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Jal Mahal
Locals bathing in a reservoir
Zooming in on Garh Ganesh temple - Feb 2009
Above Jaipur on Tiger fort.
Teej Festival, Jaipur (July-August): A festival to mark the advent of monsoon. Women dressed in bright colors and a lot of merriment prevails during Teej. Essentially a women's festival, it is interesting to watch them enjoying in groups and at various bazaars where they turn up to shop in all their finery.
Jaipur is world famous for precious and semi-precious jewelries. In fact, Jaipur is one of the largest gem-cutting town in the world.
In Jauhari Bazaar are rows of jewel shops with loose stones and handcrafted ornaments.
Jai Singh II was frustrated by the small size of astrolabs of the day and choose to construct on a grand scale in marble and other stones these fixed focus astronomical observatories. Thus, these constructions designed by Jai Singh II himself represent both architectural and scientific genius. Four were built in all, with one in Delhi, but the largest is in Jaipur at Jantar Mantar, which translated from Sanskrit means "magical device". Most of the devices are sundails of one sort or another, oriented in ways to determine time in the heavens related to the constellations, for example, as they were conceived within the Hindu religious cosmos to which Jai Singh II subscribed. It should also be mentioned that the city of Jaipur was itself designed very neatly by Jai Singh II, according to Hindu doctrine, dividing the city according to the caste system. The largest of these devices at Jantar Mantar, known as Samyat Yantra, is essentially a watch for telling time, with a shadow's edge the the staircase cutting across a semi-circular path of precise stonework. The shadow's edge by ordinary inspection from the staircase is accurate to within 4 minutes, while use of a special rod provides accuracy within 30 seconds. Nearby are twelve zodiac gnomes on a smaller scale. Given that these are 18th century structures, Jai Singh II's astronomical knowledge was certainly exceptional for his time, and the execution of this knowledge in such large architectural stone devices is remarkable even today. Indeed, even after the discovery and use of the telescope and other instruments in modern astronomy, Jantar Mantar provides a wonderful lesson for visiting architects, artists, astronomers, and for children learning the basics of the sun, moon, and stars.
The best way of enjoying Jaipur is simply wondering around within the city wall area, the street is crowded with people, cars, bikes, goats and dogs... A lots of colour, but pink is really the one stands out with the old buildings, quite romantic....
The Maharajas of Jaipur frequently put on grand displays and parades along , a main avenue alongside the City Palace property. In 1799, Pretrap Singh added the Hawa Mahal as a means, no doubt, to satisfy nagging complaints by a growing harem regarding access to the increasingly ornate royal processions within the swelling urban center. The building is oddly shaped in that it is wide and five stories tall, but only one room deep. The facade is the part worth seeing, particulary at night when it remains lit. The carefully chiseled screens provided an interesting screen of modesty for the harem that hid watching without being seen.
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