Of Maharajas and palaces

Nillasi LIYANAGE

Rajasthan situated in North India is famous for two things. One is Maharajas and the other is palaces, for Maharajas never lived in ordinary houses. We went to Jaipur, the capital city of Rajasthan to walk around a palace.

Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh constructed Jaipur or the 'City of Victory'. Jaipur is a fusion of the ancient and the modern. The M.I.road divides Jaipur into two parts: the old city and the new city.

The old city is known as 'The Pink City' as all the buildings in the city are pink in colour. In 1876, Maharaja Ram Singh ordered all the buildings to be painted in pink, the colour of hospitality.

Up to this date, this law has never been breached. Today if somebody dares to paint the outer walls of a building in any colour other than pink the Government fines them. The MGD school named after Maharaja Man Singh's wife Maharani Gayatri Devi is a prestigious school in Jaipur. Another remarkable fact about the city is that it is entirely symmetrical. Walking around the streets, it is easy for a stranger to get lost.

On the other hand, the new city is quite modern with huge shopping malls, super markets and offices. Rich crowds as well as large numbers of pigeons throng the city. South Asia's largest cinema 'Raj Mandir' is also situated in Jaipur.

Our guide who was to show us around the Amber Fort wore gold ear studs on both his ears. He told us that he was a descendant of the noble family of Sekhawat and that it is a tradition among Rajasthan boys to wear ear studs.

The Amber Fort is situated among the mountaintops of the Arungli mountain range about 7 kilometres North of Jaipur. Our first sight of the Amber Fort was that of a golden palace outlined against the deep blue sky.

The large moat around the fort was without water as there had been no rain in four years. Maharaja Man Singh had built the Amber Fort in 1592. He was the Rajput Commander of emperor Akbar's Army and the brother of Akbar's Hindu wife, Jodha bai.

We made the trip up to the fort on an elephant's back. The elephants were painted with designs and there were seats hitched on to them. It was a novel experience to climb aboard an 'elephant taxi'. We could get an elephant's eye view of the villages surrounding the Amber Fort. As we entered the fort, drums and trumpets were sounded to welcome us as was the custom from long ago.

We walked around the Diwan-i-am, the place where the Maharaja met his subjects. It was built of marble ad red sand stone showing traits of both Mughal and Hindu architecture. From there we could see the wall that divided the fort and the outside world. It looked very much like the Great wall of China. We entered the interior of the fort through the 'Ganesha Gate'. As God Ganesha destroys the hurdles people have to face in their lives a picture of God Ganesha had been drawn there. The whole doorway was decorated with frescoes.

The bedrooms inside the fort had doors made out of sandal wood set with ivory carvings. Inside one bedroom, there was a chair with wheels fixed to it. In the times of the Maharajas, the royal ladies wore a large amount of Jewellery. As they could not walk around with the heavy jewellery, they had to be pushed around on those chairs.

The summer palace has been designed in such a way that it could be air-conditioned.

An underwater pipe system pumped rose water into the water channels inside the rooms. The most wonderful place in the whole fort is the place where the Maharaja met diplomats. It is entirely made of marble. Some of its walls were decorated with glass imported from Belgium.

In the olden days the colourful clothes of the dancing girls had been reflected very well creating a breathtaking effect. The other walls and the ceiling were decorated with the inlay method.

The day was advancing and the cold was decreasing. We had walked around the magnificent palace and now it was time for good-bye. As we walked down a flight of huge steps, the Amber village was glistening in the sunshine.