Jaipur

Sunday, 13 September 2009

Jackie Lallier wrote: "Jaipur (capital of Rajasthan) was one of the most planned cities in 1728. The earlier capital, Am(b)er, is in the mountains. We navigated a 4'square" roundabout. The buildings are all different shades of pink, painted this way to honor the Prince of Wales. The milk is raw when brought to the city and sold. The people then cook it themselves. Business doesn't start until 10:00 as everyone goes to the temples before they start work. The vehicles here all have signs 0 the back saYing 44Please Honk Hom" so they know you are coming. We saw rag pickers and paper collectors, many· of them children. It is one way to make money to
~fu~ .
We drove up to Amber to the Fort-Palace (l6th Century).· There are two fortresses here. We got on elephants to ride up to the top of a temple. We learned that warring elephants were formerly used in combat. They were highly decorated and had swords in their trunks they would swing at the enemy, then they were also blindfolded and trampled the adversaries and smashed the gates. The elephants were made to recognize the voices of their maharajas. We observed "knotted" gardens and learned about Ganesha, the elephant god. Islamic style of architecture contains no animalistic figures so this palace is both Hindu and Islamic. The Persian style is floral. Women in heavy clothing were pulled in hand carts by their handmaidens. The Mirror Palace has a room for a private audience and the winter bedroom chambers had lamps that would reflect warmth from the mirrors. The summer bedrooms were on top where wind would blow across the water from the lake below. The people would hang wet cotton material which cooled them when the wind blew. We observed beautiful marble screens.
Hindus NEVER intermarry with Muslims (their women are not respected) but it is OK with Buddhist, Sikh & Christians.
March 22nd is the first of the new year here. '.
We went back to our hotel at 2:00, revamped and met again at 5:00 to go to a temple built by the second biggest business family in India (Birla). The swastika is the "sun" sign and Mosha is a union of universal souls - female represents energy and male represents nature. We then proceeded back to the Park Prime Hotel. Tonight we were split up to have another homeehosted dinner which are always delightful. "