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The Rathore Clan

For the story of the martial clan, the Rathores, who ruled Marwar from Jodhpur till the Merger of the Princely States with the Dominion of India in 1949, one must travel further back in time to the year 1194. It was in that year, thousands of miles away in eastern India that the Muslim invader, Mohammed Ghori, defeated the mighty Jaichand of Kanauj. It was Jaichand's great-grandson, Sheoji, who rode out to Marwar in 1226, eager for fresh battlefields and glory all his own. And it is Sheoji's descendants who proudly bear the name, Rathore.

In 1226 the principal cities of Marwar were Mandore, today a fifteen minute drive from Jodhpur and Pali, an hour's drive south; and it was the latter, a rich commercial centre, that Sheoji first conquered. Over the decades the Rathores expanded steadily but it was only in 1395, in the reign of their twelfth ruler, Rao Chunda, that they acquired - not conquered - Mandore.

Mandore is Marwar's most historic city. Today in ruins, it was the capital of many a great dynasty. Legend has it that Ravana, the Demon King of Lanka who defied Lord Rama himself, married a princess of Mandore, his favourite queen Mandodri. In 1292 the Parihar Rajputs lost Mandore to the Khilji Sultans of Delhi and after that the city remained with the Sultans of Delhi till 1395. In that year their Governor in Mandore, Aibak Khan, demanded fodder as well as the tax on grain, and this eventually proved to be his undoing. The Parihars, tired of this autocratic man, hatched a plan, which, in ingenuity matched the famous Trojan Horse, and in bravery far surpassed it. Five hundred Parihars smuggled themselves into the fortified city in a hundred cart-loads of grass. These carts were checked randomly and prodded with spears. Some men were pierced but they uttered not a sound and, in fact, even managed to wipe the blood off the spears as they were withdrawn. Then the Parihars fell upon the Muslims. Within an hour Mandore was once again in their hands but the victors realised that defending her was going to be an entirely different problem. It was then that someone suggested a marital alliance be arranged with the young Chunda. Thus did Mandore, the capital of Marwar, come to the Rathores in a dowry.

As the unchallenged rulers of Mandore, Sheoji's descendants were firmly established as the most powerful clan in the region. And it was left to Chunda's grandson, Rao Jodha, to secure a place for the Rathores in the annals of India by building one of her most spectacular forts and founding one of her most charming cities. The foundation of this fort was laid on 12 May 1459 by Jodha himself on rocky Bhakurcheeria, only six miles away from Mandore. Perhaps with Cheeria Nathji's curse ringing in his ears, Jodha had a young man buried alive in it to ensure the new site proved propitious. This man was Rajiya Bambi who was promised that his family and descendants would be looked after by the Rathores. It is a promise that has been honoured and Rajiya's descendants, who still live in Raj Bagh, Rajiya's Garden; the estate bequeathed to their ancestor by Jodha, continue to enjoy a special relationship with the Maharaja

THE RATHORES OF MARWAR - JODHPUR

Bhakarcheeria, the Mountain of Birds

On a leafy pond, tucked into a shady corner of Jodhpur's magnificent fifteenth century fortress, Mehrangarh, there stands a tiny temple. Exuding serenity it looks out over the outer walls of the fortress at the bustling old walled city of Jodhpur, that part of it washed blue by her pious Brahmins. Behind it the natural rock-face of Bhakarcheeria, the Mountains of birds from which the fortress is hewn, rises a hundred and fifty feet high, giving way first to intimidating man-made battlements and then, suddenly, to exquisite palaces.

The temple was raised in honour of an old hermit called Cheeria Nathji, the Lord of the Birds, by the fifteenth Rathore ruler of Marwar, Rao Jodha, in 1459; the same year that he began the construction of Mehrangarh and laid the foundation of the city of Jodhpur.

Indeed, the story of Jodhpur begins with Cheeria Nathji, the city's first citizen who had lived here in contemplative isolation for many years when Jodha's masons shattered his tranquil world. Irate, he cursed the Rathore, "Jodha! May your citadel always suffer a scarcity of water!" A terrible curse anywhere, but in this harsh and inhospitable land, on the eastern extremities of the Great Indian Thar Desert, a land still called Marwar, The Land of Death, it heralded doom itself. The story of Jodha's City is as much a ballad of her kings and queens and warriors as it is a tale of the Jodhpuri's heroic struggle with, and victory over, the elements; her character shaped as much by the blood and passion of her protectors, the enterprise of her merchants and the sheer grit of her peasants, as by the hot sands lashing at her spirit.

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Sep 26, 2010 @ 12:20 pm | delete

Nice lense.

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Rathore

The Rathore Clan

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THE RATHORES OF MARWAR - JODHPUR

Bhakarcheeria, the Mountain of Birds

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