Located on the edge of the Great Indian Thar Desert, Jodhpur is also called the “Sun City,” because of the bright and sunshine-filled days it experiences. It houses one of India's largest forts (Mehrangarh), incredible palace museums,  gardens and lakes, and bustling bazaars, making it a popular tourist destination. The city has is well-known for its local textile industry, hand-carved furniture, delectable cuisine, and indigo neighborhoods. The eye-catching blue of these houses, at the foot of the imposing Mehrangarh Fort, delineate the traditional upper-caste Brahmin communities from other caste abodes.​

The city was founded in 1459 by Rao Jodha, a Rajput (one of the warrior rulers of the historical region of Rajputana), and served as the capital of the princely state of Jodhpur. The princely state had been founded about 1212, reached the zenith of its power under the ruler Rao Maldeo (1532–69), and gave allegiance to the Mughals after the invasion of the Mughal emperor Akbar in 1561. The Mughal emperor Aurangzeb invaded and plundered the Marwar region in 1679, ordering the conversion of its inhabitants to Islam.

The princely states of Jodhpur, Jaipur, and Udaipur formed an alliance, however, and prevented control by the Muslims. The Jodhpur and Jaipur princes then regained the privilege of marriage with the Udaipur family—which they had forfeited when they allied with the Mughals—on condition that children of Udaipur princesses be first in succession. Quarrels resulting from that stipulation, however, finally led to the establishment of the supremacy of the Marathas, a Hindu warrior caste from the western coast of India.

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In 1818 Jodhpur came under British paramountcy. It was the largest princely state in the Rajputana Agency—the British governing entity in the region—occupying much of the central and southwestern portions of what is now Rajasthan state. It joined Rajasthan in 1949, after India became independent.