By Porter Lang
Nobody agrees. Three explanations are in circulation for the blue houses of Jodhpur’s old city, and the sources we read do not settle between them. We set them side by side below, because the disagreement is more honest than any one tidy answer.
The city and its founder
Wikipedia says Rao Jodha, a Rathore Rajput chief, founded Jodhpur in 1459 and that the city is named after him. His conquests formed the kingdom known as Marwar, and Jodhpur became its historic capital. Mandore was the first capital, the article says, and Jodhpur took over the role during Jodha’s lifetime. The old city is built around the fort, which overlooks it. Jodhpur lies at the edge of the Thar Desert.
The fort
Wikipedia’s article on Mehrangarh puts the fort on a hilltop about 122 metres above the surrounding plain, and says the foundation was laid on 12 May 1459. Most of the fort that stands today dates from the time of Maharaja Jaswant Singh, who ruled from 1638 to 1678. The walls are up to 36 metres high and 21 metres wide. The article says the fort has seven gates and describes some of them: Jai Pol, built by Maharaja Man Singh in 1806 to celebrate victories over the Jaipur and Bikaner armies; Fateh Pol, built to celebrate a victory over the Mughals in 1707; and Dedh Kangra Pol, which still bears cannonball damage. We list three of the seven, because the article describes only a few.
The Chamunda Mataji Temple stands inside the fort, and the article says Rao Jodha brought the idol from Mandore in 1460. The museum holds palanquins, howdahs, royal cradles, miniatures, musical instruments, costumes and furniture. Rao Jodha Desert Rock Park, next to the fort, was created in 2006 and opened to the public in February 2011.
Dates in order
- 12 May 1459: foundation of Mehrangarh laid, according to Wikipedia.
- 1459: Jodhpur founded by Rao Jodha, according to Wikipedia.
- 1460: the Chamunda Mataji idol brought from Mandore, according to Wikipedia.
- 1638 to 1678: the reign of Jaswant Singh, to which most of the standing fort dates, according to Wikipedia.
- 1707: Fateh Pol built to celebrate a victory over the Mughals, according to Wikipedia.
- 1806: Jai Pol built by Man Singh, according to Wikipedia.
- 2006: Rao Jodha Desert Rock Park created, according to Wikipedia.
- February 2011: the park opens to the public, according to Wikipedia.
The blue
Wikipedia says the city’s nickname, the Blue City, comes from the dominant blue colour scheme of the buildings in the old town. It lists Sun City as another nickname and does not explain it. The article gives no reason for the colour. Two other sources do, and they differ.
A paint company’s blog, Berger Paints’ Colour Magazine from January 2017, offers three explanations and gives no dates for when the colour began. One is a caste marker: blue signalled a Brahmin home, since only Brahmins could afford the copper-sulphate lime wash, and the blog argues they were simply the only ones able to pay for it. The second is cooling: blue reflects sunlight and keeps houses cool, which the blog calls puzzling, because Rajasthan’s other great cities are not painted blue. The third is termite protection: termites damaged lime-mixture walls, copper sulphate repels insects, and under certain conditions it turns blue. The blog calls this explanation “more practical than artistic”. It also attributes the painting to the orders of the city’s founder, Rao Jodha, but gives no year. It is a paint company’s blog, it cites no sources, and we mark it accordingly.
A community-contributed article on PreventionWeb, the knowledge platform of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, takes up the cooling claim. Its author, a disaster-risk specialist, says the research tested the idea that blue moderates indoor temperatures and found that the blue “makes no discernible contribution”. The page credits courtyards, thick sandstone walls, jharokhas, jaalis and winding streets instead. It says the colour was “historically introduced by the Brahmin community” and gives only a video link as the source. The page also says the measurements covered only two traditional houses, gives no methodology and no measured values, and carries a disclaimer that the views are not necessarily those of the UN office. We treat it as a community blog piece and not as a peer-reviewed study.
Side by side
Three accounts, three weights of evidence. Wikipedia gives the fact of the blue and no cause. The paint blog gives three causes and no sources. The community article rejects one cause on thin measurement and cites a video for another. Our reading: the honest summary is that the colour is a fact, the reasons are traditions with little documentation, and the cooling claim has been challenged. That is our inference, and none of the three sources says it.
Trade, and the road
Wikipedia says the city’s position on the road linking Delhi to Gujarat helped it profit from trade in opium, copper, silk, sandalwood, dates and other goods. It also calls Jodhpur a centre of India’s handicraft industry.
What kind of sources these are
Wikipedia, which anyone can edit, for the city and the fort. A paint company’s blog. A community-contributed article on a UN-hosted knowledge platform, whose author’s views are stated not to be the platform’s. We read no municipal, state or museum page, and we have left out opening hours, entry costs and transport for that reason.
What we left out
We left out the account of a stampede at the temple in 2008 and the handprints at one gate, because they are tragic and not what this page is about. We left out the quotation the article attributes to a writer comparing the fort to a work of Titans, since it is decoration and not evidence.
Roam first. Shop later.