Long before Jodhpur became the postcard-perfect “Blue City” of Instagram reels, it was a walled town of seven gates, a desert kingdom mapping its first water canals, and a princely state quietly rebuilding itself between famine and modernity. These rare photographs — many over a century old — open a window into that Jodhpur. A city of caravans and clock towers, of palaces rising from drought, and of cinema halls echoing with Bachchan’s roar.
Here’s a swipe through history.
1. Merti Gate
Facing north toward Merta — the birthplace of the poet-saint Meera Bai — this gate was once one of Jodhpur’s busiest entry points. Trade caravans, soldiers, and pilgrims streamed through its arched doorway, while bullocks rested in its shadow. The crenellated battlements and twin bastions weren’t just decorative; they were defensive, a reminder that every gate of the walled city was first a fortress.
2. Sojati Gate
Today, Sojati Gate is Jodhpur’s most chaotic crossroads — a swirl of auto-rickshaws, sweet shops, and saree stores. But this photograph captures it in a far quieter age. Empty lanes, a lone street lamp, a chhatri standing silent beside the arch, and the soft outlines of the old city wall fading into the distance. Hard to believe this is the same Sojati Gate.
3. Jalori Gate
Opening westward toward Jalore, this gate guarded the route along which traders and soldiers moved between the two kingdoms. Its rounded bastion and pointed arch are textbook Marwari military architecture — built for both defence and ceremony. Today the spot is a roaring traffic circle, but a hundred years ago, this is what greeted travellers entering Jodhpur from the south-west.
4. Sardar Market & Girdikot
Built during the reign of Maharaja Sardar Singh (1880–1911), this triple-arched gateway became the beating heart of Jodhpur’s commerce. Walk through it today and you’re swallowed by a kaleidoscope of bandhani, brass, mirchi vada, and chai. In this photograph, the square is almost empty — just a few figures, a bullock cart, and an inscription proudly announcing “Sardar Market Girdikot” above the central arch.
5. The Clock Tower (Ghanta Ghar)
Rising above Sardar Market is the Ghanta Ghar — Maharaja Sardar Singh’s late-19th-century gift to a city that needed standardised time. In this sepia frame, the Mehrangarh looms behind it like a guardian, and Sardar Market sprawls below. More than a clock, it became a meeting point — a place to say “milte hain Ghanta Ghar pe (Let’s meet at Ghanta Ghar)” — and remains so to this day.
6. The Oldest Photograph of Balsamand
Believed to be the earliest surviving image of Balsamand Lake, this photograph captures the artificial reservoir built by the Gurjara-Pratihara rulers in the 12th century. The pavilions, ghats, and the summer palace beyond were later additions by Jodhpur’s royals, who used Balsamand as a monsoon retreat. The stillness of the water here feels almost sacred — a desert kingdom’s quiet love letter to abundance.
7. Rai Ka Bagh Palace
Constructed in 1663 by Hadiji, queen of Maharaja Jaswant Singh I, this circular garden palace later found unexpected fame as a favourite retreat of Swami Dayanand Saraswati, the founder of Arya Samaj. In fact, Swami Dayanand spent his final months here in 1883. Today, only fragments of the original structure remain, swallowed by the city’s expansion around the railway station.
8. The Square Palace at Sumer Market
This rare frame, over a century old, shows a four-cornered palace that once anchored Jodhpur’s biggest fairs and Teej celebrations. Years later, the same site became a grain market — Sumer Market — and today, surrounded by tin sheds and tarpaulins, the palace’s identity has all but disappeared. A reminder of how easily a city’s grand architecture can be quietly absorbed into its everyday bazaars.
9. The Residency Building
The oldest known photograph of the Residency, built in 1890 by Maharaja Jaswant Singh II under the supervision of Henry Holmes, the British General Manager of Jodhpur Railways. For 57 years, this was where the British political agent lived. In 1963, the Jai Narain Vyas University acquired it — and generations of Jodhpur students have since walked past its arches, perhaps unaware of its colonial past.
10. Nazarbagh, Mohanpura
Tucked among trees and reached by a long driveway, Nazarbagh was a colonial-era residence that brought European arches and balustrades into Jodhpur’s royal vocabulary. Nobles and visiting dignitaries dined here. Its architecture — part Rajputana, part Edwardian — captures that strange in-between moment when Indian princes were both rulers of their states and guests at the British viceroy’s table.
11. Umedja Bungalow
Built between 1908 and 1911 — again under Henry Holmes — this bungalow belonged to Thakur Umadsinghji Chauhla, private secretary to Maharaja Sardar Singh. Before Mohanpura Bridge existed, the road to Ratanada from Sojati Gate passed right in front of it. Over the decades, its halls housed Darbar School, then Jaswant College, and eventually MBM Engineering College — three generations of Jodhpur’s learning under one roof.
12. Kachhari Bhavan (The Old High Court)
With its domes, jharokhas, and Indo-Saracenic flourishes, Kachhari Bhavan was once the judicial heart of Marwar. It served as the seat of the Rajasthan High Court before the institution shifted to its current complex. Look closely at the chhatris and arched verandahs — this is Jodhpur’s architectural signature, the same vocabulary that built the Umaid Bhawan, applied here to the language of law and justice.
13. The Ship House
In 1886, Maharaja Sir Pratap built the vast Sardar Sagar Lake near Nagauri Gate, and beside it, this curious boat-shaped bungalow rising from a rocky outcrop. Locals called it the “Ship House.” On 25 January 1949, it found a second life: the Jodhpur Broadcasting Station was inaugurated within its walls — making it the city’s first home of radio waves.
14. Umaid Bhawan Palace under construction, 1936
A photograph that freezes a moment of slow, deliberate kindness. Foundation laid in 1929 by Maharaja Umaid Singh, the palace was conceived not as vanity but as employment — a response to the three-year famine ravaging Marwar. Around 3,000 workers chipped golden Chittar sandstone for 14 years. Designed by Henry Vaughan Lanchester, the 347-room palace was completed in 1943 — among the last great royal residences ever built.
15. Planning Jodhpur’s drinking water
Three men, a wall-sized map, and a vision. Maharaja Umaid Singh stands with Maharaja Ajit Singh and Maharajkumar Hukum Singh, reviewing the Pachpadra Water Supply and Canal Scheme — designed to bring drinking water to Jodhpur’s parched residents. In a desert kingdom, water was always the real currency. This rare image captures royalty doing what is too often forgotten: civic engineering.
16. Anand Cinema, 1978
We close with a more recent memory — but no less iconic. In 1978, Anand Cinema’s wall was plastered with hand-painted posters of Muqaddar Ka Sikandar. Every show ran houseful. Cycle-rickshaws lined the street, boys jostled for tickets, and Bachchan’s voice echoed through Jodhpur’s nights. Single-screen theatres like this one have largely vanished — but for a generation, they were where stories first came alive.
A city that remembers
As a native of Jodhpur, what struck me in these photographs isn’t just how much has changed — it’s how much hasn’t. The gates still stand. The clock tower still chimes. Balsamand still mirrors the sky. Jodhpur, like any old Indian city, carries its centuries lightly, layering bazaars over palaces and broadcast stations into bungalows. To walk it today is to walk through every one of these frames at once.
All pictures courtesy Instagram/@explorejodhpur.in
