Coordinates: 26°55′34″N 75°49′25″E / 26.926, 75.8235
Jaipur pronunciation (help·info) (Hindi: जयपुर), also popularly known as the Pink City, is the capital of Rajasthan state, India. Historically rendered as Jeypore, Jaipur is the former capital of the princely state of Jaipur. Founded in 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh, the ruler of Amber, the city today has a population of more than 5 million residents.
Built of pink stucco in imitation of sandstone, the 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 111 ft (34 m) wide. The urban quarters are further divided by networks of gridded streets. Five quarters wrap around the east, south, and west sides of a central palace quarter, with a sixth quarter immediately to the east. The Palace quarter encloses a sprawling palace complex (the Hawa Mahal, or palace of winds), formal gardens, and a small lake. Nahargarh Fort crowns the hill in the northwest corner of the old city. Another noteworthy building is Sawai Jai Singh's observatory, Jantar Mantar.
History
Hawa Mahal, and the Principal Street of Jaipur, c. 1875
- For the history of all the region, see Dhundhar
The city was established in 1727 by Maharaja Jai Singh II as the new capital of Kachwaha dynasty (Dhundhar region). Then the capital was shifted from the historical capital Amber, India.
Jaipur, Principal Street, c. 1875
In the 19th century the city grew rapidly and became prosperous; by 1900 it had a population of 160,000. The city's wide boulevards were paved and lit with gas. The city had several hospitals. Its chief industries were in metals and marble, fostered by a school of art founded in 1868. The city also had three colleges, including a Sanskrit college (1865) and a girls' school (1867) initiated under the reign of the enigmatic Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II. There was also a wealthy and enterprising community of native bankers, particularly the Jains and the Marwaris.
On May 13, 2008 bomb blasts occurred in seven places of the city causing more than 100 deaths.[1]
Architecture
The Albert Hall Museum, Jaipur
Jaipur is considered by many urbanisms to be one of the best planned cities. It has been claimed to be the first planned city in India.It was at that time one of the best planned cities in Asia. Jaipur(Amber)'s Kings are not considered to be good rajputs but were certainly good rulers. In an era when most of the rajputs were busy fighting with each other, Jaipur's kings diplomatically broadened their control sphere maintaining good relations with Mughals. But certainly they lacked the well known rajput pride.The city was planned according to Indian Vastu Shastra (Vedic or Pouranic Planning for the comfort and prosperity of the citizens). The directions of each street and market are east to West and North to South. The Eastern gate is called Suraj (Sun) Pol, while the Western gate is called Chand (Moon) Pol. There are only three gates facing East, west, and North including the Northern gate (known as Zorawar Singh gate) which faces toward the ancestral capital of Amber, while many gates face South. Although the present city has expanded from outside of its walls, the original planning was within the walls. The gates used to be closed at sunset and opened at sunrise. Almost all Northern Indian towns of that period presented a chaotic picture of narrow twisting lanes, a confusion of run-down forts/temples/palaces and temporary shacks that bore no resemblance at all to the principles set out in Hindu architectural manuals which call for strict geometric planning. Thus, for Sawai Jai Singh II and the Bengali Guru Vidyadhar (who was a 'Shaspati' - Hindu Priest Architect), the founding of Jaipur was also a ritual and a bronze opportunity to plan a whole town according to the principles of Hindu architectural theory. The town of Jaipur is, in fact, built in the form of a eight-part Mandala known as the 'Pithapada'. Nine signifies the nine planets of the ancient astrological zodiac. It is also known that Sawai Jai Singh II was a great astronomer and a town planner, and hence the 'Pithapada'. Also, the commercial shops are designed in multiples of nine (27), having one cross street for a planet.
Geography
Jaipur is located at 26.92° N 75.82° E.[2] It has an average elevation of 432 metres (1417 ft).
The district is situated in the eastern part of Rajasthan. It is bound in the north by Sikar and Alwar, in South by Tonk, Ajmer and Sawai Madhopur. Nagaur, Sikar and Ajmer in the west and in east by Bharatpur and Dausa districts.
The major rivers passing through the Jaipur district are Banas and Banganga. Ground water resources to the extent of about 28.65 million cubic meter are available in the district. Although serious drought is rare, poor water management and exploitation of groundwater with extensive tube-well systems threatens agriculture in some areas.
Jaipur has a semi-arid climate in spite of receiving more than 50 cm rainfall annually, as the rainfall is concentrated in the monsoon months between June and September. This is due to its proximity to the Thar desert.
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Politics
Jaipur has been a stronghold of the opposition Bharatiya Janta Party. The Indian National Congress has till date has won only two of 14 parliament elections. Maharani Gayatri Devi has been an MP from Jaipur thrice, with the highest margin recorded by the Genius Book of World Record. Bhairon Singh Shekhawat has been an MLA from Jaipur thrice. BJP's Girdhari Lal Bhargav has been MP for 6 terms continuously, yet another record. Jaipur has produced the highest number of ministers in history, namely Satish Chandra Aggrawal, Bhanwar Lal Sharma, Rajpal Singh Shekhawat, Ujala Arora, L. Vidhya Pathak etc.
Jaipur personalities
The Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje Scindia, resides in Civil Lines; educationalist R.D. Sharma; the Right-Wing leader Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, of Civil Lines; Rajmata Gayatri Devi in Lily Pool; and singer Ila Arun, in Baba Marg. Actors Padmini Kolhapuri, Naseeruddin Shah, Asrani, Rajeev Khandelwal, Juhi Parmar, Tina Parekh etc., are from Jaipur.
The largest government residential buildings are the Raj Bhavan, the Chief Ministers Residence, the residence of Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and personal are that of Gayatri Devi, Bhavani Singh, both from the erstwhile royal family and businessmen Golchhas, Sudhir Mathur, Rajmandir etc.
Infrastructure
Modern infrastructural facilities are currently fast developing, and in many cases surpass those of larger cities like Delhi and Calcuttacitation needed. The city is expanding very quickly and has become a hot spot for development in Rajasthan. Jaipur has an airport, but is currently not equipped to handle heavy traffic, including traffic from international locations (although flights to some international destinations are available).
Since 2000 Jaipur has emerged a big center for education, as normal law and order situation is considered very peaceful so most of the north Indian parents prefer to send their wards to Jaipur for higher and technical education. In Jaipur more than 25 Engineering colleges, 27 Business Management institutes, 15 Pharmacy institutes, 4 Hotel management Institutes 3 Medical Colleges, 6 Dental Colleges are working. It also have 8 University level organizations which includes the famous Rajasthan University.
Jaipur now has one of the best infrastructure for the IT industry which is required for setting up BPO operationscitation needed. In the past couple of years companies like Genpact, Infosys, IBM, Wipro, and others have been acquiring land and setting up operations. Jaipur district receives hydroelectric power from the Chambal Hydel system. 98% of the total of 2,131 villages in the district receive electricity as of March 2000.
Transport
Jaipur city is the capital of the state of Rajasthan and is centrally located. The National Highway No.8 links Delhi to Mumbai and No.11, linking Bikaner to Agra passes through Jaipur district to a total length of 366 km. The total length of different types of roads in the district was about 4,102 km as of March 2000.
Jaipur is very well connected by rail with all major cities and towns in India. Jaipur is connected on the broad-gauge and meter gauge network of the Indian Railways. Jaipur has direct trains on the broad gauge network to cities like Agra, Delhi, Gwalior, Mumbai, Howrah, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mysore, Bangalore, Lucknow, Kanpur,Patna etc. across the country and to cities like Ajmer, Sawai Madhopur, Kota, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Udaipur within Rajasthan.
Jaipur is connected with metre gauge rail route with Sri Ganganagar, Churu,Sikar.
Jaipur is also connected with major centres of neighbouring states such as Agra (Uttar Pradesh), Ahmedabad (Gujarat) and Delhi through the broad gauge network. The Palace on Wheels makes a scheduled stop in Jaipur.
Jaipur's Jaipur Airport (IATA: JAI, ICAO: VIJP) is situated in its satellite town of Sanganer and offers sporadic service to Muscat, Sarjah, Bangkok and Dubai. Jaipur also has well connected domestic air links with Jodhpur, Udaipur, Aurangabad, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Goa, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Indore, Bangalore, Mumbai, Surat and Raipur, Lucknow, Gorakhpur .
Places to see
Economy
Tourism is important to the city's economy
No. of large and medium scale running units: 48 No. of small scale units: 19,544 No. of industrial areas: 19 (Bagru, Bassi, Bais Godam, Bindyaka, Dudu, Hirawala, Jetpura, Jhotwara, Kaladera, Kanakpura, Kartarpura, Malviya Nagar, Phulera, Renwal, Sanganeer, Shahpura, Sitapura, Sudarshanpur and Vishwakarma)
Jaipur district is a centre for both the modern and traditional industries. The main industrial products include: acetylene gas, ACSR (Aluminum Conductor Steel Reinforced) cable, all-purpose flour (maida), atta flour, ball bearings, bottling of LPG, ceramics, pottery, cold roll strips, corrugated boxes, deoiled cakes, durries, dyeing and printing, edible oil, electronic items, engraving on brass items, ferrous and non-ferrous castings, gems and jewelry, general engineering and manufacturing, granite slabs and tiles, hand-made paper, handicraft items, halogen automobile headlamps, "hawai" chappals (sandals), household electrical appliances, HT steel strips, iodized salt, lamps, laminated springs for railways, marble statues, marble tiles & slabs, moulded plastic components for electronics, nitrochlorobenzene, oxygen gas, perfumes, pigment colours, plastic containers, P.P. multifilament yarn, PVC cables, PVC doors, PVC footwear, canvas shoes, Portland cement, readymade garments (clothing), re-roller products, semolina (suji), steel furniture, steel ingots, stone grits, synthetic leather, suits & shirts made of synthetic materials, tablets and capsules, two way radio and line, washing soap, wheat, woolen carpet, refined vegetable oil and vanaspati ghee heavy Steel fabrication .
Brass and lacquer work, enamel work, gems and jewellery, granite tiles, handloom, marble statues, printed cloth and textiles, readymade garments, woolen and silk carpets.
Jaipur has recently seen IT BPO sector investment GENPACT and INFOSYS has there BPO already established and running successfully. Real Estate business is flourishing well from last 2-3 years.
Jaipur also has Reserve bank of India and many other prominent international banks.North India's largest integrated IT park is under construction and is named as Mahindra world city jaipur on the lines of Mahindra world city chennai. Master planned by Jurong Constructions Singapore it covers nearly 3000 acres of land off Ajmer highway and has already attracted major companies like Infosys,TCS,Wipro,TechMahindra,Trueworth and Deutsche bank.India's one of its kind World Trade Park is also under contruction in Malaviya Nagar. It will be be having hotels, business halls, four screen multiplex, underwater restaurant and many showrooms of international brands. In coming years it will be the hub for modern business development in jaipurcitation needed. Jaipur is soon planned to have an International Convention Centre and a Golf course. A film city near Agra highway is also in the pipelinecitation needed
Demographics
As of 2001 India census,[5] Jaipur had a population of 2,324,319. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. In Jaipur, 15% of the population is under 6 years of age.
Culture
Jaipur has been very famous for culture. Jaipur culture is very rich. In Jaipur there are BHATT FAMILY renounced as TAMASHA FAMILY residing in bramhapuri at old city. Tamasha, a unique musical folk play, is the contribution of 19th century Jaipur to the folk theater of Rajasthan. Tamasha is a heady mix of drama and dance with exaggerated body movements that holds its audience captive. Traditionally, it is performed in an open space and the actors are accompanied by musicians on the Tabla, Sarangi, Harmonium and Manjira. The performance always starts with Ganesh Vandana – an invocation to Lord Ganesha.
Pt. Bansidhar Bhatt, credited with having introduced this form to the city, visited Jaipur and settled here on request of the then Maharaja Ram Singh II (1855-1880). The Maharaja was a great patron of theater arts and he encouraged Bhatt to write and perform his plays. It is said that he wrote more than 50 plays for Tamasha Tamasha is the famous folk theater of jaipur established by pt BANSHIDHAR BHATT. After him PT PHOOL JI BHATT & MANNU JI BHATT performd TAMASHA Regulerly. Now in Bhatt family new generation has been strongly performing tamasha with fusion of modern theatre. TAPAN BHATT, VISHAL BHATT, SAURABH,KAPIL,NIRANJAN SHAILENDRE, VINAT, DILIP BHATT are doing this job very finely in direction of famous TAMASHA GURU - VASUDEO BHATT & GOPI JI BHATT.
Jaipur is also known by kathak gharana & gramy award winner pt vishv mohan bhatt
Sports
Jaipur has been famous for sports like squash, polo and of-late it has acquired a special place on the world cricket map as well. Jaipur is home to the Rajasthan Royals cricket team of the Indian Premier League. The team is captained and coached by Australian cricket legend Shane Warne and features a cast of talented Indian and foreign-born players including Mohammed Kaif, Yusuf Pathan, Graeme Smith, Dimitri Mascarenhas and Younis Khan.Team Jaipur which was considered underdogs at the starting of IPL eventually became the first IPL champion beating Chennai super kings in the finals held at Mumbai.
References
Further reading
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
- R.S. Khangarot, P.S. Nathawat Jaigarh- The Invincible Fort of Amber, RBSA Publishers, Jaipur (1990)
- Andreas Volwahsen, Cosmic Architecture in India: The Astronomical Monuments of Maharaja Jai Singh II, Prestel Mapin, Munich (2001)
- J Sarkar, A History of Jaipur, Orient Longman Limited, New Delhi (1984)
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