to Jodhpur. The hilly terrain which he picked to build the fort had a sole inhabitant, a hermit. He was not very happy with King’s decision and cursed that the place will suffer from drought. Worried king tried to make peace with the hermit by building him a house and a temple in the fort near the cave where he lived. King then apologised and requested hermit to take his words back. But, the hermit said that the only way to reduce the effect was a selfless human sacrifice.
A man named “ Rajaram Meghwal” volunteered and he was buried alive in the foundation of the great majestic “Mehrangarh Fort”.
The Mehrangarh Fort is an extraordinary experience. Be prepared to walk. The fort is huge and it amazed me how they built it on such a hilly terrain. The audio guide is very helpful to tour around the fort. Within the fort on display are a lots of royal items like howdahs, armoury, tents, silver items, paintings, etc etc. which were used by the royal family. One can feel the richness. It was the time when purdah was in existence. You can see the difference in the building built for women. It’s hard to see the people inside, but people inside can view the outside happenings.
There were many attractions inside like moti mahal, phool mahal, sheesh mahal etc. each built with a unique taste. There is something that caught my eyes when i entered the fort. Look at the below gate. It’s called Loha pol. It’s constructed strategically at a right angle with a slanting floor and spiked iron gate. This is to make the enemy elephant army loose the force while marching in and to avoid elephants from banging on the iron gate. How thoughtful, interesting!
Another area which i’ll remember is the place where the queens left their hand mark on the wall as they walked through the fort for the one last time! Sati was in practise. I felt an uneasy feeling settling in when i heard the audio guide describing how the queens were dressed up in rich attires, how big the procession will be? We should be thankful to Rajaram mohan roy.
We heard even today some of the royal events take place inside. Take your time to experience the fort. It’s worth it. When you are hungry, don’t worry. They have a nice eat out within the fort. We tried out the “Mirchi bada” which is a local jodhpuri dish.
Another attraction in Jodhpur is “Umaid Bhawan Palace”. This is a private residence for royal family constructed to provide employment to the people of Jodhpur when there was a severe drought. Remember the curse ?
A part of the palace is converted to Museum where you can find the things the royal family used, a part is converted into Taj hotel and the rest of the palace is still used by the descendent of royal family.
After a fun-filled day, we came back to our room all tired.
The blog that set in the curiosity for me is here.
To be continued..
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