Jantar Mantar II - And this contraption.....
by pchamlis
Jai Singh II spared no expense in building Jantar Mantar. He literally spent astronomical sums of money on his astronomical devices, in an effort to further grasp and understand the heavens.
The contraption pictured below obviously has a name.... but I can't remember what it was. Its purpose was to, via some sort of shadow point plotting design, measure the earth's position in the heavens via the daily rise of the sun on the horizon and throughout the day. While the people of Singh's time certainly understood the seasons in a basic "summer = hot, winter = cooler, spring = plant birth, fall = slowing down" kind of way, they were just beginning to realize the reasons for the seasons, so to speak. (The Earth's tilt and position with respect to the sun)
Sisodia Rani ka Bagh
by MM212
Named after Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II's second wife, Sisodia Rani ka Bagh is a modest palace surrounded by vast terraced gardens. The Maharaja built the palace in the early 18th century for his new wife, from the Sisodia clan and daughter of the ruler of Udaipur, whom he married for political reasons. At her request, her palace was built in this remote location, near Galta, east of Jaipur, surrounded by mountains. The gardens are beautifully landscaped and contain many interesting antique sculptures. Sisodia Rani ka Bagh is open to visitors and is an excellent picturesque stop on the way to or back from Galta.
Sisodia Rani ka Bagh is located on Purana Ghat, east of Jaipur on the road to Agra.
By Air
by keeweechic
Jaipur has domestic flights connecting it to Delhi, Mumbai, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Aurangabad, Calcutta and Varanasi. Indian Airlines and Jet Airways fly to Jaipur. The Sanganer Airport is about 12kms from the city.
Walk thru a King's life
by abi_maha
It is a good feeling for us Indians to take a sneak peek into a King's way of life is what both AJ and I felt as we walked thru the various chambers of Amber Fort. This fort was built by Raja Man Singh I in 1592. All built in marble and red sand stone this is quite a magnificient sight to behold! The interiors are a stark contrast to the plain exteriors with intricate work and carvings. There is even a temple inside the fort, remember to remove your shoes before entering this place of worship.Even as our driver tried to dissuade us from climbing the fort as he claimed it would take a good three hours for us to do the same, we threatened to relieve him of the tour if he so wished. This quietened him a bit into agreeing to wait for us, we again promised to take as much time as we pleased before we headed off.
Much of the fort was familiar to us after having recently watched a popular Bollywood movie (Jodha Akbar) that was shot extensively in Amer. We decided against any audio guide etc as we truly believe seeing is experiencing; we are not very hungry for facts/history etc. Having done some basic reading up on the same before our visit we spent a couple of hours visiting the various sections of the fort and watching some people take an elephant ride up to the fort. The sheesh (mirror) mahal was very pretty, so was the awesome view from the terrace :D. The Canons at the entrance and the garden in the middle of the lake are also worth seeing.
Once outside we had some spicy masaledar bhel puri from a vendor on the road side before going on to find our rickshaw.
Jantar Mantar
by Hind_S
I've never been to an astrological observatory before and I'm not really into stars and all that, but this was pretty interesting. The Maharajah Jai Sigh II was, however, and its a good thing.
I went for a brief tour of the observatory in Jaipur, one of 5 he built around the country.
It was interesteing to see the stages it went through. There was a small sun dial that they built first which had about a 12 minute accuracy... then there's an enormous one with 2 second accuracy which is pretty impressive.
The part I liked most was the horoscope predictor, pictured here. Never even knew they existed.. hm.
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Havelis of Ghat ki Guni - Feb 09
arches of Rajendra Pol, City Palace
Iswari Minar, seen from Nahargarh Fort
Amber Palace in Jaipur
