Museum · Jodhpur, Rajasthan
Mehrangarh Museum
A museum inside the fort above Jodhpur, the seat of the Marwar rulers. It keeps their painting, palanquins, howdahs, turbans and furniture within the palaces that used them.
See first
- The painting gallery: Marwar-Jodhpur painting
- The Turban Gallery
- Howdahs and palanquins
- The Phool Mahal and Sheesha Mahal
- Royal cradles and musical instruments
Rao Jodha founded Jodhpur in 1459 as the new capital of Marwar, and the fort stands over the city on its rock. Inside are several palaces, the Moti Mahal, Phool Mahal and Sheesha Mahal among them, and a museum.
The museum’s strength is that it shows how court objects were used, not only how they looked. Howdahs, two-compartment wooden seats often covered in embossed gold and silver sheet, were strapped to elephants. Palanquins carried women of the nobility until the second quarter of the twentieth century. There are royal cradles, costumes, musical instruments and furniture.
For painting, there is a gallery of Marwar-Jodhpur work, the court painting of this kingdom. Set it beside the Mughal miniatures most people know and compare how each court chose to see itself.
The Turban Gallery sets out to record the many kinds of turban once worn in Rajasthan, where each community, region and festival had its own.