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Jaipur
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Jaipur , also popularly known as the Pink City, is the capital of Rajasthan state, India. Historically rendered as Jeypore, Jaipur is the former capital of the princely state of Jaipur. Founded in 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh, the ruler of Amber, the city today has a population of more than 5 million residents.
His Highness Sawai Bhawani Singh Bahadur (born 1931) is the current titular Maharaja of Jaipur
The city is remarkable among pre-modern Indian cities for the width and regularity of its streets which are laid out into six sectors separated by broad streets 111 ft (34 m) wide.
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Encyclopedia
Jaipur , also popularly known as the Pink City, is the capital of Rajasthan state, India. Historically rendered as Jeypore, Jaipur is the former capital of the princely state of Jaipur. Founded in 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh, the ruler of Amber, the city today has a population of more than 5 million residents.
His Highness Sawai Bhawani Singh Bahadur (born 1931) is the current titular Maharaja of Jaipur
The city is remarkable among pre-modern Indian cities for the width and regularity of its streets which are laid out into six sectors separated by broad streets 111 ft (34 m) wide. The urban quarters are further divided by networks of gridded streets. Five quarters wrap around the east, south, and west sides of a central palace quarter, with a sixth quarter immediately to the east. The Palace quarter encloses a sprawling palace complex (the Hawa Mahal, or palace of winds), formal gardens, and a small lake. Nahargarh Fort crowns the hill in the northwest corner of the old city. Another noteworthy building is Sawai Jai Singh's observatory, Jantar Mantar.
History
- For the history of all the region, see Dhundhar
Jaipur, the pink city was founded in 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, a Kachwaha Rajput, who ruled from 1699-1744. Initially his capital was Amber (city), which lies at a distance of 11 km from Jaipur. He felt the need of shifting his capital city with the increase in population and growing scarcity of water. Jaipur is the first planned city of India and the King took great interest while designing this city of victory. He consulted several books on architecture and architects before making the lay out of Jaipur.
After several battles with Marathas, Jai Singh was keen on the security aspect of the city. Due to this reason, he focused on his scientific and cultural interests to make a brilliant city. Being, a lover of mathematics and science, Jai Singh sought advice from Vidyadhar Bhattacharya, a Brahmin scholar of Bengal, to aid him design the city architecture. Vidyadhar referred the ancient Indian literature on astronomy, books of Ptolemy and Euclid, and discussed the plan with the King.
With a strategic plan, the construction of the city started in 1727. It took around 4 years to complete the major palaces, roads and square. The city was built following the principles of Shilpa Shastra, the Indian Architecture. The city was divided into nine blocks, out of which two consist the state buildings and palaces, whereas the remaining seven blocks were allotted to the public. In order to ensure the security, huge fortification walls were made along with seven strong gates.
According to that time, architecture of the town was very advanced and certainly the best in Indian subcontinent. In 1853, when the Prince of Wales visited Jaipur, the whole city was painted pink to welcome him. Today, the neat and broadly laid-out avenues, painted in pink provide a magical charm to the city. Jaipur is rich in its cultural and architectural beauty, which can be traced in the various historical and aesthetic places that reside in the city. This city of victory really wins the hearts of the people with its splendid charisma.
In the 19th century the city grew rapidly and became prosperous; by 1900 it had a population of 160,000. The city's wide boulevards were paved and lit with gas. The city had several hospitals. Its chief industries were in metals and marble, fostered by a school of art founded in 1868. The city also had three colleges, including a Sanskrit college (1865) and a girls' school (1867) initiated under the reign of the enigmatic Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II. There was also a wealthy and enterprising community of native bankers, particularly the Jains and the Marwaris.
Architecture
Jaipur is considered by many urbanisms to be one of the best planned cities. It has been claimed to be the first planned city in India.It was at that time one of the best planned cities in Asia. Jaipur's kings are not considered to be good rajputs but were certainly good rulers. In an era when most of the rajputs were busy fighting with each other, Jaipur's kings diplomatically broadened their control sphere maintaining good relations with the Mughals.
The city was planned according to Indian Vastu Shastra (Vedic or Pouranic Planning for the comfort and prosperity of the citizens). The directions of each street and market are east to West and North to South. The Eastern gate is called Suraj (Sun) Pol, while the Western gate is called Chand (Moon) Pol. There are only three gates facing East, west, and North including the Northern gate (known as Zorawar Singh gate) which faces toward the ancestral capital of Amber, while many gates face South.
Although the present city has expanded from outside of its walls, the original planning was within the walls. The gates used to be closed at sunset and opened at sunrise. Almost all Northern Indian towns of that period presented a chaotic picture of narrow twisting lanes, a confusion of run-down forts, temples, palaces, and temporary shacks that bore no resemblance at all to the principles set out in Hindu architectural manuals which call for strict geometric planning. Thus, for Sawai Jai Singh II and the Bengali Guru Vidyadhar (who was a 'Shaspati' - Hindu Priest Architect), the founding of Jaipur was also a ritual and a bronze opportunity to plan a whole town according to the principles of Hindu architectural theory.
The town of Jaipur is built in the form of a eight-part Mandala known as the 'Pithapada'. Nine signifies the nine planets of the ancient astrological zodiac. It is also known that Sawai Jai Singh II was a great astronomer and a town planner, and hence the 'Pithapada'. Also, the commercial shops are designed in multiples of nine (27), having one cross street for a planet.
Geography and Climate
Jaipur is located at . It has an average elevation of 432 metres (1417 ft).
The district is situated in the eastern part of Rajasthan. It is bound in the north by Sikar and Alwar, in South by Tonk, Ajmer and Sawai Madhopur. Nagaur, Sikar and Ajmer in the west and in east by Bharatpur and Dausa districts.
The major rivers passing through the Jaipur district are Banas and Banganga. Ground water resources to the extent of about 28.65 million cubic meter are available in the district. Although serious drought is rare, poor water management and exploitation of groundwater with extensive tube-well systems threatens agriculture in some areas.
Jaipur has a semi-arid climate. Although it receives over 50 cm (20 in) of rainfall annually the rainfall is concentrated in the monsoon months between June and September. Temperatures remain relatively high throughout the year, with the summer months of April to early July having average daily temperatures of around 30oC. During the monsoon months there are frequent, heavy rains and thunderstorms, but flooding is not common. The winter months of November to February are mild and pleasant, with average temperatures in the 15-18oC range and little or no humidity. There are however occasional cold waves that lead to temperatures near freezing.
Maharaja Of Jaipur
His Highness Sawai Bhawani Singh Bahadur (born 1931) is the current titular Maharaja of Jaipur and head of the Kachwaha clan of Rajputs. The Maharaja is considered a political, cultural, and religious icon in modern Rajasthan, as well as a military official. He is styled His Highness, The Maharaja of Jaipur.He adopted his grandson, Kumar Padmanabh Singh, and made him the heir to the throne of Jaipur.
In the same vein as his father, the first hotelier prince in India, Sawai continues to run many palaces as hotels, including the Rambagh Palace, Raj Mahal palace, or other former royal residences. Sawai still conducts certain ceremonies and customs from the traditional seat of royal power, the sprawling The City Palace. He is also involved in local politics, like his stepmother, Gayatri Devi of Cooch Behar.
Politics
Jaipur has been a stronghold of the opposition Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP). The Indian National Congress has won only two of 14 parliament elections. Bhairon Singh Shekhawat has also has been elected MLA for Jaipur three times.
Infrastructure
In a recent international survey Jaipur was ranked the 7th best place to visit in Asia and in another poll it was ranked third among twelve major Indian cities.
Modern infrastructural facilities are developing fast, and in many cases surpass those of larger cities like Delhi and Calcutta . The city is expanding very quickly and has become a hot spot for development in Rajasthan. Jaipur International Airport is located at a satellite location of Sanganer and offer's flights to Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata and Guwahati along with sproadic services to International locations such as Dubai.
Since 2000 Jaipur has become a centre for education. The city is very peaceful and many north Indian families prefer to send their offspring to Jaipur for higher and technical education. Jaipur has more than 40 engineering colleges, 40 business management institutes, 15 pharmacy institutes, 4 hotel management institutes, 3 medical colleges and 6 dental colleges. It also has 8 universities including Rajasthan University. Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur is one of the best technical institutes in India.
Jaipur has a well maintained road network with multi-story flyovers and traffic lights with closed circuit cameras. Police control room (PCR) vans are being equipped with GPS to monitor locations and help maintain law and order.
Jaipur boasts of International Living standards with well planned colonies of grid like patterns (sectors and blocks) and parks well maintained by JDA. Mansarovar housing colony is the largest housing colony in Asia. Two new colonies Anupam vihar and Abhinav vihar have been recently added to Jaipur by JDA. There are so many shopping malls and Multiplex which offer a urban lifestyle to Jaipurites.
SMS Criket stadium is also located here, which is a popular venue for many international matches and for Indian Premier League matches.
Events like Jaipur Jewelry Show and Jaipur Literature Festival are offering a common platform for people not only from India but from other countries also, giving Jaipur a cosmopolitan image.
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Transport
Road
The city of Jaipur is the capital of the state of Rajasthan and is centrally located. National Highway No.8 links Delhi to Mumbai, and No.11 links Bikaner to Agra, passing through Jaipur district with a total length of 366 km. The total length of different types of roads in the district was approximately 4,102 km at March 2000.
Rail
Jaipur is well connected by rail to all of the major cities and towns of India. Jaipur is on the broad-gauge and meter gauge network of the Indian Railways and has direct trains on the broad gauge network to cities like Agra, Delhi, Gwalior, Mumbai, Howrah, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mysore, Bangalore, Lucknow, Kanpur, Patna etc. across the country and to major cities in Rajasthan such as Ajmer, Sawai Madhopur, Kota, Jodhpur, Bikaner and Udaipur.
Jaipur is connected with metre gauge rail route with Sri Ganganagar, Churu, Sikar.
Jaipur is also connected with major centres of neighbouring states such as Agra (Uttar Pradesh), Ahmedabad (Gujarat) and Delhi through the broad gauge network. The Palace on Wheels makes a scheduled stop in Jaipur.
Air
Jaipur's Jaipur International Airport is situated in its satellite town of Sanganer and offers sporadic service to Muscat, Sharjah, Bangkok and Dubai. Jaipur also has well connected domestic air links with Jodhpur, Udaipur, Aurangabad, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Goa, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Indore, Bangalore, Mumbai, Surat and Raipur, Lucknow, Gorakhpur.]
Economy
No. of large and medium scale running units: 48
No. of small scale units: 19,544
No. of industrial areas: 19 (Bagru, Bassi, Bais Godam, Bindyaka, Dudu, Hirawala, Jetpura, Jhotwara, Kaladera, Kanakpura, Kartarpura, Malviya Nagar, Phulera, Renwal, Sanganer, Shahpura, Sitapura, Sudarshanpur and Vishwakarma)
Jaipur district is a centre for both modern and traditional industries. The main industrial products include: acetylene gas, ACSR (Aluminum Conductor Steel Reinforced) cable, all-purpose flour (maida), atta flour, ball bearings, bottling of LPG, ceramics, pottery, cold roll strips, corrugated boxes, deoiled cakes, durries, dyeing and printing, edible oil, electronic items, engraving on brass items, ferrous and non-ferrous castings, gems and jewelry, general engineering and manufacturing, granite slabs and tiles, hand-made paper, handicraft items, halogen automobile headlamps, "hawai" chappals (sandals), household electrical appliances, HT steel strips, iodized salt, lamps, laminated springs for railways, marble statues, marble tiles & slabs, moulded plastic components for electronics, nitrochlorobenzene, oxygen gas, perfumes, pigments, plastic containers, P.P. multifilament yarn, PVC cables, PVC doors, PVC footwear, canvas shoes, Portland cement, readymade garments (clothing), re-roller products, semolina (suji), steel furniture, steel ingots, stone grits, synthetic leather, suits & shirts made of synthetic materials, tablets and capsules, two way radio and line, washing soap, wheat, woollen carpets, refined vegetable oil and vanaspati ghee heavy Steel fabrication, brass and lacquer work, enamel work, gems and jewellery, granite tiles, handlooms, marble statues, printed cloth and textiles, readymade garments, woollen and silk carpets.
Jaipur has been ranked 31 among the 50 Emerging Global Outsourcing cities. Genpact and Infosys have their BPO already established and running successfully.Infact Genpact has the fastest growing location in Jaipur. Real Estate business is flourishing well from last 2-3 years. Some of the companies already present here include MICO, Coca Cola,IBM, Ericsson and NEI populary known as NBC Bearings.
Jaipur also has Reserve bank of India and many other prominent international banks. India's largest integrated IT SEZ Mahindra World City is located in jaipur. Master planned by Jurong Constructions Singapore it covers nearly of land off Ajmer highway and has already attracted major companies like Infosys,TCS,Wipro,Tech Mahindra,Truworth and Deutsche Bank.India's one of its kind World Trade Park is also under contruction in Malaviya Nagar. It will be be having luxury hotel, business halls, five screen multiplex, underwater restaurant and many showrooms of international brands. In coming years it will be the hub for modern business development in jaipur.
Jaipur is soon planned to have an International Convention Centre and a Golf course. A film city near Agra highway is also in the pipeline
Tourism is a significant part of jaipur's economy. Some of the world's best hotels are located here.
Tourism
Places of tourist interest:
Hawa Mahal
Amber Fort
Jaigarh Fort
Nahargarh Fort
Birla Temple
Chokhi Dhani
Jantar Mantar (Jaipur)
Chand Baori stepwell
Demographics
As of 2001 India census, Jaipur had a population of 2,324,319. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. In Jaipur, 15% of the population is under 6 years of age.
Culture
Jaipur has a rich culture for which it is well known.
Tamasha
Jaipur Tamasha, a unique musical folk play, is a 19th century contribution by Jaipur to the folk theatre of Rajasthan. At the outset of the 18th century, in the peripherals of Agra, between two groups originated and developed a poetic dialogue. This later on came to be known as ‘Khayal-Tamasha’ during the reign of Aurangzeb, when musical art was becoming doomed, the contemporary emperor of Jaipur, Maharaja Sawai Jaisingh brought a few artists to Jaipur and settled them in Brahmpuri. The foremost among them was the Bhatt Family of Jaipur. Here in under the proximity of the chief of the Bhatt family, Shri Banshidhar Bhatt, Tamasha style developed a specific form. This was a musical based folk dramatic form, which had an explicit composition of music acting and dance. The Tamasha form with its music comprising classical, semi classical and folk melody, replete with acting and dancing is being performed from the last 250 years in the open theatre called ‘Akhara’ at Brahampuri in Jaipur with a unique style of presentation. It is performed mainly on the day’s purrourding the festival Holi, on the days of Holi on the following Amaveasya and on Ramnavmi. A like the ‘Aagan Theatre’ the audience sit in a circle and the Tamasha actors perform in the centre with the singers, performers and musicians accompanied by their instruments the Tamasha begins with a ‘Lahariya’ there begins a special dancing performance upon a contemporary rhythm which moves from show to fast and reaches its perfection. This is followed by the duly performed ‘Ganesh Vandna’ after Ganesh Vandna the main actor of Tamasha introduces himself as the anchor to the audiences and the performance continues with its dialogue and songs, in this way the musical tamasha with its acting of skills, dancing performance and music reaches its perfection. the basic of the narrative of Tamasha is solidarity, love and religious co-existence (secularism) as the Sanskrit plays conclude with a ‘Bharat Vakya’ Tamasha too, at the end of its plot concludes with a happy ending, the fulfilling of the wishes of the protagonist and wishing for the welfare of all.In the Tamasha, the main rages whish are amply used are ‘Bhupali’ ‘Aasawari’ (Komal ishbh) “Jonpuri’ ‘Malkuns’ ‘Darbari’ ‘Bihag’ ‘Sindh Kafi’ ‘ Bhairvi’ ‘Kalingda’ and ‘Kedar’ ect. The accompanying instruments are Harmoniyam , Tabla, Sarangi, and Ghugroo. The costume are very impotent to the identity of Tamasha. The Tamasha (Crest) “kalangi’ (plume) Gotedar Bhagwavastra ( laced saffron garments) , a singi and seli (a sheat fish and a neck ornament) to give beats are among the chief costumes of the performance of Tamasha.. The Tamasha actors also give an imagined description of the costumes of the performance to which the audience believes similarly the part of the female characters is and the audience enjoys suspending their disbelief. The creative texts used in tamasha are chiefly ‘Tamasha Gopichand’ ‘Jogi Jogan’ ‘Roopchand Gandhi’ ‘ Ranjah heer’ ‘ Jutthan Miyan’ ‘Chaila Panihari’etc.Change is the law of nature. If the humans do not change according to the time they live in either they feel themselves cut off from the society or the society itself sidelines them. This applies to Tamasha too.
In this way Tamasha is being improvised new Tamashas are being written upon the present circumstances and upon the contemporary problems. After Shri Banshidhar Bhatt, After Pt. Banshidhar Bhatt Mr Vsasudev Bhatt a man of his fourth generation wrote a couple of tamashas on many contemporary issues give a living heath to this skill. Also there have been new dramatic performance with Tamashas its base. There have been folk based dramatic performances all through India Tamasha style is being improvised and synthesized with the modern drama.
In the sequence, there have been many experiments with the form, which proved to be very popular. Sh Vasudeo Bhatt created ‘Ikkisvi Sadi’ ‘ Laila Maznu’ ‘ Mela Gangaur’ and ‘Vratraj’ in the Tamasha styleand Ashok Rahi’s ‘Aur Ravan Mil Gaya’, Hari Ram Acharya’s ‘Agni Pariksha’ and Mridula Bhasin’s ‘Katha Niranter”are being written and performed the Tamasha way. Similarity Tapan Bhatt of the Fifth generation of the Tamasha family has created and successfully performed ‘Rajputana’, Show Must Go On’ in the tamasha style.In present Jaipur Tamasha is a very famous folk tradition in north India.
Further reading
- R.S. Khangarot, P.S. Nathawat Jaigarh- The Invincible Fort of Amber, RBSA Publishers, Jaipur (1990)
- Andreas Volwahsen, Cosmic Architecture in India: The Astronomical Monuments of Maharaja Jai Singh II, Prestel Mapin, Munich (2001)
- J Sarkar, A History of Jaipur, Orient Longman Limited, New Delhi (1984)
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