01Jodha’s rock
Rao Jodha laid the foundation on 12 May 1459 and founded the city of Jodhpur below. Marwar tradition says a hermit living on the hill cursed the fort with scarcity of water when he was moved, and that a man named Raja Ram Meghwal was buried alive in the foundations to turn the curse aside; his descendants were given land, and a memorial to him stands at the fort. Jodha brought the image of Chamunda Mata from Mandore and installed her at the southern end of the fort. Successive rulers added the Moti Mahal, the Phool Mahal and the Sheesh Mahal.
02The Marwar war
When Maharaja Jaswant Singh died at Jamrud in 1678, Aurangzeb put Marwar under direct Mughal rule in 1679 and tried to take the infant heir Ajit Singh into the court. Durgadas Rathore smuggled the child out of Delhi and fought the Mughals for nearly thirty years. After Aurangzeb’s death in 1707 Ajit Singh entered Jodhpur and took back Mehrangarh. The Jai Pol gate was built by Maharaja Man Singh in 1806 after a war with Jaipur; cannon-ball marks from that time are still on the walls. On 30 September 2008, the first day of Navratri, a stampede at the Chamunda temple killed more than 200 devotees.
The life of this place
- 12 May 1459Rao Jodha lays the foundation.
- 1679 CEAurangzeb takes Marwar under direct Mughal rule.
- 1707 CEAjit Singh recovers Jodhpur after Aurangzeb’s death.
- 1806 CEMaharaja Man Singh builds the Jai Pol.
- 30 September 2008Stampede at the Chamunda temple on the first day of Navratri.
The Mehrangarh Museum Trust runs the fort and museum; go in the morning and walk down through the blue houses of Brahmpuri.
