The Jodhpur state had been founded in the thirteenth century by the Rathore clan of Rajputs, who claim descent from the Gahadvala kings of Kannauj.

After the sacking of Kannauj by Muhammad of Ghor in 1194, and its capture by the Delhi Sultanate in the early thirteenth century, the Rathores had fled west.

The Rathore family chronicles relate that Siyaji, grandson of Jai Chandra, the last Gahadvala king of Kannauj, came to Marwar on a pilgrimage to Dwarka in Gujarat, and on halting at the town of Pali he and his followers had settled there to protect the Brahmin community from the raids of marauding bands.

Rao (king) Chanda, tenth in succession from Siyaji, had finally wrested control of Marwar from the Pratiharas.

The city of Jodhpur is founded in 1459 by Rao Chanda's successor Rao Jodha as the capital of the Rathor state, which will come to be known as Marwar.