Jaipur

Capital city of Rajasthan also known as "Pink City" is about 250 km from Delhi, and your starting point for Rajasthan. Founded by Raja Sawai Jai Singh II in 1727 is famous for Amber Fort, jantar mantar, hawa mahal, city palace & Sisodia Rani Ka Bagh. Also for the textile block prints, semi precious jewelry, handicraft items and Raj Mandhir (Movie theater).

Built by the warrior-astronomer Raja Sawai Jai Singh II in 1727, it is full of formidable forts, enchanting palaces and lovely temples. Jaipur is listed in most tourist books as one of the three cities that make India's Golden Triangle - the other two are Delhi and Agra. The old city of Jaipur is enclosed within seven gates, the most important of which are Chandpol, Jaipuri and Sanganeri.

Culture
A young Bengali architect, Vidyadhar Bhattacharya formalized the city’s plans in a grid system. The wide straight avenues. Roads, streets, lanes and uniform rows of shops on either side of main bazaars were arranged in nine rectangular city sectors (Chokris), in accordance with the principles of town planning set down in the ‘Shilpa Shastra’- and epochal treatise on the Hindu architecture.

There is a timeless appeal to Jaipur’s colorful bazaars where one can shop for Rajasthani handlooms and trinkets. Beautifully laid out gardens and parks, attractive monuments and marvelous heritage hotels, once the residence of Maharaja’s are worth admiration. Not to mention the ambling camels and cheerful people in multi-hued costumes that make your trip to the pink city a memorable one.

Excursion

Hawa Mahal
Built in 1799, the Hawa Mahal (the palace of WInds) is one of the Jaipur's major Landmarks, although it is actually little more than a facade. This five - storey building, which looks out over the m,ain street of the buzzing old city , is a stunning example of Rajput artistry with its pink, delicately honeycombed sandstone windows, of which there are 953. It was originally built to enable the women of the royal household to watch the everyday life and processions of the cit. The palace was built by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh and is a part of the city palace complex.

Most of the people come her to see the beautiful facade, but ou canalso climb the top for a view of the city below; peer through the latticed windows to experience the facinating interplay of gazes ste up by the structure. The entrance is from the rear ot the building.

Amber Fort
The Kachchawahas ruled from Amber, 11 km from Jaipur, for seven centuries. With a history so old, it is not unexpected that there is a lot of the past that can be traced in its archeological history.While many of the early structures have either disappeared or ruined, those dating from the16th century on are in a remarkable state of preservation. Amber as it exists now is the handiwork of three of the kingdom's rulers that include Man Singh, and Jai Singh I and II. Approached from a steep ramp, visitors ride up on elephant back, entering through the grand Singh Pol gateway and continuing to Jaleb Chowk, the courtyard where they disembark from the pachyderm. From here, they are faced wit two flights of steps, one leading to Shila Mata complex with its enshrined image of the goddess, and the other to the main palace complex.

Within the complex, Ganesh Pol, an imposing gateway painted with images of the elephant-headed god, Ganesh, takes pride of the place. Also a part of the complex is the Diwan-i-Am or hall of the public audience with its spectacular display of pillars. The typical merging of Rajput and Mughal architectural styles is captured in the Sukh Nivas and Jas Mandir apartments, and the Charbagh garden with its perfectly proportioned landscaping. A highlight is the pierced screen windows which offer views form points of vantage, as well as the shimmering mirrors encrusting the walls of the Sheesh Mahal. Several other gardens and pavilions within the sprawling spread of ramparts offer enough scope for investigating medieval lifestyles at leisure.

Beyond the ramparts, the old city, once the abode of the aristocracy, has a wonderfully medieval flavor, though it has few buildings of majestic proportion that are still extant. However, a walk through the rambling lanes will reap rich rewards for the curious besides a large number of temples there are also step-wells, memorials and townhouses.

City Palace
In the heart of the old city, the City Palace occupies a large area divided into a series of courtyards, gardens and buildings. The outer wall was built by Sawai Jai Singh, but other additions are more recent, some dating to the start of the 20th century. The palace is a blend of Rajasthani and mughal architecture. The son of the last Maharaja and his family still live in part of the palace.

Before the palace proper lies the Mubarak Mahal (Welcome Palace), built in late 19th century by Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh II as a reception center for visiting dignitaries. It now forms part of the Maharaja Sawai Mansingh II Museum and contains a collection of royal costumes and superb shawls including sanganeri block prints, royal shawls. Kashmiri Pashmina (goat's wool) shawls, folk embroideries and benaras saris.

At the heart of the complex is the seven - tiered Chandra Mahal where erstwhile royal family is still in residence, though only a small part of the apartments are occupied. However, it is only the buildings around Chandra Mahal that are open to the public, and these also form a part of the museum.

Through Singh Pol (Lion Gate), visitors can approach the Diwan-i-Khas and Diwan-i-Am, where the maharaja's private and public courts would be held. The architecture seems to consist of a number of arched, pillared halls, while the courtyards with painted doorways are a prominent feature.

Jantar Mantar
Next to the City Palace entrance is the Jantar - Mantar, begun in 1728 by SawaiJai Singh whose passion for astronomy was even more notable than his powers as a worrior. Before commencing Jantar Mantar, he sent scholers abroad to study foreign observatories. This observatory is the largest and best preserved of the five he built, with 13 different instrumentsfor calculating the movement of celestial bodies. It was restored in1901. The others are in Delhi, Varanasi and Ujjain. The fifth observatory, at Mathura, has dissapeared.

Jantar mantar (or 'instrument of calculation')is a curious if somewhat compelling collection of sculptures. In fact, each construction has a specific pirpose, for example, measuring the positions of the stars, altitude and azimuth, and calculating eclipses.More...................

Shopping
Jaipur is shoppers paradise, if you are good at bargain things, you can really get some good stuff. The local Bazaars are very colorful and world famous like Johari Bazaar, Mirza Ismail Road (MI Road), Bapu Bazaar etc. You can shop from handicrafts, jewelry, carpets, textile, home furnishing and lot more. But, you have to be very careful in shopping and bargain hard.

Getting There
By Air
Jaipur is well connected to all the major cities which includes Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta, Jodhpur, Udaipur. Recently, flights to Dubai has also started from Jaipur by Indian Airlines.

By Bus
Rajasthan Roadways run very comfortable deluxe & air conditioned buses from Delhi (Bikaner House, Nr. India Gate) to Jaipur. The roads are very good, and it takes around 5-6 hrs from Delhi. You can also come by taxi.

By Train
Jaipur is on the Broad Gauge and hence connected to all the metro cities of India. There are daily trains from Delhi in morning (Shatabdhi Exp) and evening (Intercity Exp).

Getting around
In the city you can travel by un-metered auto-rickshaws, buses, cycle-rickshaws or you can also use car cabs and car-taxi. The Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation operates regular bus service for local city tour.

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