Jaipur is the capital of the Indian state of Rajasthan which is situated in the northwestern part of the country. Jaipur is best known by the epithet ‘Pink City of India’ because of the many palaces and gardens located in the region. Also, Jaipur is known as the city of ‘forts’ and ‘havelis’. The city was built in the year 1727 on the `18th of November by the famous king of Amber, Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II. He took the help of his kingdom’s chief architect for the purpose. This architect’s name was Vidyasagar Bhattacharya and was originally from Bengal. He decided to build this city because of the increasing number of people in his kingdom and also the problem of scarcity of water in Amber. The city of Jaipur was built in a partly desert region in Rajasthan but this place is rich in its history and traditions.
The city was the first planned city of the country and is famed to have been built according to the ‘vastu shastra’ which is the Vedic science of architecture. The city is an epitome of Hindu architecture and has an eight part mandala also known as ‘pithapada’. A number of gardens had been built at different times in history.
Some of these historical gardens can still be spotted. Although the design of the city was significantly taken care of by Vidyasagar Bhattacharya, the king also contributed to the planning of Jaipur. It is believed that Maharaja Swai Jai Singh was a patron of astronomy and had used the number nine and its multiples in many ways. Nine rectangular shaped structures were built on either side of the main bazaar or market of the city. Also, the main palace was built in the main complex of the kingdom and was known as ‘Hawa Mahal’.
Vastushastra was the book of architecture which was introduced for the comfort and prosperity of the citizens of the Vedic people. The region of Jaipur is a center of both modern and traditional industries. It is also famous for being a major exporter of diamond, gold and stone jewelry in the continent of Asia.
In the year 2008, this Rajasthani city was named 31st in a list of 50 Emerging Global Outsourcing cities in the world. Well known companies of Infosys and Genpact have their BPO units in this beautiful city. Jaipur is also known as the cultural capital of the country although its national capital is New Delhi. Also, the city is one of India’s most visited tourist destinations probably because of its historical richness. Also, some surveys had ranked the city 7th in the best places to visit in Asia. The city is also dotted with numerous temples and places of worship.
