Jodhpur lovingly called the “Blue City” of India has several distinct theories about blue color, while that’s different there are no historical references or specific clarification for how or why this tag/nickname got to be. So don’t you think, here on this blog, let's uncover some interesting theories, hidden stories, and myths about the question “Why Jodhpur is called a Blue city”.
● Blue color connected with Lord Shiva
Yeah you heard right, its believed that the blue color has been coordinated with Lord Shiva, as during the time of “Samudra Manthan”, in order to rescue the earth, lord Shiva drank atrocious poison called “Halahala” and this poison turned his body blue, and since then, his devotees assume blue as divine color and painted their houses blue in devotion to lord Shiva.
● Blue color, a sign of social class
Well you know, usually in India, the blue color is linked with sovereignty and power And in Jodhpur also according to the local myths/tourist guides, the royal color is one of the main reasons behind the blue painting, here the Brahmin society (India’s priestly caste) painted their houses blue in order to separate themselves from the lower-caste communities, and that time, blue is connected with the Brahmins only. You might listen to this, even the king recognizes Brahmins among others through building colors for performing rituals.
The third interesting geographical reason for the color being blue is to push away the termites (insects). Due to the hot and semi-arid climate yearlong, Jodhpur houses have a tendency to termite and the termites destruct/ demolish the walls and structures of many historic buildings/houses in the city. So, in order to maintain the property from these upsetting bugs, people painted their houses with blue color. This paint (blue color) is a combination of copper sulfate and limestone that is not useful in repulsing the termites but copper sulfate under certain conditions turns blue and offers the houses their popular royal color.
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