Fort Khejarla, Rajasthan (Dec 28, 2008)

We were initially scheduled to be in Jodhpur on the night of Dec. 28th. Due to delays at Ajmer and Pushkar and some confusion, the Superintendent of Police (SP) of Jodhpur, Mr. Ramji, who was helping us see Jodhpur and vicinity arranged for us to stay at Bilada which is about 70 km from Jodhpur for that night. He promised that it will be an experience but never revealed what it was. We were expecting a typical police guest house or something like that. We reached Bilada police station around 9:00 PM. The police escorted us through a country road with nothing extraordinary. After about 15 minutes of drive north of Bilada we saw something shining in gold in the distance. I recognized it as an ancient fort in middle of nowhere. As we winded through the small village to get to the fort entrance I was spellbound. As we stepped out of our taxi in the courtyard of the elegantly lit fort, . While we stood in awe not knowing where we are, the hotel manager asked where we wished to stay for the night, the fort or the 'new' rooms. We obviously picked the fort. The rooms were another surprise. We slept in a room built 450 years back.

Next morning I went crazy taking pictures and filming the village from the top of the fort. After a not so exciting breakfast, I wanted to spend the day reading and drinking tea in the shaded lawn and in the night visiting the ancient temple that I saw from the fort terrace. Our plan was to proceed to Jodhpur that morning but the beauty of this place made us decide to stay till the evening.

I sat on the shaded lawn and painted the ancient hallways, read a book (Last Mughal), had lunch and and just lazed in the sun. While we were about to depart that evening, we met the Rajah of the fort, Mr. Dileep Singh (see his picture). He explained the history of the fort and where he lived until recently inside the fort. I also met the person who leased the fort and converting it to hotel. He is an interior designer and exports handicrafts overseas. He certainly had very good taste. I saw how dilapidated the fort looked from old pictures and saw how he transformed it into an artistic hotel.

History
The Fort was built by the ancestors of Rajah Dileep Singh. He claimed that they actually came from the royal family of Jaisalmer having descended from one of the younger son of Jaisalmer Rajah. This Rajah faught for Rajah of Jodhpur against the Mughal rulers and in honor of this service, this Rajah (Thakur Gopaldas) was granted few villages near Khajerla (jagir). The fort was built in 1611 AD.

The fort doesn't look anywhere like an Indian fort but as a medeival european fort. Steep fort walls, little ornamentation. The rajah showed me the room his father used (the royal suite), and the rooms that he, his brother, and his aunt lived in. The restoration is still in progress.

The Rajah said that every time the Mughal army rolled in to attack Jodhpur, they would destroy this fort and that it was destroyed 3-4 times and each time it was rebuilt.

Travel
We left for the temple in the evening around 5 PM. The temple is supposed to be 600 years old and that Aurangazeb was supposed to have destroyed it the last time. We walked up the top to watch the sunset. We got a good view of the landscape around. There are patches of green fields in the distance but rest of the land arid and dry. I wondered how the villagers made a living. We spent a good hour talking with the local police who was escorting us around and the tourist guide from the hotel who was escorting a family of French tourist to see the sunset. We were told that most people subsisted on little agriculture they can and rest worked at a local limestone factory. My sister observed that the village did not appear to be as poor as we thought. We found most had a brick and mortar house.

The country side is filled with the sound of many birds. The temple also spread out a large amount of seeds for the birds. It appears to be a tradition in Rajasthan to feed the birds like that. This place including Jodhpur that we will be visiting are in the province of Marwar in Rajasthan. People from this area have many unique qualities. They are reputed to be very entrepreneurial in India (Marwari Jains), they are also Rajput (fierce Hindu warriors), very artistic like most areas in Rajasthan.

I promise to return to this place one day and then we head for Jodhpur around 6 PM after the sun has set. We took one last look at the lighted Fort Khajerla before heading North-west for Jodhpur.

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