The Jaipur City Palace can be essentially divided into the following main attractions:
1. The gigantic silver urns:
2. The 7 storey building:
3. The armory display:
4. The royal clothes display:
5. The 4-seasons doors:
6. The sabha hall:
7. The puppet show!
8. The pashmina shawl purchase!
A series of gates takes you to the interiors of the Jaipur "City Palace". Each gateway has intricate floral patterns painted on its facade. You jostle your way past these gates sharing space with fellow human beings, buffaloes, cows, pigeons and even the occasional donkey....and of course their respective droppings too! Cycles, auto-rickshaws, fat-fati (a bigger, noisier rickshaw), tourist buses, tempo-travelers, pedestrians....cover every inch of the landscape. This is not for the faint-hearted. If you can weather the storm, the experience at the palace compensates for all the hardship.
As you enter the palace, you can get a sneak peak to a puppet show. These are string puppets that Rajasthan is famous for. Traditional vocal music accompanied by a 'dhol' (drum) form the background against which the puppet show comes alive. Anarkali...puppet in a rich blue, gyrates to the rhythm...followed by "Michael Jackson". At one point, Michael jackson even removes his head as he twists and turns. The final act is a tete-a-tete between a snake charmer and a king cobra. In 5 minutes, the pupper show comes to a close. You can buy your own puppet too.... nicely packaged and sold for 200 rupees!
As mentioned in the previous blog introducing the Jaipur kings, the "City Palace" was constructed about 200 years ago by Sawai Jaisingh (Raja Jaisingh II). Till then, all the kings of this dynasty occupied the Amber Palace (atop the hills in the distance). The city of Jaipur itself came into existence only at this time.
One of the first attractions at the "City Palace" are the two gigantic silver urns. King Sawai Madho Singh II traveled to Britain in 1902 for 6 months. A devout man, Sawai Madho Singh II only drank water from the River Ganga (just like Emperor Akbar!). He had these massive silver urns made at the karkhaanas (factories) in Jaipur, filled them with water from the Ganga and took them all the way to Britain!
The seven storeyed palace building...complete with the fluttering multi-colored flags of the Jaipur kings looms ahead. Presently, we enter the portals of the armory section. Photography is prohibited. All kinds of weapons are on display- knives, daggers, guns, rifles, swords, rifles which require mounting over a camel to fire, rifles which require three human beings to prop up and another one to fire, shields, armors...the list is endless. On display are swords gifted by Shah Jahan, the 5.5 kilogram sword which Raja Mansingh I wielded, two swords in one scabbard, a walking stick which doubles up as a knife and as a gun...the possibilities seem endless!
In the next section are the royal fashions on display. 200-300 year-old tunics, trousers, headgear, boots, sarees, lehengas...it's a riot of gold and embroidery. Sawai Madho Singh I was 7 feet tall and 4 feet wide at the chest. His kurta and trousers are enormous...with the possibility of several human beings finding space into those brobdingnagian outfits!
Not to be missed are the four doors leading to the open courtyard. Each door is exquisitely painted, one door for every season. The peacocks form the motif for the rainy-season door, the lotus for the summer door, the predominantly green door for spring and the uniform tones for winter door! Each door offers a unique photo opportunity.
The final stop inside the palace is the sabha-hall. The second largest chandelier in India (acquired from Czechoslovakia) occupies center-stage. The ceiling comes alive with floral designs painted by a German artist in the 1930s. Two impressive thrones and a huge carpet from Iran complete the picture. The hall has portraits of some of the prominent kings of Jaipur and makes interesting viewing.
With this, we've run out of steam. The guide winds up.... We make a brief stop at the shop with sells Pashmina shawls. Pashmina is a type of goat found in the Himalayas. Hair on its throat is so fine...that the shawls made with this hair....have a completely different feel. Pashmina is expensive. There are imitations to Pashmina. How do you find out if it is Pashmina or not? The shop keeper mentions two tests.
He passes the pashmina shawl through a little ring...and it comes out clean. An imitation shawl gets stuck midway. The test is compelling all right. Another test is to take a strand from the Pashmina shawl and to set it on fire. It gives a characteristic odour which the duplicate does not.
We are convinced! We'll spend some more time at the shop... How about you!?
1. The gigantic silver urns:
2. The 7 storey building:
3. The armory display:
4. The royal clothes display:
5. The 4-seasons doors:
6. The sabha hall:
7. The puppet show!
8. The pashmina shawl purchase!
A series of gates takes you to the interiors of the Jaipur "City Palace". Each gateway has intricate floral patterns painted on its facade. You jostle your way past these gates sharing space with fellow human beings, buffaloes, cows, pigeons and even the occasional donkey....and of course their respective droppings too! Cycles, auto-rickshaws, fat-fati (a bigger, noisier rickshaw), tourist buses, tempo-travelers, pedestrians....cover every inch of the landscape. This is not for the faint-hearted. If you can weather the storm, the experience at the palace compensates for all the hardship.
As you enter the palace, you can get a sneak peak to a puppet show. These are string puppets that Rajasthan is famous for. Traditional vocal music accompanied by a 'dhol' (drum) form the background against which the puppet show comes alive. Anarkali...puppet in a rich blue, gyrates to the rhythm...followed by "Michael Jackson". At one point, Michael jackson even removes his head as he twists and turns. The final act is a tete-a-tete between a snake charmer and a king cobra. In 5 minutes, the pupper show comes to a close. You can buy your own puppet too.... nicely packaged and sold for 200 rupees!
As mentioned in the previous blog introducing the Jaipur kings, the "City Palace" was constructed about 200 years ago by Sawai Jaisingh (Raja Jaisingh II). Till then, all the kings of this dynasty occupied the Amber Palace (atop the hills in the distance). The city of Jaipur itself came into existence only at this time.
One of the first attractions at the "City Palace" are the two gigantic silver urns. King Sawai Madho Singh II traveled to Britain in 1902 for 6 months. A devout man, Sawai Madho Singh II only drank water from the River Ganga (just like Emperor Akbar!). He had these massive silver urns made at the karkhaanas (factories) in Jaipur, filled them with water from the Ganga and took them all the way to Britain!
The seven storeyed palace building...complete with the fluttering multi-colored flags of the Jaipur kings looms ahead. Presently, we enter the portals of the armory section. Photography is prohibited. All kinds of weapons are on display- knives, daggers, guns, rifles, swords, rifles which require mounting over a camel to fire, rifles which require three human beings to prop up and another one to fire, shields, armors...the list is endless. On display are swords gifted by Shah Jahan, the 5.5 kilogram sword which Raja Mansingh I wielded, two swords in one scabbard, a walking stick which doubles up as a knife and as a gun...the possibilities seem endless!
In the next section are the royal fashions on display. 200-300 year-old tunics, trousers, headgear, boots, sarees, lehengas...it's a riot of gold and embroidery. Sawai Madho Singh I was 7 feet tall and 4 feet wide at the chest. His kurta and trousers are enormous...with the possibility of several human beings finding space into those brobdingnagian outfits!
Not to be missed are the four doors leading to the open courtyard. Each door is exquisitely painted, one door for every season. The peacocks form the motif for the rainy-season door, the lotus for the summer door, the predominantly green door for spring and the uniform tones for winter door! Each door offers a unique photo opportunity.
The final stop inside the palace is the sabha-hall. The second largest chandelier in India (acquired from Czechoslovakia) occupies center-stage. The ceiling comes alive with floral designs painted by a German artist in the 1930s. Two impressive thrones and a huge carpet from Iran complete the picture. The hall has portraits of some of the prominent kings of Jaipur and makes interesting viewing.
With this, we've run out of steam. The guide winds up.... We make a brief stop at the shop with sells Pashmina shawls. Pashmina is a type of goat found in the Himalayas. Hair on its throat is so fine...that the shawls made with this hair....have a completely different feel. Pashmina is expensive. There are imitations to Pashmina. How do you find out if it is Pashmina or not? The shop keeper mentions two tests.
He passes the pashmina shawl through a little ring...and it comes out clean. An imitation shawl gets stuck midway. The test is compelling all right. Another test is to take a strand from the Pashmina shawl and to set it on fire. It gives a characteristic odour which the duplicate does not.
We are convinced! We'll spend some more time at the shop... How about you!?
No comments:
Post a Comment