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 Jaipur the Pink City A marvel
in town planning
The “Pink City” Jaipur, with its medieval
fragrance, rich cultural heritage and modern
infrastructure, holds a unique position not only
in Rajasthan or India but also in world. Jaipur,
the capital of desert state Known as first planned
city of modern era, it is a marvel city. The City
is brain child of Maharaja Sawai Jaisingh. The
Maharaja took great interest in Astronomy, art and
culture and brought many knowledgeable persons to
enrich his courtier during his reign form 1699 to
1744. Vidhyadhar Bhattacharya too was an architect
from Bengal who understood the vision of Jai Singh
and planned the wonderful city of Jaipur. The
power and peace in the region saw affluent
businessmen settling here and soon it became the
hub for Art, Culture, Religion and Business. With
in no time it became a bustling city and now, as
capital of Rajasthan, still continues to flourish.
Sawai Jaisingh, the renowned king of the Kachwaha
clan which ruled Amber, was crowned at the tender
age of 11 years. With his natural brilliance he
overcame many difficulties. Pandering over an idea
of bigger and safe city, he decided to build
“Jaipur” The city was meticulously planned. Based
on a traditional Indian dice game “Chopar”, it had
few main squares of crossings in straight line and
with all main roads cutting perpendicularly.
Vidhyadhar worked in accord with the ancient
“Shilpa Shastra” and followed principles of
“Vastushastra” too. Adopting a grid system, he
placed the hou7se of king or city place in the
central grid and the rest were cut across by wide
lance with uniform shops on both flanks. The inner
side had rectangles of commercial and residential
use. The city was surrounded by fortified wall
with nine gates.
The urge for excellence was not satisfied as yet
and in 1728, Jai Singh built the remarkable
observatory, called
Jantar Mantar which still is
one of the main attractions. Jaipur was named as
“Pink City” because the buildings were painted in
ochre-pink color to create an impression of sand
stone buildings of Mughal era. In 1876 Prince of
Wales visited Jaipur and then the city was
repainted. The tradition continues till date and
the government has made it mandatory to paint the
old City in pink color. If the old city is rich in
art and culture the outskirts have been developed
in accord with modern times. While the tradition
and modernity coexist in harmony the city has
grown into tourist and business centre. The
traditional crafts like Jewelry, metal work,
enameling, tie and dye, stone carving, pottery,
hand printing and leatherwork which were
patronized by the former rulers are still
thriving. The advent of modern industries and the
ever increasing number of vehicles shows that
Jaipur has kept its pace with modern times. The
bustling markets still are dotted with men and
women in their traditional colourfulattire. Apart
from the planned city itself, Jaipur has much to
offer to any tourist. The
Majestic Forts Jaigrah,
Nahargarh and
Amber have magnificent palaces. The
city Place where the former rulers still live is
outstanding. It has a rich museum having
artifacts, rare manuscripts and paintings.
Some
of the major tourist spots are listed below -
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