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Jaipur Travel The
picturesque city of Jaipur was chosen as the capital of the new state of
Rajasthan, the land of the rajas, which was created after India's
independence by merging the princely states of the region.  The
tourist who's discovered that urban India is one maze of cluttered
cities will be pleasantly surprised with Jaipur. With its broad avenues,
its well laid out gardens and specifically designed areas for markets
and residential centres, Jaipur is a success story of 18th century city
planning. Jaipur is famously referred to as the 'Pink City' because
Maharaja Man Singh II ordered his city painted a pretty pink in honour
of the visiting Prince of Wales, Edward VII in 1876.
As
with many other places in India, the ancient and the modern co-exist in
harmony. In Jaipur, veiled peasant women in swirling ghagras and
dazzling odhnis rub shoulders with youngsters in designer jeans and tie
and dye turbans while solemn camels lope alongside shiny cars.
Travel
to Jaipur for its many sights and the plethora of shopping opportunities
it offers. The old walled area has the City Palace museum, the Jantar
Mantar observatory built by Sawai Jai Singh II, temples, gardens and
bazaars chock a block with all kinds of goods from exquisite jewellery
to dainty jootis (traditional leather slip-on shoes, decorated with
colourful embroidery). The Hawa Mahal, with its myriad windows is a
major landmark. The city is best explored on foot. Jaipur is an
excellent base from which to explore any popular tourist destination in
eastern and central Rajasthan.
Attractions
in Jaipur
- Hawa Mahal
The Hawa Mahal, literally meaning, palace
of the winds is an important landmark of the city of Jaipur - the
Pink City of India. Travel to Jaipur is considered incomplete
without a trip to the Hawa Mahal. It is an interesting building,
although it is actually little more than a façade. Probably,
this honeycombed building was originally built to facilitate the
women of the royal household to watch the everyday life and
processions of the city.
- Jal Mahal
The Jal Mahal Palace, Jaipur is noted for
its intricate architecture. The Palace in Jaipur was developed as a
 pleasure
spot. It was used for the royal duck shooting parties. On the road
to Amber at a distance of 6.5 kms from Jaipur are the cenotaphs of
the royal family. A causeway leads to Jal Mahal Palace situated in
the middle of Man Sagar lake, opposite the cenotaphs.The first four
floors of this building is under water, only the top floor remains
outside.One can have a wonderful view of the lake and the palace
from Nahargarh Fort. Built in 1799, the palace is now abandoned, but
reasonably well preserved. In the monsoons, it looks particularly
startling with its red sandstone set against the water hyacinth
filled lake.
- Jantar Mantar
The Jantar Mantar was conceived as a
quest for discovering the mysteries of the Cosmos. The Jantar Mantar
is a corruption of the Sanskrit word yantra mantra meaning
instruments and formulae. It was built not only to verify
astronomical observations made at Jaipur, but also to stimulate
interest in astronomy, which had become enmeshed in theory,
superstition and religious jargon. Following the style of an
observatory at Samarkand, huge masonry instruments were built,
keeping in mind the rules of astronomy, the position of the equator,
latitudes and longitudes. The observatory at Jaipur has the samrat
yantra, the jaiprakash yantra, ram yantra and the 'composite
instrument' includes a sundial and a massive hemisphere on the
northern wall.
- Sawai Man Singh Museum
The Maharaja Sawai Man Singh
II Museum is situated in the Chandra Mahal Palace, built by Sawai
Jai Singh when he constructed his new capital at Jaipur in 1727.
Divided into five comprehensive sections, the museum displays the
ancestral collections of former maharajas - paintings, manuscripts,
maps, carpets, textiles, costumes, weapons and decorative art
objects depicting courtly life in Jaipur state between the 16th and
19th century.
- Ram Niwas Garden
Situated in the spacious and
beautiful Ram Niwas Garden, the museum has a rare collection of art
facts and craft items such as metalwork, ivory carvings, cane wood
articles and exquisite pieces of jewellery, textile, pottery and
paintings. It is particularly rich in specimen of embossed, hammered
and chiselled brass wares. The building was designed by Colonel Sir
Swinton Jacob in the modern Indo-Saracenic style and was built in
1886 A.D. when King Edward VII visited as the Prince of Wales.
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