Lomography

Meherangarh Fort, Jaipur
written by wil6ka on February 7th, 2009 , 3 comments (0 votes)

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After you have taken a trip to India, you most likely have seen many temples, forts and palaces. But eventually you don’t really know any more how they are called and where they have been at. A phenomenon also witnessed while traveling in China or Japan. I am quite grateful for the Cosmotourist idea, because it gives me the opportunity to do some research again and to understand, where I have been. Such a missing spot is the Meherangarh Fort close to the big city of Jodhpur.

It is situated in the North of the Rajasthan area and you most likely have to take a car or an elephant, if handy, to get there. The good thing is, you will discover it from afar, because it lays 400 above the sea-level. It is more then 500 years old and is great for many reasons. It was built by Jodha, a ruler of the regions and the oldest of 24! sons of Ranmal. It is exceptional for the north because it has the flavor of Hindi culture. You would say, old case isn’t everything ancient Hinduistic in India. Well not.

There has been a great Islamic movement of the Mughals, who reigned northern and most of India for centuries. A good example how emperors and religions change over the centuries. Most of the Mughal sites (like Taj Mahal) still remain, while other Hindi sites are harder to find. From the entertainment point of view it was the elephants that attracted me the most. You can rent an elephant with a costumed ride-master. And then you slide through the ancient walls, through gates and up the hill.

This is quite cool. Well, I didn’t do it. Because I believed our driver as he „sold us“ to the competition. While on the main street he told us to take the elephants that were on display there: “they are much faster than the ones in the fort“. Well, no! Next time I do the elephants thingy on the fort!!!