Sunday, February 06
Jodhpur – Rest Day
A visit to Fort Mehrangarh filled a good portion of the day. Rudyard Kipling described this fort as “the creation of angels, fairies and giants.” The outside of the fort boasts rampart walls that are 79 feet thick in spots and 131 feet tall at their highest. It is made of sandstone and is perched atop a 410 foot high rock overlooking the indigo painted village of Brahmapuri – an impressive place.
The view from near the top of the fort looking down at the ramparts.
The village below is painted indigo - the color keeps temperatures cool in the summer months and also acts as a bug deterrent (or so they told me). It is a pretty sight from the top of one of the ramparts:
The fort houses a museum as well as many historic places and items. This is the place & the throne where the rulers are crowned – the latest ruler was crowned here at the age of 4 when his father passed away suddenly… he is still the Maharaja today. This throne (Shringar Chowk) is made of white marble and is situated in one of the many outdoor courtyards of the fort.
Some of the inner rooms are very ornate – this one is embellished with mirrored tiles, gold and mosaics.
Here’s a private room for the ladies – can’t you see them being pampered here? This shows the decorative ceiling with the glass balls:
The “Hall of Glances” houses the museum’s collection of royal cradles. In its time, this hall was filled with women who had view of 2 courtyards below – one on either side. It is lined with the ornate screens very common here. These screens allowed women to see what was going on below without being seen by men. Here is one of the royal cradles:
Here’s one I thought was interesting – in the center of this display, is a rather decorative antique women’s cosmetic/jewelry case and on either side are women’s dumbbells to keep their muscles toned. I had a hard time picturing these ladies of yester-year working out!
Tomorrow’s ride is 117 K but I may not do the whole distance - it depends on how I am feeling. I picked up an antibiotic this afternoon for my cough – it keeps getting worse and I am completely hoarse from having a raw throat for so many days. Jan and Candie have yet to begin feeling better so they picked up something from the pharmacy today too. I should’ve taken a picture of the “pharmacy” – it’s just a street-front hole-in-the-wall with a “druggist” in it. You tell the druggist what you need and he sets you up! I bought my antibiotics and cough medicine for less than $3.00 – I didn’t even need my insurance card—haha!!
