Jodhpur: India’s Lost Blue City

The Brahmapuri community in the Indian city of Jodhpur sits at the foot of a famous fort on a hilltop.

The city was built in 1459 by Rajput king Rao Jodha after whom the city was named. ancient or primitive city with azure houses.

Esther Christine Schmidt, assistant professor at the Jindal School of Art and Architecture, said the iconic blue was likely not adopted before the 17th century.

But since then, the area’s blue houses have become a unique symbol of Jodhpur’s identity and have attracted attention from around the world.

In fact, Jodhpur in Rajasthan is known as the “Blue City,” explains Sunayana Rathore, director of the Mehrangarh Museum, despite constant expansion over the past 70 years. Brahmapuri remains the heart of the city.

Brahmapuri, which roughly translates to “City of Brahmins” in Sanskrit, was a colony of upper-caste families who adopted the color blue as a symbol of their socio-cultural piety within the Hindu caste system.

They set themselves apart, like the Jews of Chefchaouen (or Morocco’s Blue City), who settled in the town’s old medina when they fled the Spanish Inquisition in the 15th century. It is believed that they painted their houses, mosques and even public offices blue, which in Judaism is considered a sacred hue and symbolizes the sacred sky.

Ultimately, it turns out that this color is beneficial in many ways. The blue paint mixed with limestone plaster (also used on homes in Brahmapuri) not only cools the interior of the building, but also attracts visitors attracted by the area’s striking exterior.

But unlike Chefchaouen, Jodhpur’s blue has begun to fade. There are several reasons for this.

Historically, blue was a viable option for the residents of Brahmapuri due to the easy availability of natural indigo in the region – the town of Bayana in eastern Rajasthan was the country’s main source of indigo at the time One of the production centers. But over the years, indigo fell out of favor because growing the crop damaged the soil too much.

Plus, now that temperatures have risen so much, blue paint isn’t enough to keep a house cool. The rise in disposable income has also led to a gradual shift towards modern amenities such as air conditioning to help people cope with the sweltering heat.

“Temperatures have gradually increased over the years,” said Udit Bhatia, assistant professor of civil engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Gandhinagar, who studies resilient infrastructure and the impact of extreme climate on buildings and nature. Systemic impact.

Trend analysis done by IIT Gandhinagar shows that the average temperature in Jodhpur increased from 37.5 degrees Celsius in the 1950s to 38.5 degrees Celsius in 2016.

Mr Bhatia said as well as keeping the house cool, the paint also had insect-repelling properties because the natural indigo was mixed with bright blue copper sulfate, a popular anti-fouling agent often used in 20th-century homes. In paint.

While Mr. Bhatia does not view urbanization as evil, he notes that it can lead to a rather unscientific abandonment of traditions designed to serve systems and ecology.

“Yesterday, if someone was walking down an alley in Jodhpur with blue houses on both sides, and today they are walking down the same alley again, the houses there are now painted even the tiniest shade of dark color. The breeze will also make them feel hotter than usual,” he said.

Known as the heat island effect, the effects of rising temperatures are worsened when heat and sunlight are amplified and reflected back into the environment by the concrete, cement and glass used to build structures. The impact is further amplified when using dark paint.

Additionally, as cities increasingly open to new cultures and people, indigenous construction methods (such as the use of lime plaster in hot climates) are being replaced by newer technologies, such as the use of cement or concrete, which cannot Absorbs blue pigment very well.

Aditya Dave, a 29-year-old civil engineer from Brahmapuri, said his 300-year-old family home has mostly retained its blue color, although the exterior is now occasionally repainted into other colors.

This is mainly because the scarcity of indigo has driven up costs in recent years. Ten years ago, repainting a house blue would have cost around 5,000 rupees ($60; £45); today, it would cost more than 30,000 rupees.

“Nowadays, houses also have open gutters, staining the blue paint and damaging the walls,” Mr Dave said.

That’s why when he built his own house in Brahmapuri five years ago, he opted for a tiled exterior that wouldn’t require constant renovation.

“It’s more cost-effective,” he said.

But clothing seller Deepak Soni said the shift left tourists feeling cheated. houses.

“We should be embarrassed when people come looking for the houses that make up the character of our city and they can’t find them. Many foreigners compare Jodhpur to Chefchaouen. If only Chefchaouen could make their homes a few Century stays blue, why can’t we?

Mr Soni, originally a resident of Brahmapuri but now living outside the walls of Jodhpur, entered into negotiations with local authorities and the community in 2018 to save his hometown’s unique heritage. Since 2019, he has also raised funds from local residents of Brahmapuri to paint the exterior walls of 500 houses blue every year.

Over the years, he has convinced nearly 3,000 homeowners in Brahmapuri to restore the facades and roofs of their homes to blue, “so that at least when someone takes a picture in Brahmapuri, the background will appear blue,” he said.

Mr. Soni estimates that about half of the approximately 33,000 houses in Brahmapuri are currently blue.

He’s working with local officials and lawmakers on a plan to use lime stucco so more homes can be painted that color.

He said it was the least he could do for the city he calls home.

“If we don’t care about its heritage and take action to save it, why would people outside Jodhpur care about our city?”

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