MEHRAN GARH FORT

                              MEHRAN                           GARH                                       FORT

The Mehrangarh Museum Trust was settled in March,1972 by His Highness The Maharaja Gaj Singh II with the principal objective of setting up a world class museum in Jodhpur. It was intended that this museum eventually house and display the Maharaja's substantial collections; of miniature paintings, portraits, books and manuscripts, weapons, textiles and tents, elephant howdahs and palanquins, and various objets' d art. 

The Trust was duly registered with the Government of Rajasthan in 1974 and commenced functioning in earnest in the same year with the Maharaja as its Managing Trustee. At the same time the Maharaja placed his ancestral fortress, the Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur, at the disposal of the new Trust directing it to develop and establish the planned museum within the fort premises itself. This was a significant and far-sighted direction since the fort eminently serves the purpose, not only in terms of historicity and authenticity, but also keeping in mind the security and care of the collections. Needless to say the conservation, and restoration where necessary, of the magnificent architecture of the fort itself was also a prime consideration behind this decision.

Early on the Trust was fortunate enough to obtain the services of Thakur Sagat Singh, a retired curator from the Rajasthan Governement Museum, and he was given a clear brief; to locate and clear suitable areas in the fort for the museum; to compile inventories of the collections both at the Mehrangarh Fort and at the Umaid Bhawan Palace, the Maharaja's residence; and, finally, to put together the exhibitions themselves. 

The success of the Maharaja's vision and the Trust's early efforts is evinced by the recognition The Mehrangarh Museum enjoys today; 65,000 foreign visitors and 3,00,000 Indian visitors in 1999-2000.

New dimensions have been added to the Trust's activities since then; the active patronage of the arts and music; the promotion of the handicrafts of the region; and the study and research of the rich archival and other material available in the Trust’s manuscript library, the Maharaja Maan Singh Pustak Prakash Research Center. With the Trust's strong and ever-widening social and cultural inter-action with the city and region the Mehrangarh Fort today finds itself once again, after over a hundred years, very much at the center of things in Marwar.

The Museum has participated in many international exhibitions all over the world, including the Festival of India in America in 1985, displaying and sharing the rich heritage of Marwar, and interacting with prestigious institutions in the field. It has also attracted numerous scholars and researchers, in many different fields, to Jodhpur.  

 

 1.The Mehrangarh Museum displays a wide range of objects in fourteen display rooms. The museum also includes four period rooms. The displays are being constantly up-graded with due emphasis on lighting, visitor-flow and captioning.

 2.The Maharaja Maan Singh Pustak Prakash Library, incorporated into the Trust in 1977, houses a     collection of manuscripts in Sanskrit, Hindi and some regional languages. The manuscripts are duly listed and catalogued and are available to scholars and researchers. Research is also undertaken by the Trust's own faculty. 

 3.The Trust actively promotes classical Indian and folk music and organizes eight to ten concerts in the fort and in the city each year in collaboration with a local music lovers association, Swar Sudha. 

 4. The Trust hosts a unique program annually for the Faculty of Religious Studies, University of Virginia, Virginia. The prestigious American university sends fifteen students with a faculty each year for one semester in Indian studies to Mehrangarh. The students live in a modern hostel within the fort and the faculty sometimes includes our Museum Director and Curator. Emory University, Atlanta, has also now joined the program. 

5. A full-fledged Art Conservation Center was established in Mehrangarh in 1996 in collaboration with The Indian Conservation Institute, a division of the Indian National Trust for Art & Cultural Heritage (INTACH). The Center has thus far been busy with wall-paintings in Mehrangarh but it also offers its services to institutions and art collectors throughout Rajasthan, being the only center of its kind in the state. 

6.The Trust interacts enthusiastically with the people of Jodhpur and the Administration to make a success of some social and religious festivals; namely  Navratri, Dasshera, Diwali, the Bhadwa Mela, Jodhpur Foundation Day, Gangaur and the Marwar Festival. Many of these festivals have revolved around Mehrangarh for hundreds of years and the Trust is acutely conscious of its role as a custodian of age-old traditions. 

7. An ethnological section in the museum is also on the agenda and a pilot project has been taken up with the setting up of a Turban, Folk Art & Folk Musical Instruments Gallery.

 8. Architectural Conservation and Restoration has emerged a major pre-occupation in recent years. The conservation of The  Mehrangarh Fort itself remains top priority and fortunately the Trust has been able to allocate larger budgets to this in the last few years. The Maharaja, the Managing Trustee, rightly believes that as a premier institution in the field, The Mehrangarh Museum Trust should lead by example and provide further momentum to the conservation and restoration movement in Rajasthan, and indeed all of India. Besides the work in Mehrangarh the Trust, with assistance from the Getty Grant in the U.S, is also involved with the restoration of the Maharaja's fabulous Rajput-Mughal fortress, Ahhichatragarh in Nagaur. Other conservation projects are listed in the relevant section. 

9. The Trust has begun to offer various scholarships, fellowships and research stipends.

10. The Trust now has a regular publications program and encourages works of history, socio-political subjects and art history.

 12. In 2000 the Trust began organizing exhibitions of the works of contemporary Indian, and particularly Rajasthani artists working, in the main, in the traditional styles. These exhibitions take place in the fort and are welcome additions to the museum tour.