{"id":162,"date":"2022-04-22T09:27:21","date_gmt":"2022-04-22T09:27:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mahendraindiatravel.com\/blog\/?p=162"},"modified":"2022-04-22T09:27:32","modified_gmt":"2022-04-22T09:27:32","slug":"the-mehrangarh-fort-jodhpur-rajasthan-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mahendraindiatravel.com\/blog\/the-mehrangarh-fort-jodhpur-rajasthan-india\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Mehrangarh Fort,<\/a> one of India’s best-preserved and largest forts, rises 400 feet above Jodhpur. The Jodhpur royal family owns and manages the palace, which was founded in 1459 by Rajput leader Rao Jodha of the Rathore dynasty.<\/p>\n

The opulent hill fort<\/strong>, with its unique walls soaring above the rocky plateau from which it was constructed, can be seen from almost anywhere in the city. The name Mehrangarh refers to the legend that the Jodhpur<\/a> royal family is descended from Surya, the sun deity.<\/p>\n

A tour to Mehrangarh Fort takes several hours, but it is well worth the time. Here, you can learn about the Rajput royals’ battle history, honour culture, and extravagant lifestyle.<\/p>\n

You enter through the main gate after a long walk from the city (you may alternatively hire a taxi or rickshaw), and then walk up a ramp through a succession of seven gates. Iron spikes are placed in the wood (to prevent an elephant assault) and a collection of little red hand prints on the wall commemorate a horrible historic incident at a gate named Loha Pol. The handprints of Maharaja Man Singh’s widows were left there in 1843 as they went to fling themselves on his cremation pyre.<\/p>\n

The royal palaces within the fort today house the Mehrangarh Museum<\/strong>. You can wander from one to the next, passing through enclosed courtyards with latticework. The former palaces are filled with antiques, artifacts, and art works, and even complete rooms. You will find miniature paintings, palanquins, howdahs (elephant seats), textiles, weaponry, and household goods. One room houses a collection of elaborate royal cradles from the 17th century. In the former bedroom of Maharaja Takhat Singh, also known as the Sheesh Mahal (Hall of Mirrors), every inch covered in painted panels, carvings, tiles, and mirrors.<\/p>\n

History of Mehrangarh Fort<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rao Jodha, a monarch of the Marwar Kingdom, erected Mehrangarh Fort<\/strong>. In 1459, he moved the capital from Mandore to Jodhpur and erected the fort on a hill 400 feet above the plains below.<\/p>\n

Rao Ranmal, Rao Jodha’s father, was assassinated in Chittor Palace by troops of Prince Chunda, the son of Late Rana Lakha Singh, on Diwali night in 1438. Bharmali, Ranmal’s own queen, was complicit in the plot. Rao Ranmal was invited by her sister Hansa Bai, Rana Kumbha’s queen grandmother, to look over the Mewar Kingdom and young Rana Kumbha after Rana Mokal Singh’s assassination for a short time until he was assassinated.<\/p>\n

Following the death of his father, Rao Jodha, who was living in Chittor with his father, was able to flee the city with the help of his countrymen. However, he was unable to return to Mandore<\/a> because it had already fallen under the authority of the Mewar empire upon Rao Ranmal’s death. As a result, Rao Jodha hid in villages surrounding Bikaner for the next 15 years, attempting unsuccessfully to seize Mandore. Rana Kumbha was fighting the sultans of Malwa and Gujrat in 1453. Mandore was now within Jodha’s grasp.<\/p>\n

But this frequent battle with Mewar and the occasional encroachment from Delhi Sultanate, made Rao Jodha shift his capital to a more strategically advantageous position, on a hilltop, nine kilometres south of Mandore. The hill was known as Bhakurcheeria, the mountain of birds. To lay the foundation of his fort, Jodha had to displace the hill\u2019s sole occupant, a hermit named Cheeria Nath Ji who was very influential among the local population.<\/p>\n

After repeated requests from the king, Cheeriya Nath Ji denied moving. So, Rao Jodha asked Karni Mata of Deshnoke for help, a saint with superior power. Seeing a superior power in front Cheeriya Nath Ji moved out of the hill but cursed the Kingdom always to face scarcity of water. Rao Jodha managed to control Cheeriya Nath Ji\u2019s anger by promising him to build a house and a temple beside the fort. And eventually, Jodha with the help of Karni Mata laid the foundation of the fort.<\/p>\n

But the story did not end here. To ensure that Cheeriya Nath Ji\u2019s curse gets negated and the new place brings good luck to the kingdom, the king needs to sacrifice a human life. That is when Raja Ram Meghwal came and agreed to sacrifice himself for the kingdom, provided the dynasty will look after his heirs. Thus eventually the construction of the fort was started. Rajaram Meghwal had been regarded as an eternal martyr since then, and his successors were taken care of till now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Mehrangarh Fort, one of India’s best-preserved and largest forts, rises 400 feet above Jodhpur. The Jodhpur royal family owns and manages the palace, which was founded in 1459 by Rajput leader Rao Jodha of the Rathore dynasty. The opulent hill fort, with its unique walls soaring above the rocky plateau from which it was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":163,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rajasthan-tourism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mahendraindiatravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mahendraindiatravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mahendraindiatravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahendraindiatravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahendraindiatravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mahendraindiatravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":164,"href":"https:\/\/mahendraindiatravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162\/revisions\/164"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahendraindiatravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mahendraindiatravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahendraindiatravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahendraindiatravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}