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Rajasthan Tourism Information
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 MantarThe 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.
