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Jaipur |
Other opinions
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No place in India seemed so colorful and vivid as Jaipur.
The tour around town pulled by a bike was super, and the contact with people in the streets and bazaars was easy and extremely friendly. Of course, with lots of things to see, I wished I had more time for Jaipur. |
Amber Fort
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All the concepts of India Riding an elephant uphill seems a cliche for tourists. And it is. But it really helps feeling the ambiance and plunging deeper in India. I had a personal experience in Fort Amber... well... I describe it in "Personal memories" section. However, the visit to the fort, going up by elephant, on foot, or by helicopter, is something no one can miss. |
Palace of Winds
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I'm not going to repeat everything you can read in most texts about this palace, in Wikipedia, or something alike.
My special feeling, besides the confirmation of the beauty of its facade, was the way it is integrated with the city, dominating the image of the area, but very well integrated in the whole. Not the usual outstanding luxury apart from the city and contrasting with it, but something being part of the street, living with it, still hiding the faces of gone women, behind its delicate windows. |
City Palace
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The city palace complex still has some areas reserved as royal residence, but several buildings are opened to public as a museum.
Different buildings and yards, arches and rooms, provide a very interesting visit. Be prepared to pay the same than 5 Indian citizens to enter, doubling the price if carrying a camera, however, for occidental uses, it is not expensive - about 2€ to enter |
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Rajendra Pol
A very beautiful gate to City Palace is made of white marble, flanked by two elephants also in marble, carved in a single block,and added later to celebrate the birth of Maharaja's son is called Rajendra Pol, which means gatweway of princess. |
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Diwan-I-Khas Diwan-I-Khas is a very harmonious hall, with beautiful floor and chandeliers, but where the top attraction is a pair of huge silver vessels, the biggest in the world, according to Guinness Book of Records. |
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Pitam Niwas Chowk
Pitam Niwas Chowk is the inner courtyard, accessing the main palace, Chandra Mahal. It has four gates representing the four seasons and Hindu gods. In the Northeast is Peacock Gate representing autumn and dedicated to Vishnu, in the Southwest is Lotus Gate (summer and Shiva-Parvati), in the Northwest Green Gate, (spring and Ganesha), and the Rose Gate representing winter and dedicated to Devi. Maharani's palace
The complex of city palace is composed by a few specific and distinct areas. |
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The Maharani's palace impresses for its delicacy, with wonderful stone carvings and frescoes painted with dust of precious stones. Today it is a museum of the weapons of the Maharajah's family.
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Silver urns There are two silver urns placed prominently in the City Palace. Visitors often express themselves puzzled by their presence... Yes, we did to! But let me continue to reproduce what I read in Pinkcity: ... particularly since the attendants are quick to point out that these are the largest silver objects in the world, as recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records. |
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More interesting is the reason these urns — there were three altogether, but one has since been lost — came to be made.
According to Hindu belief, crossing the seas to journey to distant landsinhabited by heathen races was an act so unholy, it brought upon the perpetrator untold calamities. Not content with that, it was deemed that the contaminated person would also lose his caste in the Indian social context.
Till such time as travel remained in the realm of the impossible, this suited everybody just fine, but with increased interaction with the British in India, and the regular plying of the P&O liners to Mumbai, the temptation to travel to England and other pockets of Europe became too strong to resist. Sometimes, of course, travel was necessitated by the demands of the office: a war had to be fought in distant Haifa, or a treaty signed in Versailles.
When the Maharaja of Jaipur expressed his desire to travel to London, the consternation in his court was managed somewhat with the thought that he would bathe with water carried from the river Ganga, and dine on food cooked by his accompanying chefs who would use the same 'Indian' water for their culinary preparations.
The large silver urns served their maharaja well, but left no one in doubt about the seriousness with which the people of Rajasthan took their rituals. A martial race, they went to the battlefields with their gold amulets and damascened swords to kill and be killed: but equally obligatory was their visit to their temples where they damascened swords to kill and be killed: but equally obligatory was their visit to their temples where they paid obeisance before their gods and goddesses. If they were killed, their wives committed jauhar, the mass leap into funeral pyres which, we are informed by the state's bards who still sing of such trials, was conducted with dignity, and in the nature of a celebration. Difficult to believe? Perhaps, but the voluntary imprints left behind by their tiny hands at the entrance walls of forts before they came to their fiery end, tell a somewhat different tale. The honour of a fort, we are again informed by the same minstrels, lay not in remaining unconquered, but in the number of such handprints collected at its entrance gate.
According to Hindu belief, crossing the seas to journey to distant landsinhabited by heathen races was an act so unholy, it brought upon the perpetrator untold calamities. Not content with that, it was deemed that the contaminated person would also lose his caste in the Indian social context.
Till such time as travel remained in the realm of the impossible, this suited everybody just fine, but with increased interaction with the British in India, and the regular plying of the P&O liners to Mumbai, the temptation to travel to England and other pockets of Europe became too strong to resist. Sometimes, of course, travel was necessitated by the demands of the office: a war had to be fought in distant Haifa, or a treaty signed in Versailles.
When the Maharaja of Jaipur expressed his desire to travel to London, the consternation in his court was managed somewhat with the thought that he would bathe with water carried from the river Ganga, and dine on food cooked by his accompanying chefs who would use the same 'Indian' water for their culinary preparations.
The large silver urns served their maharaja well, but left no one in doubt about the seriousness with which the people of Rajasthan took their rituals. A martial race, they went to the battlefields with their gold amulets and damascened swords to kill and be killed: but equally obligatory was their visit to their temples where they damascened swords to kill and be killed: but equally obligatory was their visit to their temples where they paid obeisance before their gods and goddesses. If they were killed, their wives committed jauhar, the mass leap into funeral pyres which, we are informed by the state's bards who still sing of such trials, was conducted with dignity, and in the nature of a celebration. Difficult to believe? Perhaps, but the voluntary imprints left behind by their tiny hands at the entrance walls of forts before they came to their fiery end, tell a somewhat different tale. The honour of a fort, we are again informed by the same minstrels, lay not in remaining unconquered, but in the number of such handprints collected at its entrance gate.
Albert Hall Museum
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Built in the 19th century, this fabulous palace is now converted in Jaipur central museum.
It displays a large and interesting collection of local art and crafts. Website: http://www.rajasthan-tourism.org/prime-attractions/albert-museum.html |
Astronomy Jantar Mantar
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Strange complex! Jantar Mantar is referred as a set of constructions used to astrological observation, but, nowadays, it is difficult to understand the purpose and use of each element. |
Samode Hotel
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This was the first time that we loved to loose ourselves inside the hotel, with the feelings of being in a featured monument. All the space is absolutely fantastic, and, if it is open only for the guests, it's a good reason to stay at least one night there. Website: http://www.samode.com/ |