We started
our journey towards the Jaipur city. It was still drizzling and there was no
trace of sun in the sky. After roaming for hours in the forts, as we approached
the city, we realized one thing – Hunger. In the excitement of exploring the
majestic forts, we had forgotten that we haven’t eaten for hours! We asked our
driver to suggest a place to eat. He led us to a very small restaurant which
was looking a bit rundown and I was suspicious if the driver was misleading us.
But their food was nothing like rundown - it was heavenly! We heartily ate the
ghee-drenched dal-batti-choorma, gatte-ki-subji and missi roti. As a keralite,
I always had a prejudice against roti. We mainly eat rice and it is our staple
food. For the first time I realized that any food made in authentic way can be
delicious. One just needs the right mindset and an open heart to embrace any
cuisine. Even though the restaurant looked rundown, the food is quite costly
there. Throughout our stay in Jaipur, we visited many restaurants and the case
was the same. As Jaipur is a major tourist destination in India, this was not
entirely unexpected.
After the
food, our rain-drenched energy came back. From the street in front of the
restaurant, we had a good view of the Jaipur city. Even though it is called “the
pink city”, I felt that Jaipur has a distinctive brick red color rather than
pink. May be the pink color had transformed into brick red as the time passed
by. Jaipur city was founded in 1726 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II. Jaipur is
the first planned city in India. Vidyadhara Bhattacharya was the architect of
Jaipur city. He designed the city in nine blocks. Two of the blocks belong to
the royals and the rest seven were allotted to the public. The city is well
organized and from 1874, it has running water supply. Water used to be brought
from the nearby rivers and stored in the huge overhead tanks. Then it used to
be distributed in the city through iron pipes. I was wondering about the water
supply problem in the modern day’s cities like Delhi and Chennai. Even with the
advancement of technology, it is doubtful that if we are getting the same
quality of life as our ancestors had.
When it was
founded, Jaipur was not pink in color. In 1876, the Prince of Wales visited Jaipur
and the then Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh ordered to paint the entire city in pink
as a token of respect towards the Prince. It was indeed a brilliant idea as the
unity in color gives a unique beauty to the city and helped Jaipur to promote
its tourism. The old Jaipur city looks stunning, but new Jaipur is expanding to
the outskirts in an alarming manner. Everywhere you can find the rugged roads
and potholes. New buildings are coming up without any concern for order or
beauty. Whenever I look at our modern constructions, I wonder- where all our
love for beauty gone? We only want to create more space at a cheaper cost so
that we can make maximum profit. Are we leaving behind any artistic creations
for our future generations to admire, as our ancestors have left for us?
We started
walking towards the city palace. City palace is located right in the middle of
the Jaipur old city. The construction of the City Palace was commenced in 1729
by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II. It was renovated and expanded multiple times by
his descendants. Jaipur city palace is a unique combination of ancient architectural
techniques described in Silpa Saathra and also the Rajaput, British and Mughal
styles. Vidyadhara Bhattacharya was the chief architect of the Jaipur palace.
There are three gates leading into the city palace. They are Videndra Pol, Uday
Pol and Tripolia Gate. The Tripolia gate is reserved for the use of the royal
family. Other two gates are accessible to the public. We entered the city
palace through Uday Pol. City palace is a well preserved monument. The employees
in the reception and ticket counter are very friendly. They greeted us with a warm
smile. One of the receptionists was busy helping an old foreign couple. They
seemed to be in severe mental trauma. The conversation was in French; hence we
couldn’t understand what the issue was. Later we came to know that they lost
their passport somewhere near Agra – one of the worst things that can happen when
you are in a foreign country. The receptionist was talking and consoling them
in fluent French. We collected our tickets and audio guide from the reception. The
audio guide is a great option when one wants to explore places on their own
pace. When we hire a tour guide, we should keep up to his speed and most of the
tour guides that I have seen are always in a great hurry!
Our city
palace tour started at the “Mubarak Mahal (Welcome Palace)”. It is a two
storied bungalow built in 1900 to serve as a reception for the royal guests.
Maharaja Sawai Madhao Singh is the founder of Mubarak Mahal. The chief
architects of Mubarak Mahal are Lala Indra Sahai and Lala Chimal Lal along with
Swinton S Jacob from the Jaipur PWD department. We entered the textile gallery
that is operating in the ground floor of Mubarak Mahal. Grand ceremonial cloths of Kings and Queens
are well preserved in this textile gallery. They are made out of premium
quality silk and cotton and adorned with Rajasthan’s native block printed
designs. Each piece of cloth on display
might cost lakhs of rupees in antique market. They glitter even after hundreds
of years of their making.
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| Mubarak Mahal |
After having
a quick look at the textile museum, we entered the interiors of the palace
through a huge gate. This grand entrance is known as Rajendra Pol. Rajendra Pol
is guarded by statues of Airavatas (The white elephant) holding lotus flowers
in their trunk. They are symbols of royalty and prosperity. We saw a few
traditionally dressed door keepers in front of Rajendra Pol, which reminded the
days of the kings.
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| Rajendra Pol |
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| Elephant with lotus flower guarding Rajendra Pol |
Passing
through the Rajendra Pol, we reached another courtyard. This is the central
courtyard of the Jaipur city palace. This courtyard houses a structure known as
“Sarvato Badra(Hall of private audience). Sarvato Badra is a platform with huge pillars and served as
a meeting place of the king and nobles. Chandra Mahal – the royal residence is
located around this central courtyard. The flag of Jaipur King is hoisted on top of
the Chandra Mahal. The flag consists of a big one and a quarter one. There is
an interesting history behind these flags. Mughal emperor Aurangzeb bestowed
the title of “Sawai” upon the young prince of Jaipur, Jai Singh while attending
his marriage ceremony. “Sawai” mean one and a quarter. This title might
indicate that the king is much more than a single person represents. Later on,
all the descendants of Jai Singh prefixed the title Sawai with their names. The
Jaipur royal flag also carries this title as it is made up of a big (one) and a
small (quarter) one. There is another interesting fact about the Jaipur royal
flag. Both the King and Queen have separate flags. Usually, the flag of King
would be hoisted on the Chandra Mahal. When the king is not present in the
palace, the Queen’s flag will be hoisted. I couldn’t quite understand the
intention of this. But I do believe that there would be some interesting
historical reasons behind it.
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| The one and quarter flag on top of Chandra Mahal. Photo Courtesy: Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum |
On one side
of the Sarvato Bhadra chowk, there is an armory on display called the “Silekh
Khana”. In Persian, “Silekh” means armor. The Silekh Khana in the city palace
is India’s largest old weapons museum. Probably due to the security reasons, it
is prohibited to click photos inside the Silekh Khana. The first sight as we
stepped into the Silekh Ghana itself was terrifying. Fierce weapons like guns
and swords are arranged to make a “WELCOME” sign! However, it was a befitting
welcome to the museum as it contains some of the most ferocious arms and
ammunitions available anywhere in India. First we entered into the guns
section. There are hundreds of guns in different sizes and shapes. I have never
in my life, seen such a large collection of guns. Next we entered the section
for swords and knives. If guns where in hundreds, swords are in thousands. Most
of the swords are fitted with beautiful hilts carved in ivory, jade, silver and
crystal. There are some very special swords displayed in the museum. They are
the personal gifts from Shah-Jahan and Jahangir to the Jaipur King. They are
decorated with precious stones. These swords might still be carrying the finger
prints of the great Mughal Emperors! There are many weapons, which also serves
the purpose of terrorizing the enemy even at the sight of it. There are some
weapons designed to not only injure the enemy, but also inflict severe pain. I
felt uneasy as I stood there and thought about the blood that spilt by these
weapons and the tears that followed. Every war actually ends in these two.
There was an equipment which I personally
liked. I found it hilarious. It is a back-scratcher. For those who did not get
the idea, back scratcher is a metal hand fitted on a long rod. Whenever the
king is in the war attire, he may not be able to move his hands easily; the
back scratching equipment would save the day in those cases!
Other than
the weapons, there are other items in Silekh Khana like beautifully carved
armors, gun powder cases made out of Rhino’s horns. It is really impressive
that every item is numbered, sorted and kept with great care and order. The
entire Silekh Khana has a ferocious look. If there is one thing that
contradicts theme, that is the ceiling of Silekh Khana. It is indeed an irony
that the ceiling of this ferocious armory is adorned with delicate murals of
beautiful young women in dancing postures. It is also a relief to the visitor
who is overwhelmed with the terror that is induced by the weapons in Silekh Khana.
We exited
Silekh Khana and entered the Sarvato Bhadra chowk again. The main attraction in
this courtyard is the Chandra Mahal. This palace has seven floors. The ground
floor of Chandra Mahal is known as Preetham Niwas. The first floor is Sukh
niwas followed by Rang Mahal which is adorned by colored glasses. The next
floor is Chhavi Mahal which is painted in beautiful blue hue. The top most floor
is the crown of Chandra Mahal and it is known as Mukund Mandir. Visitors are not
allowed inside the Chandra mahal, as the royal family still resides in this
palace.
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| Chandra Mahal - view from inside courtyard |
There is a
tragic story associated with the Chandra Mahal. Maharaja Sawai Ishwari Singh,
son of Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II committed suicide in this very palace. He
was terrorized by the advancement of the Maratha army and took his own life by
getting bitten by a cobra. In those days a horrible ritual called Sati used to
be practiced in India. Sati is a ritual where the wife(s) of a deceased person commit
suicide by jumping into the funeral pyre of her husband. Following the suicide
of Ishwari Singh, his 21 wives followed Sati. It is indeed a horrifying and sad
thing to even think of. It was then I realized the greatness of the work done
by men like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, who raised their voice against this evil
practice.
There is
another beautiful courtyard near the Chandra Mahal. It is known as the Preetam
Niwas Chowk. This inner courtyard is famous for its four beautifully decorated
gates known as the “Riddhi-Siddhi” pol. Each of these gates represents one of
the four seasons. The north east gate is adorned with the sculptures of dancing
peacocks and the theme of this gate suggests autumn. This gate is dedicated to
Lord Vishnu.
The
southwest gate is adorned with brightly colored lotuses and it represents the
hot summer season. This gate is dedicated to Shiva and Parvathy.
The third
gate is commonly known as “Lehariya(Waves) and it is in lush green color
representing the spring season and dedicated to lord Ganesh.
The fourth gate is also known as the Rose gate
and it is adorned with intricate floral patterns and dedicated to Goddess Devi
and it represents winter.
In addition
to these four gates, Preetham Niwas Chowk itself is a feast to the eyes. The walls
of Preetham Niwas Chowk are painted bright yellow. Brick red flowers are block printed on these walls.
The floor of Preetam Niwas Chowk is also in bright brick red color. The audio
guide told us that Pritam Niwas Chowk is a favorite shooting spot for many
Bollywood directors. Many Hindi songs have been shot at this other worldly
courtyard. One will not get bored even after spending a whole day in the
Preetam Niwas chowk.
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| Preetam Niwas Chowk |
Due to the scarcity of time, we exited the
courtyard reluctantly and moved to the next destination which is the “Sabha
Niwas”. Sabha Niwas is also known as the Hall of Public Audience. As the name
suggests, it is used as the Durbar hall of Jaipur King. It is a magnificent
hall befitting the glorious kingdom of Jaipur. It was built in the 18th
century by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh. In the center of the hall we can see
the Royal throne and the golden flabella on either sides of the throne. The
floor of Sabha Niwas is covered with very expensive red carpet, adding to the
glory of the place. The ceiling of Sabha Niwas is intricately decorated with
floral patterns in blue, red and golden color. It also houses a large
chandelier, which was in its time, the biggest chandelier in India. Once we entered
the Sabha Niwas, we suddenly started feeling like royals - thanks to the
splendor that we were witnessing. However our royal-hood had to come to an end
as we had to move on to the next attraction. After Indian independence, when
the state of Rajasthan was formed in 1949, Maharaj Sawai Man Singh II sworn in
as the ruler of Rajasthan. He took oath in this very hall in the presence of
Shri. Sardar Vallabhai Patel.
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| Sabha Niwas. Photo Courtesy Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum |
We went into
the Sarvato Bhadra to see the huge silver urns that we spotted while going into
the Sabha Niwas. These huge silver urns were listed in the Guinness book of
world records as the biggest silver constructions. It still holds its record. Each
of these silver urns weighs 340 kilograms and can contain 4000 liters. They are
also known as “Gangaajalies” (Urn which contain the water from river Ganges). There
is an interesting story behind this name. In 1901, the Maharaja of Jaipur Sawai
Madhav Sigh ordered to construct these urns. These urns were used to carry
water from river Ganges, when the Maharaja was on his trip to England to attend
the coronation of King Edward VII. Being a pious Hindu, Maharaja was concerned
that he would be committing a sin if he crosses the ocean and drink the foreign
water. Hence he took with him, three huge silver urns full of water and also
some soil from Jaipur. During the second day of travel, they experienced heavy
storms while they were sailing in the red sea. The priests accompanying the
king advised him to abandon one of the silver urns in the ocean in order to
please the ocean God Varuna. He complied with it and one of the tree silver
urns was thrown into the red sea. The remaining two silver urns are the ones displayed
in the Sarvato Bhadra. The third one might be deep asleep in the bed of red
sea.
It is been
hours since we are roaming in the Jaipur city palace. The rain subsided as we
walked towards the exit gate of the magnificent city palace. Our next
destination is the world famous Hawa Mahal or the palace of winds. Hawa Mahal
is an iconic image of the Jaipur city. Hawa mahal is located very close the
city palace. Bidding good bye to the city palace we briskly walked towards the
palace of winds – the Hawa Mahal.
Thank you for sharing!
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