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2-5 days

Jaipur Notes - I

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Jai Singh II’s city of Jaipur

The city of Jaipur is an artist’s dream come true. The legendary Sawai Jai Singh II, a great ruler and astronomer, decided to shift his capital from hills of Amber to the plains and built it in accordance with the ‘Vastu Shastra’. Alongwith his Prime Minister Vidyadhar Bhattacharya, he built what is today known as a masterpiece of town planning by the architects and as a poem in aesthetics by the scholars.

He spared no effort in making his city the most complete one in the world - beautiful, charming, appealing, colorful, progressive, and of course hospitable. His predecessors and his people have till today carried down his vision and with its charm and warmth, Jaipur is Jai Singh II’s city- his dream come true!

Architectural wonder

He made Jaipur a city having every nook and corner uniformly and caringly done up - all the roads are perpendicular to each other and the streets are lined with fine buildings of uniform design.

Jaipur was built on a grid system. Our guide told us that the main streets (119’ wide) are intersected at right-angles by secondary streets (60’ wide), which were further criss-crossed by lanes(30’ wide) and bylanes(15’ wide).

Fine Arts

GRAMMY AWARD WINNER

PT. VISHWA MOHAN BHATT
playing his creation,
the Mohan Veena

The city was established with a vision to make it a leading centre of art, culture and craft. There is a distinct Jaipur School of Classical dance `Kathak’. The Ghoomar is a popular dance among the common people with simple and elegant steps. The `Dagar Bandhu’ singers of Vedic singing ‘Dhrupad’ are based from Jaipur. Jaipur is a famous Music Gharana (School). It is also a leading centre for the learning of Sanskrit, Astrology, Naturopathy, Ayurveda and Herbal Treatments. Jaipur has given to the world a number of poets and writers. There is a separate school of Rajput style of Miniature Paintings.

Lifestyle and culture

Despite its size, Jaipur is far from being a place with its people having no time for socializing. Lifestyle in the older part of the city (the walled Pink City) still depicts the flavour of the old times. Except for the increased crowds and motorized vehicles plying over the roads, nothing seems to have changed here. Right from the beginning it earned a reputation of being a leading trade city in India and it is still evident.

Chhoti Chauper

7.30 a.m.

12 noon

7.30 p.m.

Typical of the medieval times, almost all kinds of commodities are sold at teeny-weeny stores (back in the U.S., we would probably have a full-fledged department store stocking that wide a range of groceries and goods). Shopkeepers, hawkers, and vendors all vie for space and the place becomes important for gatherings and socializing. All kinds of displays, advertisements, street dancers and singers find their place there.

Business is gathered in the mornings and folded back in the nights. You will know what I mean if you click and enlarge our pictures of Chhoti Chaupar (with Isarlat towering in the background) on the right. The square bursts with life every morning and winds up every evening.

Life for the common people here is full of colour, joy and celebrations. The year is marked with dozens of festivals and rituals and people participate with different mixes of cuisine, music and dance. There is a strong enthusiasm among the people to mark different events in their own special ways.

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