Rare Pictures of Jaipur

Here are few rare images of Jaipur - Pinkcity which I thought to share while mentioning about architecture of Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan. (Bookmark this for more pics and videos in upcoming posts or join me on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/royalregistan)

Architectural structure of Jaipur is really one of its kind. Its world wide famous because of its technical details and beauty Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II - the founder of Jaipur was a great architect and astronomer. He also had a good knowledge of Indian Vastu. This is the reason that the architecture of Jaipur is a wonderful case study for the modern architects across the world.

The construction of the city started in 1727. It took around 4 years to complete the major palaces, roads and square.  In 1853, Prince of Wales visited Jaipur; the whole city was painted pink to welcome him. Today, avenues remain painted in pink; provide a distinctive appearance to the city.

Hawa Mahal (Jaipur - 1905) 

Jaipur architecture includes all the Vastu principles and astronomical principles precisely so that Jaipur could be a prosperous and peaceful city.

The Jaipur city was divided into nine blocks, of which two consist the state buildings and palaces, with the remaining seven allotted to the public. Huge fortification walls were made along with seven strong gates (will surely write more about these in upcoming posts :) ) for the purpose of security of the city. Jaipur 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 of 111 ft. 111 is a holy number in Hinduism and hence considered lucky also. The commercial shops were designed in Jaipur in the multiples of nine (27), having one cross street for a planet. "Nine" signifies the nine planets of the ancient astrological zodiac, and twenty-seven signifies the 27 nakshatras. This architectural planning of Jaipur is on the basis of Indian Vastu and astronomy, and is the uniqueness of the architecture of Jaipur.

Enterance of Palace - circa 1926

In Jaipur architecture, the urban quarters were further divided by networks of girded streets. Every street is connected to main road. Because of this sort of architecture of Jaipur, nobody can wander in the streets of Jaipur whether he is familiar with the paths or not.

Today Jaipur is clearly divided in two parts, an old "Four Wall City" and a new city; having 5 stars hotels, air port, railway junction, MNCs, internationally recognized colleges, shopping malls, hospitals etc. Architecture of new city is not as per Indian Vastu and astronomy, but the architecture of new Jaipur is based on modern architectural concepts. Its really amazing to have a walk in early morning in old city when traffic is not much and the old architecture of Jaipur can be seen and enjoy easily.