The Pink City
Jaipur
The journey to Jaipur meant re-tracing our steps over the rough road into Ranthambhore. In daylight, we could see that there was a lot of highway construction taking place: there was one piece of “heavy equipment”, with 99% of the work was being done by manual labour. Along the way, we passed through rich farmland with guava a dominant crop in the area.
Jaipur is a planned city, founded in 1726 by Jai SIngh II, home to some 3.1 million inhabitants, with wider streets and less garbage lying around. The city is unusual among pre-modern Indian cities in the regularity of its streets, and the division of the city into six sectors by broad streets 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. This structured street plan stands in marked contrast to most other Indian cities which have evolved in a hap-hazard fashion. In 1876, when the then Prince of Wales visited Jaipur, the city was given a coat of pink paint in his honour. I’m not sure who chose the colour!! Some things don’t change - cities get an “upgrade” when there are visiting dignitaries, even to this day! Our hotel in Jaipur was Shaphura House Hotel, listed as a heritage hotel. I hope the photographs do it justice.
After checking in, we headed out first to visit our first Hindu temple, Birla Mandir which is brand new compared to what we have seen to date, being finished in 1988. The temple built by a shipping magnate is dedicated to Lord Vishnu, the preserver and his consort Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth. It is a stunning building constructed of white marble. It stands under the shadow of Moti Doongri Fort, which is lit up at night. It was interesting to observe how different faiths “operate”. For example, in a mosque, only practising muslims may be inside the mosque during worship which is a communal activity. In the Hindu temple, by contrast, practising Hindus would pray individually while tourists were milling about. There was one person dispensing what appeared to be holy water to the faithful, but spent his entire time on his cell phone!
In the evening, for the first time we went “out” for dinner rather than stay in the hotel, something the group was keen to do. Our tour leader recommended the Spice Court - it proved to be a good recommendation. Nearby, there were several “Indian Weddings” going on - lots of people, lots of food, lots of music and lots of bling. We were curious about what reception we would get by “gate crashing” a wedding, but we were welcomed with open arms by the host - he made a point of introducing himself and making us feel most welcome. The women were enthusiastic about taking selfies with us. The odd feature was that the wedding couple sit on a chaise longe to be photographed with all and sundry. The bride in this case did not look happy!! Our curiosity satisfied, we headed back to the hotel.
What to wear to an Indian wedding is the topic of huge importance - with lots of web sites offering advice.
Our second day in Jaipur took us first to Hawa Mahal or The Palace of Breeze, built in 1799 has 953 windows on the outside walls. The honeycomb shaped and beautifully carved windows allow breezes to blow through the palace and makes it a perfect summer palace. It was built as an extension to the nearby City Palace which is spread out over a series of courtyards. It was founded in 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II as part of his ambitious city project, and his successors continued to ornament and add to the elegant buildings up until the 20th century. The palace has always been much more than the grand residence of a royal family. It was also, from the start, a centre of patronage of the arts and learning, and with its many temples, it is also a place of ritual and worship. On important festival days such as Gangaur and Teej, the procession of the image of the Goddess through the streets unites the City Palace and the people of the city in shared celebrations. Today, the palace has thrown open its exclusive spaces to the public through the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum Trust, welcoming domestic and international visitors from far and wide. On the occasion of our visit, it was not clear what special event was going on, but suspicions were that it was a “corporate event”, with lots of glitter, but we are just as likely to have seen a Bollywood shoot taking place. Meanwhile the Prince is studying for an MBA in hospitality in Sydney!
In between visiting the Hawa Mahal and the City Palace we toured Jaipur’s most famous structure was our next stop - The Amber Fort, a walled town built in the 17th century using pink and yellow sandstone with marble accents, is situated on a hill was home to 30,000 inhabitants. We accessed the fortification on the back of an elephant - riding on the back of an elephant can make for a rocky ride, but it was easier than tackling the steep path up the ramparts to the gate of the walled city. Although, tipping was taken care of by Explore India, and there was a sign at the end of the trail advising customers not to tip the elephant handler, he was not going to let people off the elephant’s back without another tip directly to him!!
Amber Fort is built following Hindu design practices with several temples dedicated to the different deities. Inside the fort, there are many courtyards that were built over time by different maharaja, each with its own theme. Our tour guide told us that when troops returned from battle, the wives were anxious to see their husband return; if a warrior died in battle then all of his wives [because having multiple wives was not unusual] would be burned on the funeral pyre. This horrific fate befell all wives, whether nobility or commoners.
Inside the Amber Fort is the Sheesh Mahal, or the Palace of Mirrors; it was designed so that if only a single ray of light enters the hall, the the light would be reflected in all the mirrors.
Amber Fort sits above Lake Maota, in turn Jaigarh Fort looks down on Amber Fort. There is a subterranean passage that links Amber Fort and Jaigarh Fort intended as an escape route because Jaigarh Fort had better defensive capabilities.
We stopped in at a carpet factory where the owner showed us how carpets are made. The carpets were much cheaper than their Turkish counterparts, but seemed to match them in quality. The owner, whose son is heading off to Osgoode Law School, Toronto in September was much impressed by Justin Trudeau and his cabinet!
