The Blue City — Mehrangarh Fort looming above a sea of indigo-painted houses, clock tower markets selling chai and mirchi vadas, and the full ferocity of Rajasthan's royal heritage
Jodhpur (pop. 1.1 million) in western Rajasthan is called the Blue City (Neeli Nagari) for the distinctive indigo-painted houses that cluster around the base of Mehrangarh Fort — the most impressive and best-preserved fortified palace complex in Rajasthan. Mehrangarh sits on a 125-meter-high sandstone ridge, its massive walls rising sheer from the cliff face; from its ramparts you see the entire blue city spread below you and the Thar Desert extending to the horizon. The fort's interior museums are exceptional — Jodhpur was one of the wealthiest princely states in British India and the Rathor…
Jodhpur was founded in 1459 by Rao Jodha, chief of the Rathore Rajput clan, after he expelled a rival from the older nearby fort of Mandore. He chose the Bhakurscheri hill (renamed Mehrangarh) for its strategic impregnability — the 125-meter rock face on three sides has never been breached by a military assault. The Rathore rulers of Marwar (the old name for the Jodhpur region) maintained their independence through a series of diplomatic marriages and alliances with the Mughal emperors and later the British East India Company. The city's wealth — reflected in the fort's art collection and the…