Jaisalmer History
History of Jaisalmer: Rawal Jaisal, a Bhatti Rajput, laid the foundation of this city in 1156 AD, as a shift from his former capital at Lodhruva. Some historians trace the roots of the city further back to a ruler of the same clan, Jaitsimha. As legend has it, a Brahmin hermit told Jaisal that Krishna and Arjuna had come here and they prophesied that a ruler would one day build a fort along the ridge known as Trikuta or triple peaked hill, where the Jaisalmer Fort now stands.
In the 13th century, Alaudin Khilji, the emperor of Delhi attacked Jaisalmer to retrieve a caravan filled with treasure seized by the Bhattis. Jaisalmer was under siege for nine years and when they couldn’t hold out anymore, the women committed johar and the men fought their last battle. Jaitsimha’s son Duda perished in the attack. Duda’s descendents ruled over the place for a couple of hundred years.
In 1541, the city rose to arms against the Moghul emperor Humayun who was on his way to Ajmer. Despite this however, the relationship between the Moghuls and Jaisalmer was not always hostile and marital alliances saw peace for a time. (Akbar was married to one of the Jaisalmer princesses.)
Then came the noble Sabala Simha, who won the patronage of the Emperor Shah Jahan for services rendered in the Peshawar campaign. Although he did not have a legitimate claim to the throne, he was allowed to rule Jaisalmer for a while.
Jaisalmer grew in strength (with territories annexed from the bordering districts of Bikaner and Jodhpur) and riches (by levying taxes on caravans passing through Jaisalmer to Delhi). Its location on the main trade route linking India to Egypt, Arabia, Persia, Africa and the West helped. Though the glory of Jaisalmer faded when sea trade replaced the old land routes, for a while there was peace and prosperity and the arts and religion flourished.
The prosperity of Jaisalmer is reflected in the magnificent havelis the townspeople built. Wood and sandstone mansions with intricate carvings can be seen elsewhere in Rajasthan, but no where are they quite as breathtaking.
For long Jaisalmer remained untouched by outside influences and during the British rule, it was the last to sign a treaty with the British. The rise of Bombay as a port city and in 1947, Partition and the staunching of trade routes between Indian and Pakistan, sealed the fate of the city and it lost its pre-eminent position as a trading route. Indifferent rains also meant constant water shortages. Jaisalmer would have dried up and faded away especially with the attention its neighbouring cities, Jaipur and Jodhpur got, but for the Indo-Pakistan wars. They revealed Jaisalmer’ strategic position and the Indira Gandhi canal was built to restore life to the thirsty city.
Today Jaisalmer is a major tourist destination and national highways, a railway track, an airstrip and an ever improving infrastructure such as internationally recommended hotels, have brought Jaisalmer within easy reach of anyone who wishes to visit and discover the city’s special magic.