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Published: March 12th 2012
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Pink City
The Maharaja who established Jaipur decreed that the exterior of each building that faced the main street was to be painted pink. Jaipur is called “The Pink City.” Pink being the colour of hospitality and friendship. Jaipur is known for jewellery, leather and the making of artificial limbs: they are shipped all over the world. This is also the area that supplied all that translucent marble for the Taj Mahal. The city’s founder, Maharaja Samai Jai Singh II, was a visionary. He wanted Jaipur—a city he named after himself—to be successful. It was India’s first “planned” city. He designed it with wide streets, streets that ran at 90 degree angles, and land separated into blocks. He wanted to attract merchants, so to entice them, he built stores along the main street and offered them rent-free. Of course he taxed them after things got going and that paid for the initial construction. City planning? This was 1727!
This Maharaja had twelve wives and numerous concubines. The difference between a wife and a concubine? A wife had to be of the same caste and social level, a concubine could be any woman that the Maharaja fancied—although it was a great honour to be chosen. Any children produced by a concubine could not be named Maharaja, but they were treated well. A
wife got her own apartment, the concubines had to share five or six to an apartment. The Maharaja had secret passages to the apartments of each wife. Couple of reasons: he was safer from assassins if nobody knew where he was at any given time, and it cut down on jealousy among the wives—each wanted her son to eventually be the Maharaja. It was important to have many wives who could produce many sons, because many of the sons didn’t enjoy a long life. Their role was to lead the troops and many didn’t survive the many invasions. Male children lived with their moms until age ten, and then they were taken away to begin military training. Each wife would bring numerous servants to the marriage as part of her dowry and they shared her apartment. Eunuchs were used as guards.
The term ‘Maharaja’ means great king. It is a self-assigned title. In 1972 there were 563 princely estates. In a way, India was made up of 563 little kingdoms. To get an idea of the wealth that these folks had, one had a bed that was decorated with 290 km of silver. In a museum we saw
Peacock Entrance
One of the elaborate gateways to the courtyard of the palace. a sari that was decorated with 9 pounds of gold. All that changed in 1972 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared that Maharajas would no longer be getting money from the government and she re-classified them as commoners. Then she hit them with some heavy taxes. Many of the Maharajas couldn’t come up with the money, so they handed over their palatial homes. Now the government is stuck with these places and their upkeep. There are about 100 Maharajas left. Our group saw the results of Gandhi’s legislation up close and personal this week. Our dinner was in the home of Sankotra Haveli, descendants of feudal lords to the Maharaja of Jaipur. Our bus rumbled through the old walled city of Jaipur and we were then lead on foot though an alley. Suddenly, this amazing home appears behind a twenty-foot wall. We were greeted with jasmine leis and a dot of turmeric on our foreheads as a traditional welcome blessing. We were escorted to a huge courtyard with covered areas on two sides. The family introduced themselves. Living in the compound are four brothers, their wives, sons, sons’ wives and their children along with seven servants. Each nuclear family
Water bottle
Some of these guys were a bit spoiled! This is one of two "water bottles." It is huge. When the Maharaja visited England, he had them bring these along so he could drink familiar water. He was gone a year, so it meant numerous trips back to India to top up his water supply. has a one-bedroom apartment that is private, but they all share one kitchen and cook together. They are the eighth generation to live in this home. It was built in 1727, by the original Maharaja of Jaipur and handed over to the feudal lord. It has never been renovated. When they stopped getting subsidies in 1972, they turned it into a banquet centre. They mostly provide dinners, lunches and teas for tourist groups like ours. Their dining room will accommodate up to sixty people.
Here are some of the highlights of our visit to Jaipur. We visited the Amber City. Built in 1572, it was the home of the royal family. Forts on all sides, plus a six and a half kilometre wall protected the family. We got up to the palace on elephants!
We went to a Bollywood movie. The theatre was built in 1976 and it is huge. The admission was $2.00 and 50 cents for popcorn. Tickets cost less if you sit near the front. Movies run about three hours with an intermission half way. The one we saw was romantic comedy, way overacted and would burst into a song and dance number
Dinner Time
This was the home of a former feudal lord. It has been in the same family since 1727. The dining room can hold sixty people. at various times—a little like an episode of Glee. The best part was the audience. It is noisy. There are crying babies and cell phones going off. The audience laughs long and hard at the jokes and physical comedy. They whistle and cheer when the good guy outsmarts the bad guys. All in all, a good experience. One little incident. I went to use the ladies room before we left. It was a squatter toilet—no problem, I’ve used them before. When I stood up, my sunglasses that were hooked in my tee shirt fell into the toilet. They are the only pair that I have with me, so I had no choice but to fish them out. I tried to wash them under a tap, and sprayed water all over myself. That was how I had to walk out into the lobby. Oh, well.
Namaste!
Donna
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Pinkcity Traveler
non-member comment
Pinkcity is always welcoming and warm towards the visitors, the city has been famous for its hospitality. I hope your experiences in the city was happy and memorable. And i suggest you to try some of the other luxury resorts and palaces of the city to have a more of the royal experiences in the city