JAIPUR ‘SYMPHONY IN PINK’

The land where breathtaking beauty and rich art and culture blend superbly. It nests amidst the Aravali ranges and surrounded by rugged hills on three sides, each crowed by formidable fort,while the city is studded with grand palaces majestic mansions and gracefully landscaped gardens and park.

The designing of the city was entrusted upon a bengali architect,Vidyadhar Bhattacharya. Its perhaps the first planned city of India and was laid with great precision,on the basis of principles of ‘shilp shastra’ the ancient hindu treatise on architecture.  The city was built in the form of a rectangle,divided into blocks,with roads and avenues running parallel to the sides. The layout of the streets was based on a mathematical grid of nine squares,representing the ancient Hindu map of the universe.

Hawa Mahal or the ‘palace of winds was built in 1799,by the poet king Sawai Pratap Singh for the royal ladies to enjoy the procession and day to day activities. Today, it has become the hallmark of the ‘Pink City’ and the most photographed monument jaipur.

the five storied semi-octagonal structure is noted for its elaborate and fanciful architecture. It comprises of 152 windows, which are exquisitely encrusted with lace fine screens with latticed balconies,curvilinear roofs,domes and spires. The fine structure is a part of the city palace.

AMBER

The mighty Amber fort stands atop a range of craggy hills, about 11 kms from Jaipur city,overlooking he Jaipur-Delhi highway. The fort is also noted for its sturdy battlements and beautiful palaces in a fine blend of Rajput and Mughal architecture. the entrance of the place is very steep and one can enjoy an elephant ride to the palace the elephants here are decorated in various colours and patterns which are very enchanting.

 

The beauiful Amber fort complex is approched through an imposing gateway called Ganesh Poll. The palace has magnificent halls,pavillions,gardens and temples.

The main sites here include Diwan-i-am or the “hall of public audience”, Sukh Niwas or the “hall of pleasure”Jai Mandir or the “hall of victory”. Sheesh Mahal or the “hall of mirrors”, Diwan-i-khas or the “private meeting hall”, Jas Mandir “hall of glory”

 

Jag Mahal or the water palace was built in 1799 in the Man sagar lake. This lake attract various species of migratory birds during winter.

Jantar Mantar

There are plenty of observatories all over the world, but the Jantar Mantar is considered to be one of the largest observatories ever built. Combining religion, science and art.The Jantar Mantar of Jaipur is an observatory built in the first half of the 18th century it has 19 main astronomical instruments or groups of instruments. They were generally constructed of brick rubble and plaster, but a few were made of bronze. They were built for naked-eye observations of the celestial bodies and precision was achieved through their monumental dimensions.

Jantar mantar is the perfect fusion of the astronomical intelligence with the typical heritage of Rajasthan. On one side, if the instruments symbolize the astronomical predictions then on the other side, the same marble made instrument honours the heritage of the state. Built in earlier days, the significance of this national monument can still be felt.

 

Samrat Yantra also known as sundial, the largest of the entire instruments is plotted to predict the time of the day. With the perfect angle towards the latitude of jaipur, one can easily focus and predict the time. Sundial is the largest instrument ever to predict the time to stand twenty seven metres tall. On top of that is the Hindu Chattri also knows as Small Cupola which is a stage to predict the eclipse and the arrivals of the monsoons.

Jantar mantar is one place of learning for the students of astronomy and Vedic astrology. Probably jantar mantar is the only practical proof left for the Vedic astrology other than texts. Many such instruments carry specific astrological meaning serving to the society and the universe.

The local astronomers use these instruments to predict the monsoon for farmers. JayaPrakash yantra(instrument) attributes the hollowed out hemisphere on the concave surface used to observe the alignment of the position of a star with windows edges.

The Rajasthani Puppet Show

The city is a visitors delight and caters to all the needs from history,culture,adventure,entertainment,shopping it is also well known for its handicrafts, jewellery of precious and semi-precious stones, block print and tie and dye textile. Jaipur i a shoppers delight.

when in jaipur try out the famous sweet called GHEWAR!