By: David H.
Submitted: 2009-04-16 16:52:38 | Word Count: 578
The city of Jaipur is full of history and beautiful sceneries. This Pink City is truly an interesting place to visit.
Jaipur is more commonly known as the “Pink City.”.It is the capital city of the state of Rajasthan in India. The city is historically known as Jeypore. Moreover, it is the former capital city of Jaipurs princely state. This place was established in the year 1727 by the ruler of Amber named Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh. Today, the city is home to more than 5 million inhabitants.
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The city of Jaipur is quite remarkable amongst other pre modern cities due to the regularity of the streets that are put down on 6 sectors and are separated by streets that are 34 meters or 111 ft wide. Its urban houses are divided by arrangements of grid like streets.
Places of Interest
First on the list is the Hawa Mahal. It is a wonderful palace within the city. It was established in the 18th century by someone called Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh. Lal Chand Usta is also the one who designed this palace in the form of a crown of the Hindu god Krishna.
The crown figure forms a portion of the palace and extends to the womens chambers or Zenana and Harem’s chambers. The real intention of this palace is to allow the royal ladies to observe the ordinary and everyday life of the people on the streets without them being seen. The palace has 5 stories and was constructed with pink and red sandstones which are highlighted with quick lime white colorations. The side of the palace that faces the street has about 953 windows.
The breeze locally known as hawa circulates through all the small windows giving the place its name. Moreover, the breeze in its windows keeps the palace cool and comfortable even during hot weather conditions. The entrance to the palace leads you to a courtyard with two storey buildings on its 3 sides. Only ramps are used when reaching the upper floors of the palace. This is why stairs are constructed.
Another great place to visit while in Jaipur is the Jantar Mantar. It is a collection of various architectural and astronomical instruments which were built by the King or Maharaja Jai Singh II. This collection was established between the years 1726 and 1735. The collections were inspired to the one that Maharaja Jai Singh II who built this for himself and for New Delhis Mughal capital. King Jai Singh II constructed 5 different labs on various locations, including the laboratories in Jaipur and New Delhi. In fact, the largest laboratory or observatory is found in this city.
Jaigarh Fort lies 15 kilometers from the city of Jaipur. It is considered as one of Indias most spectacular forts. This fort almost has all the original amenities intact. Two forts are located around the area. The top portion of the area is the Jaigarh Fort while the bottom part is the Amber Fort. These two forts are linked with guarded passages.
Jaigarh Fort is located in the heart of weaponry production, built for the Raiputs. This site also houses the Jaivana which is the largest cannon on wheels in the world. There is also a long canal measuring 5 kilometers that can be seen going to the fort so as to bring water. This canal comes from the hills and goes down to become stored on the fort by army men. A water tank was already placed, connecting it to the canal for water storage.
