Jaipur, Heritage sites and Elephants

Originally Written November 2, 2015

Jaipur, the Pink City, so called by the pink buildings and walls seen throughout. The city was originally painted pink by the Maharaja to welcome a visit by Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales in 1876. Pink denoted hospitality to visitors. It is now a law in Jaipur for citizens to maintain a pink colour within portions of the city.

Although Jaipur is now the capital of the State and home of the spent Maharaja, the original capital was the Amer Palace. Established in 967 it was the seat of power of the Maharajas until 1727, when the capital was moved to Jaipur. Declared a World Heritage Site in 2013 the Amer palace receives +/_ 5000 visitors per day or about 1.5 million visitors per year. 

This was the first heritage site we visited that was built in predominately Hindu style.  The palace structure is mostly red sandstone, some marble and a lot of limestone that has been finished to look like marble. 

The Amer palace and old city is within the walls of the Jaigarth Fortress, an large structure that established walls and lookouts towers on the hills surrounding the Palace and City.

There is an elephant village located close by and the elephants have became an tourist attraction by providing rides from the bottom of the city up the hill to the palace entrance. Elephants will only respond to one mahout and are painted with henna according to the the mahouts particular leanings and worship. 

The City Palace in Jaipur is now home to the present Maharaja and his family. Started in 1767, the City Palace encloses 6 city blocks and is a complex of minor palaces, pavilions, temples and gardens. 

Central is the Chandral Mahal, mahal meaning palace, home of the Royal Family. A seven story structure, of which the bottom floor has been turned into a museum and opened to the public. The balance is the residence of the royal family of Rajastan.

The last attraction visited in Jaipur was the astronomical observatory site of Jantar Mantar. Built in 1738, the site houses a collection of 19 old style astronomical instruments, mostly constructed of stone and natural materials, that include sun dials, accurate to 2 seconds, eclipse predictors, the ability to track major star movement and other instruments that were used by past generations to navigate and track the stars.