Jaipur .... the "Pink City". One could wonder why the city has this name. The colour pink, well it seems that there are many different interpretations ..... for me pink looks like pink, however wandering through the streets of Jaipur it seems that pink has a different meaning. Nothing I saw reminded me of pink. Well, Jodhpur the "Blue City" was at least partially blue, meaning that many houses were painted blue, but the colors in Jaipur looked more like (red) ochre to me. Our guide did not really have a good answer to our question and was a little evasive. Maybe ochre turns pink at sunset?.... oh well. Maybe I am just picky because I did not like Jaipur much ... it was too busy, chaotic and too dirty for my taste. Especially after visiting the beautiful and peaceful Udaipur with its amazing location on a lake there was not really much that I like about Jaipur. Most of the sights, except the City Palace were not well maintained and pretty run down, however there seem to be some recent effort to restore some of the former glory.
The Amber Palace beneath the Amber Fort in in Amber, the former capital of the Kachhwaha Rajputs on a hillside overlooking Maotha lake, 11 km from Jaipur. There were many construction workers busy trying to restore the palace to its old glory, but I am afraid that many things such as the wall paintings will be gone forever.
Bamboo scaffolding on the outer wall of the Amber Palace. After many years of neglect it seems that efforts are under way to partially restore the palace.
Elephants waiting to transport tourists up to the palace.
A roadside barber shop. I was amazed that there were actually quite a few and most of them frequented quite well. This one also provided head massages before a haircut, but it looked to me more like a serious head bashing since there was no gentleness at all in the massage, but rather heavy beating with the flat hand.
The Wind Palace .... built for the wives and concubines of the Maharadja near a busy business street full of shops, so that they could watch the "real life" going on in the streets below without being seen.
This is how the women would see the street and shops below through viewing slits carved in the marble.
Construction workers scraping of old mortar from marble slabs so that they could be reused for the renovation of the Albert Hall, which houses the City Museum.
The City Palace. The only sight I really enjoyed, well maintained with interesting museums.
For those of you who would like to learn a little more facts:
The city was built of pink stucco in imitation of sandstone, and is remarkable among pre-modern Indian cities for the width and regularity of its streets. The city is laid out into six quarters, separated by broad streets 111 ft (34 m) wide. The urban quarters are further divided by networks of gridded streets. Five quarters wrap around the east, south, and west sides of a central palace quarter, with a sixth quarter immediately to the east. The Palace quarter encloses a sprawling palace complex (the Hawa Mahal, or palace of winds), formal gardens, and a small lake. Nahargarh Fort crowns the hill in the northwest corner of the old city. Another noteworthy building is Sawai Jai Singh's observatory, Jantar Mantar. Jaipur, with its rich and colourful past, resplendent with tales of valour and bravery is now one of the most important heritage cities in India, and is a must-see for tourists coming to India.
Jaipur is considered by many urbanists to be one of the best planned cities. Almost all Indian towns of that period presented a chaotic picture of narrow twisting lanes, a confusion of run-down forts/temples/palaces and temporary shacks that bore no resemblance at all to the principles set out in Hindu architectural manuals, which calls for strict geometric planning. Thus, for Sawai Jai Singh II and the Bengali Guru Vidyadhar (who belonged to the 'Shaspati' order of Hindu Priest Architects), the founding of Jaipur was also a ritual and a golden opportunity to plan a whole town according to the principles of Hindu architectural theory. The town of Jaipur is in fact, built in the form of a nine-part Mandala known as the 'Pithapada'. In the 19th century the city grew rapidly and became prosperous, with a population of 160,000 in 1900, and the city's wide boulevards were paved and lit with gas. Its chief industries were in metals and marble, which are fostered by a school of art, founded in 1868. There was also a wealthy and enterprising community of native bankers. The city had three colleges and several hospitals.
Nahargarh Fort Amber Palace
The Amber Palace complex overlooking the artificial lake south of Amber town is one of the most popular tourist sites in the city, famous for its mixture of Hindu and Muslim architecture, and offering elephant rides from the town up to the palace courtyard. However, although the structure is today known as Amber fort, the complex was initiatlly a Palace Complex within the Fort of Amber which is today known as Jaigarh fort.
Jaigarh Fort
The Jaigarh Fort on the hills above the Amber Palace complex offers stunning views of the foothills of the Aravalli range, as well as attractions such as immense underground water-storage tanks, a medieval canon foundry and an impressive collection of medieval cannons including the Jaivana which is reputed to be the world's largest cannon on wheels. Historically this was the original Amber Fort, although it became known as Jaigarh from the time of Sawai Jai Singh II onwards. Jal Mahal is located in Jaipur India, which is the capital of the State of Rajasthan. It is on the way to Sisodia garden. The rajput style "Water Palace" sits in the center of the Man Sarobar lake. The lake is often dry in the summer but winter monsoons frequently turn it into a beautiful lake filled with water hyacinths.
No comments:
Post a Comment