Japiur Top 5 travel destinations

Dec. 8, 2012 - PRLog -- Jaipur News Network: Saturday, 08-December-2012

Jaipur is a heritage city and one vertex of Golden triangle of Indian tourism. Being a heritage city, there are many forts and heritage monuments famous worldwide as tourist destinations. According to a survey Hawa Mahal, City Palace, Jantar Mantar (UNESCO’s World Heritage Site), Amber Fort and Nahargarh fort are the top 5 heritage travel destinations in Jaipur.

1. Hawa Mahal:

Hawa Mahal (Palace of Winds) at Bari Chaupar, Pink City Jaipur was built in 1799 A.D. by Maharaja Pratap Singh (1778-1803 A.D.).  The chief architect was Usta Lal Chand.

This five storied building has two large courts.  The names of the five stories are: Sharad Mandir, the first one where the autumn celebrations took place.  The second storey is known as Ratan Mandir because of the dazzling glasswork on its walls.  The third storey is called Vichitra Mandir, where the maharaja worshipped his deity Lord Krishna and the fourth Prakash Mandir with an open terrace on both sides.  The fifth storey is known as Hawa Mandir after which the whole structure came to be known as Hawa Mahal.

2. City Palace:

City Palace is situated in the heart of Jaipur City. City palace is still a place of residence of Royal Family. City Palace was built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II.  City Palace is an excellent example of Indian architecture (Vastu).

Bagghi Khana (Hansom Gallery) of City Palace museum is located adjacent to Udai Pol (entrance gate 2).  It has large collection of ancient Bagghi's (Hansoms), chariots and palanquins used by royal family of Jaipur. World famous Victoria Bagghi which was gifted by Prince of Wales to Maharaja in 1876 is also showcased in this Bagghi Khana.

Sarvato Bhadra chowk is located westward from Sabha Niwas.  It was a courtyard of private audience hall where Maharaja conducted private meetings with his ministers and advisors, and also celebrated many festivals.

Presently this part of City Palace is converted into museum where world's largest silverGangajalis (Jars) are displayed.  Gangajali's (jar to collect sacred water of holy river Ganga) are the largest silver objects in the world as per the entry in Guinness Book of World Records. They were made in Mistri Khana of City Palace, Jaipur by two silversmiths Govind Ram and Madhav. There are two such jars. Each jar was made out of 14000 Silver Coins which were issued by Kapatdwara treasury of Jaipur State in year 1894. The coins were melted into sheets of silver and then beaten on wooden mould to take shape of jar. No soldering was done. The entire process took two years and the jars were ready in year 1896. Each jar weigh around 345 Kg. The silversmiths also shaped lids and the handles. Circular base with wheels was constructed for easy movement. Ladders were made for reaching the mouth of the Jar. Height of each jar is 5 feet 4 inch, the circumference is 14 feet 10 inch and the capacity is 900 Gallon (4091 Liters). Interestingly, Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh II took these jars, filled with Gangajal (Ganges Water) on his voyage to England to attend the coronation ceremony of Edward VII in year 1902.
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3. Jantar Mantar:

Maharja Sawai Jai Singh II, the founder of Jaipur, was a learned person and a great astrologer.  He acquainted himself thoroughly with religion, philosophy, art, architecture, Hindu, Greek, Muslim and European schools of astronomy and astrology.  He thoroughly studied Ptolemy’s Syntaxis, De La Hire’s Tabulae, Newton’s Principia, Euclid’s Clements, Mirza Ulugh Beg’s Astronomical Tables, Master works of Aryabhatta, Varahmihir, Brahamgupt, and Bhaskaracharya.

In 1718, he thought of constructing an Observatory and named it Jantar Mantar.  For the purpose, he studied several books on the subject of astronomy.  He was helped in his studies by Pt. Jagannath Samrat (who had a good command on several languages) and also by Pt. Keval Ramji, a numerical euhemerist.  Both of those scholars translated several authoritative works written in various languages on mathematics and astronomy to Sanskrit, because of which the Maharaja got lot of help in fulfilling his great ambitious.

After concentrating his studies on the subject for several years, Maharaja built the first Observatory, as an experimental measure, at Delhi in the year 1724.  He constructed observatories at four other centers namely Jaipur, Ujjain, Banaras, and Mathura.

UNESCO inscribed Jantar Mantar Jaipur in the list of World Heritage in July 2010. No need to say that Jaipur tour has no means without visiting this wonderful World Heritage Jantar Mantar Jaipur.

4. Amber Fort

Amber (also pronounced Amer) is situated about 10 km away from Jaipur on Jaipur-New Delhi road. It was the capital of old Dhundar state of Jaipur and was governed by Kachawaha rulers. The town was originally named Ambikeshwara and was later abridged to Amber or Aamer.

Lot of places of tourist interest and heritage importance are here in Amer, such as Maavtha, Dil-Aaram-Bag, Shila Devi Temple, Amer fort (Amber palace), Jagat Shiromani ka mandir, Jain temple, Amber masjid (mosque), and Nahar singh ji ki burj which must see by a tourist during Jaipur Tour.

Initially, the palaces at Amber were built by Raja Bharmal in 1558 and his successor Raja Man Singh. Later on some structure added by their descendents.  Some of the structures get ruined with the time, some of the structures changed. But most of the structure is preserved and now maintaining by the state govt. The Amber fort as it exists today has been shaped by mainly Raja (ruler) Man Singh, Jai Singh I, and Jai Singh II.

5. Nahargarh Fort

Nahargarh fort perched on a hill was constructed at the height of approx 700 feet by Sawai Jai Singh in 1734.

During the reign of Maharja Sawai Ram Singh II (1835-1880 A.D.) and Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh II (1880-1922 A.D.) marvelous residential palaces were constructed.  The main palace of king known as “Madhavendra Bhavan” exists within the Fort.  The two-storied palace is divided into nine similar apartments known as Suraj Prakash, Chand Prakash, Khushal Prakash, Anand Prakash, Jawahar Prakash, Laxmi Prakash, Ratna Prakash, Lalit Prakash and Basant Prakash.  Each apartment is a double storied building which contains a lobby, bedroom, toilet, store, kitchen designed according to the needs of the royal family.  This palace is an example of beautiful combination of Indian and European style of architecture.

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