Jaipur

During Thanksgiving break we took a quick excursion to the beautiful city of Jaipur, the capital of Rajashtan. Jaipur is called “The Pink City” because the city was painted pink (actually terracotta) to welcome the Prince of Wales when he visited in 1853. The pink buildings remain in Old Jaipur.

By way of geography, Jaipur is only 200 km from Delhi and 300 km from Agra (Taj Mahal). Thus it is one of the points in India’s “golden triangle of tourism”


The city was built in the 18th century by Maharaja Jai Singh (thus the name Jai-pur), and is considered India’s first planned city. Jai Singh used the principles of town planning, as laid down in the ancient Hindu treatise on architecture (the shipla shastra), to design the city. Till this day, Jaipur is remarkable among pre-modern Indian cities for the width (111 x 111 feet) and regularity of its streets (run east to west and north to south). It’s hard to get lost in a city when every street is connected to a main road.


We arrivied in Jaipur early Thanksgiving morning. Our first stop was the Hawa Mahal (wind palace). Its five-story exterior is similar to the honeycomb of a beehive with its 953 small windows, decorated with intricate latticework. The original intention of the lattice was to allow royal ladies to observe everyday life in the street below without being seen. 

Next we went to Amber Palace, which is 11 km from Jaipur. Amber Palace is the ancient citadel of the ruling king, Maharaja Man Singh, in the 16th century. The palace is nestled in picturesque hills overlooking Maota Lake and is made of red stone and white marble in a fascinating blend of Hindu and Muslim architecture. Since Amber Fort was used both for defense and residential purposes, the palace was built with heavily structured walls that could defend the king and his court from its warring enemies.

While waiting for the elephant ride to take us up to the palace, we took advantage of the beautiful landscape to photograph the kids.

The elephant ride up to the palace was definitely a highlight of this trip.

The palace is divided into four main sections, each with its own entry gate and courtyard. The main entry to the palace is through the “Suraj Pol” or Sun Gate, which opens up in to the main courtyard. The Army held victory parades on their return from battle in this courtyard. 

Though the fort is quite old, and may even look so from the outside, it is beautiful on the inside, with many pavilions and halls that display an amazing fusion of art and architecture. 

In the first courtyard is Ganesh Pol, or the Ganesh Gate (picture below) - named after the Hindu God Ganesha who removes all obstacles in life - is the entry into the private palaces of the Majarajas.  Above the gate the ladies of the royal family would watch functions below through the latticed windows. 

The third courtyard was the private quarters of Maharaja Jai Singh and his family. Since Jai Singh was a great architect and astronomer, he used scientific principles to design many aspects of the palace, specifically the private residence. 

During the summer the king and his family would reside in the Sukh Niwas. To keep cool, the king designed the room with carefully hand-crafted windows that squeezed in cool air from the lake on one side and then blew it out in gusts from the other - similar to air conditioning. 

During the winter, the king would sleep in this room of mirrors - called the Sheesh Mahal - with lit candles that reflected in the mirrors to create heat. The intricate mirror work is unbelievable! The scientific principles the king used in his palace are pretty amazing for the times. 

The fourth courtyard is where the Zenana - the royal family women including concubines or mistresses - lived. This courtyard has many living rooms where the queens resided, and were visited by the king at his choice. The King wanted to make sure that no one found out which queen he was visiting, so all the rooms opened into a common corridor. 

The reflection of Amber Fort in the lake below is stunning.

After leaving Amber Palace we drove by Jai Mahal (the Water Palace). This palace appears to float on the waters of Man Sagar Lake. The lake was created in the 16th century after the construction of a dam to preserve drinking water. This palace was intended mainly as a getaway spot for the royalty and was frequently used for their duck hunting parties.

Later we visited Jantar Mantar Observatory, which houses a collection of architectural astronomical instruments built by King Jai Singh II between 1727 and 1734. It has been inscribed on the World Heritage List as "an expression of the astronomical skills and cosmological concepts of the court of a scholarly prince at the end of the Mughal period". After being thoroughly restored in 1901, the Jantar Mantar was declared a national monument in 1948. 

The observatory consists of fourteen major geometric devices for things like measuring time, predicting eclipses and  tracking stars' location as the earth orbits around the sun. Built from local stone and marble, each instrument is a huge structure. Allegedly, the scale to which they are built increases their accuracy.

The Giant Sundial, known as the Samrat Yantra, is the world's largest, standing at 27 meters tall, It can be used to tell the time to an accuracy of about two second. It's shadow moves visibly at 1 mm per second.

The Jai Prakash Yantra is used for observing the position of the sun and other heavenly bodies. It acts as a double check on all the other instruments in the observatory. The instrument has been divided into two identical parts, which work every hour alternately. 

This is one of the smaller sundials. 

The Narivalaya Yantra is an equinoctial sundial built in two halves and is an effective tool for demonstrating the passage of the sun across the celestial equator.

Each astrological sign has its own dedicated sundial. When a child was born people were able to tell the exact time by looking at the appropriate sign's sundial. 

We learned so much that afternoon about astronomy and astrology. We are still amazed at King Jai Singh's intelligence and scientific prowess for the time. It's no wonder that the observatory is one of the most representative works of Vedic thought that still survives. 

The next day we went to City Palace. This palace is a stunning example of architecture, combining Muslim, Hindu and European styles. The beautifully carved marble interiors, magnificent pillars, lattice work and inlaid ornamentations make the palace a must see. 

Inside the palace we were treated to exquisite architecture and artwork. 

We ended our visit with lunch at the Taj Rambagh Palace Hotel, a living legend in Jaipur. Built in 1835 for the queen's favorite handmaiden, and later refurbished as a royal guesthouse and hunting lodge, and finally a luxury hotel in 1957, the hotel is widely considered to be one of the best hotels in the world. When dining here you feel like you've gone back in time to when India was under British rule. The opulence of the grounds is really breathtaking.

During British Rule the grounds in the background were used for polo matches. 

This was the perfect ending to our stay in Jaipur!