"Jaipur--The Pink City and More" a Jaipur Travel Page by atufft

The Kachhwaha clan moved into the Jaipur region in 1106 AD, and grew in power as they began to expand the Amber Fortress. The clan traces its ancestry to Kush, the second son of Ram, the hero king of the epic poem Ramayana, a divine descent marked today by the fiery insignia of the solar race, or surya vamsha, on Jaipur's royal banners. The Kachhwaha leadership became senior feudal patron in alliance with Babur, the first Mughal conquerer of Delhi, and when a daughter from the clan, Jodha-bai, married Akbar, the fortunes of the family became firmly established. It was Jodha-bai, afterall, whose treasured son Jahangir was predicted by the Sheik at Fatehpur Sikri to be born, and who eventually became a Mugal ruler and father of Shan Jahan, the builder of the Taj Mahal at Agra. Jodha-bai's brother, Bhagwan Das, was a high ranking commander in Akbar's army, and the adopted son of Bhagwan Das, Man Singh I, became Akbar's most trusted friend and general in the imperial army. Man Singh I, and his successors, including Jai Singh I, built and expanded the palaces and fortifications at Amber Fort. In 1726, a direct descendant of these Amber Fort rajputs, the brilliant astronomer and powerful Sawai Maharaja, Jai Singh II, invited equally brilliant Bengali architect, Vidhya Bhattacharaya to design and build the city of Jaipur with it's many palaces and urban havelis that today are found within the pink city.

Anyone who travels within the city can percieve the planned grid layout that includes traffic circles very close to the heart of the Jaipur. Much of this is due to the Hindu caste inspired plan created by Jai Singh II which divided the city into residential areas for various castes. The city is divided into 9 sections, and in the western section is the upper caste area, including the city palace. Adjacent to the city palace is the equally inspired astronomical Jantar Mantar, and in block fashion, on a street perpendicular to the great astronomical lab, is the elegant Hawa Mahal, a thin 5 stories of lattice windows from which the harem could observe parades without themselves being watched. The Pink City theme is actually a 19th century hospitality idea created for the visit of the Prince Wales, and has since then the "welcoming pink" has been enforced by civic ordinance. In fact, during my visit, the color pink appeared more like a faded tangerine orange on most buildings, but I actually was very inspired myself by the uniformity within a nation otherwise known for a complete lack thereof.

Within the city center, there are large number of palaces and havelis that are converted to hotels for tourists, and so accomodations are easy to find. In addition, Jaipur is an excellent place to learn about the Indian art of block print cotton fabric production, gem stone cutting, and the manufacture of varioius other handicrafts found throughout Rajasthan.