A Mile In Our Shoes: Jaipur

March 10, 2010

Jaipur, also know as the Pink City because its prominent buildings are washed in this color, is the capital city of Rajasthan. It has a labyrinth of fascinating bazaars, lavish palaces and historic sites. Tradition and modernity exist side by side here. On the streets, motorbikes compete with cows, camels, elephants, donkeys, people and rickshaws for space. Turbaned village elders rub shoulders with young people in jeans. It is like taking a step back in time with a little twist of popular culture thrown in.

The rickshaws

Some architecture

Camel parking lot

Elephant taxi

A video of the street

We got up this morning and hired a driver to spend the day taking us to a few places we decided to explore. I was VERY excited that our taxi was going to be a 1957 Morris Oxford Series III Hindustan Ambassador. There are still many, many of these on the road here. Mostly used as taxi's.

The decision on what to see in our short time here wasn’t easy as there is soooo much history and culture to absorb. We chose to visit the Amber Palace and Fort complex first.

The Amber Fort is protected by Jaigarh Fort from the ridge above.

Short Amber Fort History: (sorry to bore you with more history, but it has always been my favorite subject, so you will always get some).

The Amber Fort lies about 10 miles northeast of Jaipur. The name “amber” derives from the goddess Amba Mata (Mother Earth) worshiped by local tribes at the site prior to the building of the fort complex.

Man Singh I established the fort palace in 1529 on the remains of an 11^th century fort. Then, the Kachhawaha Rajputs (one of the three ruling warrior dynasties) maintained it as their capital until moving it to Jaipur in 1727. The Mughals (Pakistani Muslims) who were also in the region at this time had great influence with the Kachhawaha people; the pleasure palaces within the fort reflect the Islamic influence. Various other buildings were added to the fort by Jai Singh I between 1621-67 and constitute its magnificent centerpiece. The wall surrounding the fort encompasses the Old City, which was the early seat of the Amber kings before they made the fort their capital. Several havelis (private mansions) and temples can be seen below the fort, showing the existence of a self-sufficient township. As we were going through the fort, we decided the outstanding artistry displayed throughout the structure far surpasses any palace/fort we have seen anywhere else in the world. It is just magnificent! See what you think.

In this video we are walking up to the fort through part of the old town. Notice the open trench along the buildings to the left. This is how the waste water from the plumbing is removed from the houses. It makes for a very aromatic walk through the streets. This situation is still found in parts of many cities in India.

View of the Old City as we climbed to The Fort. Notice the fort's wall running up along the ridge and down the side of the mountain.

Here is a video of our very handsome guide (I'm a sucker for a good looking Indian man). He stayed with us throughout our time at The Fort and in the Old City.

As we passed through the main entrance of the fort we entered the main courtyard, also called Jaleb Chowk. As you will see, my people are always waiting for me as I am the one who is always taking the pictures :o)

Part of the Temple of Goddess Shilla. The outstanding decorative painting on this temple was done over 400 years ago with paint made from vegetable dyes.

We found it amazing how well these two antiquities have been preserved :o)

The magnificent Ganesh Pol is the shimmering three-storied gateway to three pleasure palaces, built in 1640, it is connected to the private apartments of the many wives by the screened uppermost level, meant for ladies in purdab (dress as a form of coverage).

Here is Ganesh in all of his splendor

The exquisite painting on this structure is simply stunning, again done with vegetable dye paint. The architectural attention to detail blows your mind.

Here are the hand carved marble modesty screens on the upper level used by the ladies to look out over the square. Apparently the women's apartments on this level have been designed in a manner which could easily facilitate the entry of the maharajah to various chambers without any of the concubines aware of the visit to any room!

The Sheesh Mahal and Jas Mandir. The walls and ceilings are inlaid with tiny mirrors and colored glass. It's just CRAZY how detailed everything is.

Exquisite floral marble carvings trimmed in black onyx inlay

These huge pots were used to cook food for the fort, routinely 700 people. We'd like to see what kind of spoon they stirred these with!

Now, here is the highlight of our day. As we were exiting the fort, we came upon a couple of snake charmers. Yes, real snake charmers. This was one of the things on our wish list that we wanted to see while here in India. We can't believe we actually found one!

Rowan asked if she could try to play that odd stringed instrument the guy on the left was playing. She had a very funny go at it (Personally, I'd say 'terrible' go at it! R).

Our cobra friend

We left the palace and walked back down through the old city to go check out the local artist bazaar. There was no photography allowed inside the market, so there are no pictures of us shopping. They did let me take one photo of Shrikant & Charanya in the Rajasthani turban's because it was so cute. You all will just have to visit us when we get home so you can see the fabulous things we bought while we were there. :o)

Check out the FABULOUS elephant tapestry behind the sheiks

After our shopping spree we were famished so our driver took us to a local Rajasthani restaurant to get some lunch. The food was outstanding. The beer cooled our very hot heads. The naan to die for!