Rao Jodha's desert capital painted a famous blue
Jodhpur is Rajasthan's second-largest city after Jaipur, with sources citing about 1.6 million people as of 2025. Rao Jodha of the Rathore clan founded it in 1459 as capital of Marwar in the Thar Desert. The old town's indigo-washed houses earned the nickname Blue City around Mehrangarh Fort.
Jodhpur simply means Jodha's town. Earlier Marwar power sat at Mandore after Pratihara dowries and Chunda's conquests; Jodhpur soon replaced it on the Delhi-Gujarat trade road, taxing opium, copper, silk, sandalwood, and dates. After Rao Chandrasen's death in 1581, Akbar made Marwar a Mughal vassal with internal autonomy that imported new arts. Aurangzeb briefly seized the state around 1679; Ajit Singh regained the throne in 1707 after Durgadas Rathore's long resistance.
Climate is hot desert (Koppen BWh): average rain near 362 millimetres, yet 1899 brought only 24 millimetres and 1917 some 1,178. April to June highs routinely top 40 C; a 20 May 2016 reading hit 48.8 C. Under British Raj, Jodhpur state spanned about 93,424 square kilometres with a 1901 population near 4.47 million; Marwari merchants rose to pan-Indian commercial power. Accession came on 11 August 1947; the city entered Rajasthan on 30 March 1949.
The walled old city still circles Mehrangarh with multiple gates, a tourist hub near Rajasthan's geographic centre. The 2011 municipal census counted 1,056,191 people; later boundary changes push recent urban estimates toward 1.66 million. Indigo washes on house walls keep the Blue City nickname vivid for visitors climbing toward the fort. From epic-era Abhira mentions through Ghatiyala's 996 CE pillar to blue-washed lanes below the citadel, Jodhpur layers Rajput court culture on desert trade logistics.
Source: Jodhpur
