Mehrangarh Fort stands a hundred feet in splendour on a perpendicular cliff, four hundred feet above the sky line of Jodhpur. Burnished red sand stone, imposing, invincible and yet with a strange haunting beauty that beckons . Much has been written about the Citadel of the Sun, for truly, it is one of the most impressive in all Rajasthan. So colossal are its proportions that Rudyard Kipling called it “ the work of giants”. Today, it is acknowledged as the finest living example of a Hindu fortress.

Jodha’s fortress was 'Chao Burja' – a fort with four Bastions. The extremities of the original fortress fall within the limit of the second gate today. Of Jodha’s time itself, very little remains, the fort expanded beyond his outer gates within fifty years of his death but the spot where this gate stood is known as “ Rao Jodhaji Ka Falsa” ( Jodha’s outer limit of the boundary). In its Janampatri the fort is named Chintamani, after the Mythological gem worn by lord Ram which supposedly frees the owner of all worldly worry. Chintamani gave way to Mordhwaj, the flag of the peocock, presumably because the forts outer parameter suggests the fan like tail of a dancing peacock, It is at some point after this that the name Mehrangarh began to appear in chronicles and poems. “Mehr” is a Rajasthani word for the sun and it is not at all unlikely that the Suryavanshi Rathores would name their first citadel in their mythological ancestor’s honour.

“The beauty of Kashmir has often been celebrated in prose and rhyme. However, one of the grandest sights in India is the fort of Jodhpur, built by titans in Kipling’s unrivalled phrase and lit with the glory of the morning sun it stands on a bluff over the town like some levia left high and dry by a subsiding flood”.

The surrounding wall of the fort today is from 6 to 36 Meters high and from 3 to 21 Meters thick, enclosing an oblong space of about 457 Meters in length by 228 in breadth at its widest part. This enclosure is almost completely covered by buildings viz. palaces, barracks and magazines. It has two main entrances at the north east corner and south west extremity. The top of the outer wall on the east and south-east sides has been formed into wide ramparts for working artillery and on the other sides the wall is surmounted by a complete chain of battlements, with towers here and there to support heavy guns. The palace displays stone carving in its arches, windows, balustrades and balconies, which are both elegant and beautiful in design and finish. The masonry is very solid and substantial through out, the walls of the fort and palace are of heavy cut stone, well cemented and sometimes pinned together with iron spikes. To give additional strength to the outer walls, they were in many places strongly buttressed, and the masonry spiked to the rock on which it rests.

Seventeen generations of Rathore Rulers have added temples, palaces and court-yards . Yet nowhere does a building seem out of place for the blending has been skillfully done, and each addition is in true spirit to the original architecture. The rugged walls belie the delicate beauty of the palaces within. The main feature of the fort palace is; more accommodation for women than for men, two thirds of the palace is taken up by the Zenana ( for ladies). The imbalance is pronounced because the duties of imperial service caused the rulers and their male relations to spend long periods away from their capital. A major court of the Jodhpur Zenana is the Moti Mahal Chowk. The north, east and south wings of this court are decorated with numerous Jharokhas filled with Jali screens and capped by 'bangaldar' eaves, the whole scheme carved from sandstone and painted white.

The Moti vilas Mahal can be dated, on historical and stylistic grounds, to the reign of Maharaja Jaswant Singh ( 1638 – 78 ). Adjacent to the Motivilas, to the south is another Zenana Court which seems to be slightly older. This primacy is suggested largely by the high plinth on which the cloister of each wing is raised. Such plinths are not found in the rest of the palace; they are taken from the domestic architecture of the city, but were presumably soon found to be unnecessary in the palace, where there is no dusty street from which they could afford protection . The cloisters alone are sufficient to afford protection from the monsoon rains. Thus the Motivilas has cloisters, but no plinths. On the evidence of the plinths and carving, the southern court can be dated to no longer than the beginning of Jaswant Singh’s reign.

The further parts of the Jodhpur Zenana covers an extensive area to the east of the two courts described; it includes the ranges around Shringar Chowk (the Coronation Courtyard). In these parts, as in the oldest court, the decorative carving is not painted; here, the scheme is of richly decorated red sand stone . Upper storeys are supported on plainer, white painted lower storeys. The facades of the upper storeys form a continuous perforated screen, through which the women could watch proceedings in Shringar Chowk. The proceedings included the anointing of the new Rulers, for which the marble throne in the chowk was employed.

Apart from the Zenana Mahals, the fort has numerous beautiful palaces; among them the Moti Mahal is a magnificent room, with a mirror worked ceiling and lustrous Chunam covering all of the other interior surfaces. The fine but misplaced wood work which fills the one open front of the hall, is a nineteenth century addition.

Sheesh Mahal, despite its comparatively late date is a good example of a typical Rajput Sheesh Mahal, very different from the Mughal inspired Sheesh Mahals. The mirror-work includes large, regular pieces, rather than an intricate mosaic of tiny fragments and superimposed over the mirror-work are figural designs in plaster, brightly painted. The room gives access to long balconies of this type as opposed to small, cradle balconies but they are otherwise scarce in Rajput architecture. Phul Mahal was made by Maharaja Abhai Singh ( 1724-49) . The stone work of this room includes Jali screens, introduced for the first time in the Mardana (men's section). In style it is similar to the stonework of the older buildings, but it is weaker; the carving is hollow and fails to achieve the rich effect of the earlier buildings. The murals in the room were added much later, in the reign of Maharaja Jaswant Singh II ( 1873-95) . The Phul Mahal murals depict the Raga-Ragini ( the thirty six musical modes, which were a favourite source of inspiration for painting cycles). The Takhat-Vilas, a room added by Maharaja Takhat Singh ( 1843-73), is more traditional in style. The murals in Takhat Vilas depict dancing girls, scenes from the Krishna-Lila, and the ballad Dhola Maru. Takhat Vilas has a unusual roof construction; the ceiling is supported by enormous wooden beams resting on corbels – an obvious solution to the problem of providing a large uninterrupted space.

Today, the palaces and rooms of the fort have been converted into a museum, that houses one of the largest collections of palanquins, elephant howdahs, cradles, manuscripts, miniature paintings, costumes and weapons from every period of history; the heritage of the proud Rathore Rulers of Marwar-Jodhpur...