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Jaipur the first
planned city of north India is designed in accordance with Shilpa Shastra,
an ancient Hindu treatise on architecture. Jaipur follows a grid system
and its largely pink palaces and monu- ments have earned it the sobriquet
of 'Pink City' Today, the city has spread beyond these walls of the old
city and continues to grow. A government decree ensures that the wall city
maintains it pink look. Beautiful gardens and parks and attractive
monuments, once the haunts of the royalty, are still to be found
everywhere. Traditional crafts like jewellery, metal work, enamelling, tie
and dye, pottery, leather work, stone carving and miniature painting,
patronised by the rulers in the 18th century, continue to thrive to this
day. The city is today a unique synthesis of the traditional and modern.
Besides being the capital of the state of Rajasthan, Jaipur is also a
bustling trading centre. The new city has spacious roads dotted with
upmarket luxury showrooms and the old city abounds with congested streets,
bazaars and artisanŐs quarters. Providing a stunning backdrop to the city
are the ancient forts and palaces which create a dramatic picture of a
bygone era.
Sightseeing
Hawa Mahal
A multi-storey imposing red wall of over 150 latticed windows and
balconies was built in 1799 by the poet-king Sawai Pratap Singh to enable
his queens to view the city processions and revelries in privacy from this
airy viewing gallery. Only the facade of the building is attractive,
interiors are plain Tel: 2618862. Open from 10 am-4.30 pm. Entry fee Rs.
5.
City Palace & Sawai Madho Singh II Museum
Covering about one-seventh of the old city, this exemplary blend of
Rajput and Mughal architecture houses the seven-storey Chandra Mahal (Moon
Palace) still occupied by the former ruling family of Jaipur. The rest of
the complex consists of the SMS II museum which displays jewellery,
costumes, arms, chariots, howdahs, palanquins, shawls, carpets, rare
manuscripts, miniature paintings and several other items from the royal
collection. A very special exhibit worth seeing is the stately outfit of
Sawai Madho Singh I, who was 2 metres tall, 1.2 metres wide, and weighed
250 kg! Tel: 2665681. Open 9.30 am-4.45 pm. Entry for Indians Rs. 35;
foreigners Rs. 150 (Inclusive of entry to Jaigarh Palace and still camera
fee).
Jantar Mantar
This is the largest of the five observatories built by Jai Singh II in
northern India in the 18th century. Open 9 am-4.30 pm. Entry fee: Rs. 10.
Free on Monday. Tel: 2610494.
Amer Fort Complex
The original capital of Jaipur state, then called Amer. The famous
Sheesh Mahal or the scintillating 'Mansion of Mirrors', Sukh Niwas or 'Palace of
Pleasure', frescoed facades of Ganesh Pol, the 'Auspicious Entrance', carved marble columns and arcaded corridors of the halls of
public and private audience. These were the stuff that royal dreams were
made of and inspired generations of Mughal emperors to send their artisans
to imitate. Open: from 9 am-4.30 pm. Entry fee: Indians Rs. 10, for
foreigners Rs. 50. Elephant ride to palaces Rs. 400 for four people.
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