Jodhpur has one of the best palace forts we visited in Rajasthan, India, the Mehrangarh Fort. It has been very well maintained and outfitted with an outstanding museum. It sits on top of a craggy bluff over the city, dubbed the blue city. On the path up to the fort palace is the royal cremation ground and memorial park.
Our day in this city began at the town square where a fabulous clock tower stands in the middle of a market plaza. Being early in the morning, there were few people there. Pigeons flocked to patches of street where they were fed, and the fort sat looking down on the city from its stone throne. We wandered some backstreets to a stepwell with deep blue water and teaming with fish. Then we headed up the hill to the royal places.
The Royal Cremation Grounds
Hinduism requires that a cremation take place by a body of water. This part of the country is very arid as it approaches the desert, so water is scarce. But, up this mountain is a small, natural stone bowl that collects water similar to a stepwell. At this spot, they performed the sacred ritual.
Prior to the Mughal invasion and introduction of their culture, the Hindus didn’t do anything to commemorate their dead after the cremation ceremony. However, when Mughal emperors built monuments and mausoleums for their dead, the practice was adopted by the Hindu-believing royalty. So, at the cremations grounds we found some beautiful memorials to past members of the royal household of Jodhpur.
Mehrangarh Fort
As I said the palace fort reigning over the city is a magnificent structure with exquisitely carved stone lattice work and brilliantly and colorfully decorated rooms. What makes this fort more worthy of a visit than just the architecture are the galleries of artifacts on display. They include a collection of palanquins, weaponry, traveling tents that are beautifully embroidered, royal cradles and basinets, and artwork of many varieties. The galleries are laid out very well and showcase the artifacts in a way to highlight both them and the building around them. It was clean and didn’t feel dingy, musty or old like some of the other palaces did.
Now, if the fort looks a little familiar, you may recognize it from a scene in The Dark Knight Rises. As Bruce Wayne climbs out of the dungeon, Mehrangarh Fort is the backdrop. Looking out over the city from the fort, we could see some neighborhoods with blue buildings. And, out across the city on a hill opposite the fort, we saw the silhouette of another palace that looks a bit like the Taj Mahal (you can see it in a picture above from the cremation grounds). Today it is part royal residence, part luxury hotel, and part museum. We didn’t make it there, but if I were to return to Jodhpur I would go.
Note: Mehrangarh and World Heritage
Although Mehrangarh Fort is stunning and one of the best I visited in India, I can find no official evidence that it is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List like many blogs and travel review sites lead readers to believe. The Hill Forts of Rajasthan site has six properties on the list (Chittorgarh, Kumbhalgarh, Sawai Madhopur, Jhalawar, Jaipur, and Jaisalmer). It is worthy of addition to the list and has received an award for conservation from UNESCO, but as of the writing of this post it is not a World Heritage Site.
