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    Guardian Jodhpur fortress


    Walking down Mehrangarh’s ramparts, Arjun Kumar couldn’t help but revisit childhood fascinations and rediscover aspects of the valorous Rathore history.

    Childhood memories are strange. Obscure things linger down the years while the more obvious ones get relegated to a dark corner of the mind. My earliest memories of a trip to Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur as a child are a bit like that.

    While most of the more prominent elements ��� the palaces, the view of the city and even the Chamunda Devi temple were forgotten, what stayed was a distant memory of the cannon which dot the fort���s ramparts.

    To a two-year old being taken around the fort, the cannon had appeared huge with their massive wheels rising above my head. So it was fascinating to return to Jodhpur a couple of decades later and pick up the threads of Mehrangarh���s history, beyond the canons of childhood, so to speak!

    Not unexpectedly, the fort was exactly as it has always been ��� a powerfully built column of stone looming protectively over the city it has stood watch over for over five centuries. The first impression of the fort to all visitors is that of a guardian of the city ��� an impression that few other large forts in India convey, Gwalior being an exception.

    A circuitous path leads from the heart of the city up to the fort. Walking up to the citadel, I involuntarily began to recall the many legends associated with it. The first memory was triggered by the kites which swooped down from the fort, circled the city and flew back.

    Birds have been a part of the Mehrangarh tradition, right from the time the fort was built here in 1459 on a hill called ���Bhakur-cheeria��� or the Mountain of Birds. One legend led to another and the hermit ���Cheeria Nathji��� came to mind. Locals hold that the hermit was the sole human living on the hill at the time when the fort began to be built and seeing his peace being disturbed, he cursed Rao Jodha that his fort would face a perpetual shortage of water.

    For a place in Marwar ��� the land of death in a vast and arid desert ��� there could have been nothing worse than this and Rao Jodha set about taking preventive measures . In that process he spawned some of the most awe-inspiring stories that echo till today.

    It is believed that to please the gods and render the curse ineffective, human sacrifice was performed with four people buried alive in the foundations of the fort, at its four corners. Another version of the tale holds that only one person ��� called Mehran ��� was sacrificed by being thrown from the hilltop. To placate the unhappy hermit, Jodha also built a temple near the spot he used to pray.

    Regardless of which method may have worked, Mehrangarh survived and did well. Each ruler succeeding Jodha added a bit to the fort and consequently the fort is full of beautiful palaces today. So much so that a walk through the fort is like walking through a kaleidoscope of the history of the ���Ran Banka��� Rathores, the ruling clan of Jodhpur.

    First comes the Jai Pol, built to commemorate the victory over the Jaipur army in 1807. The inner walls within Jai Pol still bear the marks of cannonballs fired by the attacking force. Next is the Fateh Pol, built to acknowledge the highest point of Rathore history. This marked the culmination of an epic struggle between the Rathores and the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb who sought to control Marwar by destroying the power of Jodhpur.

    After the death of Jodhpur���s Maharaja Jaswant Singh while campaigning against the Afghans, Aurangzeb refused to acknowledge the right of his posthumously born son Ajit to succeed. This injustice saw the rise of another legend ��� Durgadas Rathore, who fiercely resisted the Mughals and succeeded in installing Ajit on the throne in 1707. The Fateh Pol stands to mark that victory.

    Equally imposing are the Lakhna Pol, Amrit Pol, Suraj Pol and Loha Pol each with a story of its own. Near Loha Pol is a stark reminder of another facet of Rajput tradition: the tiny handprints of all the women who committed sati on the funeral pyres of their husbands.

    While the Rajput custom of jauhar (self immolation to prevent dishonour after imminent defeat) was morally defensible, sati was undoubtedly barbaric and the manner in which people today still worship the handprints can be revolting.

    So onward I went to a more pleasant aspect of Mehrangarh, through Suraj Pol ��� the palaces. Moti Mahal, Phool Mahal, Jhanki Mahal, Khabgah Mahal, Takhat Vilas and Daulat Khana and Sileh Khana (armoury) collectively make up an interesting museum which offers a glimpse of the lifestyles of a bygone era.

    They are full of lavish decorations and intricate objects like carpet weights, wooden dumb-bells inlayed with ivory (for use by royal ladies!) , huqqa bowls with silver inlay and more.

    The walls are richly decorated with paintings, many medieval and a few clearly of relatively recent origin. To add to the colour and vibrancy are some unique galleries ��� one of which has an entire set of elephant seats, another which has palanquins and a third that showcases cradles of different designs. The museum truly brings alive every aspect of Rajput culture and I silently thanked the Mehrangarh Museum Trust for doing a great job in preserving this heritage.

    When it comes to architectural heritage, there���s more than just Mehrangarh, for not far from Jodhpur is Osian with its stunning temples and Mandore the old capital of Marwar with its haunting cenotaphs . Jalore, Nagaur, Siwana, Pokhran and many more forts beckon but I headed for my main childhood memory: the cannon of Mehrangarh!

    From the ramparts, the view of Jodhpur far below is stunning ��� tiny houses painted a particular blue on the outside to reflect heat! Far away, the Umaid Bhavan Palace stands like a grande dame on another mound on the outskirts of the city. The cannon on the ramparts are of all types, shapes and sizes, and appear to be drawn from the ordnance of many armies. Some are fixed, many are mobile with variations even among the wheels. The overall effect is of another gallery of the museum!

    Further down the ramparts led me to the place that was recently splashed all over the media after a terrible stampede during Navratra led to hundreds of deaths. Down the narrow walkway ��� wedged between the ramparts on one side and the now-dry moat on the other ��� nestled the Chamunda Devi temple, indicating just how impractical the place is for large gatherings.

    Walking back from the ramparts, I recalled another of Jodhpur���s legends. Sir Pratap Singh or ���Sir P��� as he was called, (a forebear of the current head of the house of Rathore, Maharaja Gaj Singh II) who ���invented��� the famous jodhpur riding breeches and apparently demanded to sleep in Buckingham Palace on his visit to Britain!

    In true Marwar tradition, he was a fine soldier too, leading his cavalry unit to victory in Haifa in World War I.

    The Marwar tradition of fine soldiering is not a thing of the medieval era but continues today. One of the finest examples of this was another Rathore, Lt Col (later Lt Gen) Hanut Singh who won a Mahavir Chakra while leading the renowned 17 (Poona) Horse to victory in the battle of Basantar during the 1971 India-Pak war.

    Warriors have come, won glory and moved on but Marwar���s biggest fort still stands tall in its role as guardian of the region inspiring the men here to greater heights of valour. If I were to go back after a couple of decades, I wonder what the place will be like.

    The city would have expanded, the houses would be higher, but the fort would me much the same with its mighty gateways, calm palaces and of course, the unforgettable cannon.
    The Economic Times

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