Greens Always Shine Through

Greens Always Shine Through, originally uploaded by Urban|nexus.

Coloured glass decorations in stone, City Palace - Udaipur, Rajasthan. The old seat of the Royal House of Mewar.

I debated cutting off the top background decoration, but retained it as I feels it gives some sort of orientating context to the main image.

Rang De Churiyan :: Bangles of Many Colours

Rang De Churiyan :: Bangles of Many Colours, originally uploaded by Urban|nexus.

Rang De Churiyan: A Punjabi (Rang Ke Churiyan for the Hindi translation) sentence which paints a picture of a brightly dressed Indian lady in a Punjabi Suit ("Salwaar Kameez"), and "Dupatta" (light chiffon shawl, draped over the head or around the neck) or Sari (bright primary colours with gold trim is a popular choice) wearing "rang de churiyan" - bright bangles of many colours.

Indian women love bangles - one of many accessories that are deemed necessary for all women in the Subcontinent. Even poorer women will wear them.

They come in a multitude of varieties - gold (the traditional favourite, quite heavy and often inlaid with jewels), and multicoloured metal and glass ones.

Some caught my eye as I walked past a bazaar (a hindi word) in the Lajpat Nagar street market in Delhi's southern suburbs.

Thanks to Moni and Mona for helping me with the Indian grammar.

From Amber to Jaipur

From Amber to Jaipur, originally uploaded by 1ash.

Looking from Jaigarh Fort, high up on a hill, directly at Amber Fort and then gently moving past Amber city past two buffering hills towards Jaipur, the modern capital of Rajasthan, and of this former kingdom.

The hills are part of the Aravalli range, which extend down to Udaipur, the next city we visited.

Part of the fort is visible in the lower centre of the picture. Looking closer towards Amber, one can see a temple as well as the older residences that included the ancient residences of the ruling family, before greatness allowed the development of the an earlier fort, which was then rebuilt over as Amber Fort in 1592 by Maharaja Man Singh I (the Sawai title was later bestowed by the Mughal Emporor, Aurangzeb, who was impressed with Maharaja Jai Singh II's intelligence and wit - it elevated him and all others after to the status of 'one and a quarter' Maharajas, above an ordinary king). Amber Fort was modified for the next 150 years, until the first Sawai Maharaja, Jai Singh II created Jaipur.

The Royal family of Jaipur are Kachwahas who belong to the Suryavanshi Rajputs, a clan who ruled a number of other areas, including Jammu & Kashmir. The Maharaja of Jaipur was regarded as the head of this clan. The word Suryavanshi refers to being 'of the sun' (surya - sun, Sanskrit) and like the Maharana of Mewar (ruler of Udaipur) was believed to be descended from the sun itself.

Jaipur Panorama: Jantar Mantar, City Palace & Nahargarh Fort

Jaipur Panorama: Jantar Mantar, City Palace & Nahargarh Fort, originally uploaded by 1ash.

Sunny early evening light as the sun sets over Jaipur. The warm light basks on the Jantar Mantar, and City Palace. Both were designed and built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the ruler who shifted Amber to the new city once Mughal power declined sufficiently.

Towards the background, sitting on a hill which is part of the Aravalli range is the Nahargarh Fort, where the current Maharaja's (unofficially, of course) mother, Gayatri Devi lives today. Below the foothills of that hill lies the Birla Mandir (Hindu temple), which is one of many Birla temples in India. Birla is a family held industrial company with many arms, similar to the Korean concept of 'Chaebol'. Similar companies in India include Tata and others.

There is a great deal of complexity in this image. In the Jantar Mantar area, one can see 3 people. One is a Muslim man, dressed in the manner typical for this part of Northern India, with the 'topi' (hat) characteristic, with long kurta (shirt, worn by all religions). The other two appear to be Western tourists. I also note that both the main and quarter ("sawai") flags of Jaipur are flying at full mast - the large one always is, and the smaller flag does when the Maharaja is in town. There are various levels of Maharaja, and the people of Jaipur regarded their one highly enough to give him the additional title, 'Sawai', which means 'one and a quarter', denoting that he was 'one and a quarter' Maharajas, above the ordinary.

Late afternoon and evening is when pollution is at its most in India's cities. This is unfortunate as it robs us of clear light towards the posterior depths of the image, and in the sky. Alas, this is a reality of India. However, as I later found in Delhi, modernisation there has meant that the metro and use of natural gas (CNG) in all public transport has cut pollution buy around 30%. That is significant and gives me hope. As India's economy continues to rapidly grow, metros and further advances should make their way to the smaller (Jaipur is a small city at 3 million) cities.

Jaigarh Courtyard Gardens + Chhatri

Jaigarh Courtyard Gardens + Chhatri, originally uploaded by 1ash.

Though Jaigarh Fort is often very utilitarian and functional rather than having purpose directed at form and beauty, the central courtyard and gardens provide a wonderful contrast.

There are two chhatri ('umbrella') structures at each end of the courtyard, next to the fort wall. These are linked by a deep red arched bridge, which itself has beautiful carvings.

There is a wonderful view over (left to right) the Amber Fort, Amber City, Jaipur City and the Aravalli Hills.

On the right, the fort wall contains holes for pouring hot water and oil, and for archers to aim at any potential invaders or unwelcome guests.

Ascending to the Stars

Ascending to the Stars, originally uploaded by ashish100.

Sun Wheel

Built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, designer of Jaipur city, this was one of five astronomical observatories built between 1727-1734 in west central India. Multiple colourful stone and metal structures scatter the park, some functioning as simple sundails, others using the shadow and angle calculations to discern the year, date, month and time. Positions of various stars were also tracked and mapped. This was of great significance in India, where astronomy was well developed relative to the time, and worked hand in hand with astrology, still highly respected and practiced by Hindu pundits (priests) and used to determine auspicious dates for weddings and major events, both at a societal and personal level.

Jai Singh built the first Jantar Mantar in Delhi for the Mughal emporor (as he was aligned to them, and thus indebted to them - serving as chief of the Mughal Army, and ensuring peace and protection from war with their fierce forces). The Jaipur JM is the largest of the five built.

The name is said to originally have been 'Yantra Mantra', 'yantra' meaning instrument, and 'mantra' meaning chanting. Mantra can also refer to a formula.

There are 14 instruments in the observatory, which measure time, predict eclipses, track stars in orbit, ascertain declinations of planets and celestial altitudes and more. There is a Chhatri (Hindu small domed cupola) used as a platform to announce important events like the arrival of monsoonal rains and eclipses.

Mostly built of marble inside, and with bronze metal components. Wikipedia notes "An excursion through Jai Singh's Jantar is the singular one of walking through solid geometry and encountering a collective weapons system designed to probe the heavens.
samrat yantra

The instruments are in most cases huge structures. They are built on a large scale so that accuracy of readings can be obtained. The samrat yantra, for instance, which is a sundial, can be used to tell the time to an accuracy of about two seconds in Jaipur local time.1 Today the main purpose of the observatory is to function as a tourist attraction."

It was declared a National Monument in 1948.

This is a smaller model of the Samrat Yantra - there is are two much larger also in the park. The models were used to check the accuracy of the concept and then translated to the larger structure which is more precise.

Guards, City Palace

Guards, City Palace, originally uploaded by ashish100.

Guards stand by, exit to City Palace in Jaipur.