Jodhpur

Jodhpur, also known as the ‘blue city’ is in the state of Rajasthan. It has this nickname because most of the houses are painted in blue, in reverence to Shiva.

We went to see the sights, consisting of palaces, forts and burials grounds. We saw Umaidbhawan Palace: when it was being built, a whole railway line was constructed to bring supplies into Jodhpur to make it!

We also saw the Mehrangar fort, a Rajput palace; there is a legend that when the fort was built, the king asked a priest to leave the land he wanted to build the fort on. The priest then cursed him, saying that the fort would always crumble before it was fully built. The curse proved true and the king went to the priest in repentance, devastated that he couldn’t build his fort. The Rajput begged him to remove the curse: the priest said that the only way for the Rajput to rid himself of the curse would be to find a man who would be buried alive of his own free will and to bury him in the foundation of the Mehrangar fort! The king found such a man and followed the procedure, ensuring that he would be able to construct the fort. To this day, the decendants of the royal family of Johdpur provide help to the decendents of the man who was buried alive!

We also went on a village safari, driving in a jeep through a rural village. We learnt about the potters and how they make the pottery, the weavers and their cooperation and we had a traditional meal. It was very interesting!

Ishani