Beyond the Aravalli Hills

Beyond the Aravalli Hills, originally uploaded by 1ash.

Through a beautiful sculpted Hindu archway*, I gaze over the Aravalli Hills that litter the Rajasthani landscape.

The hills stretch approximately 560 km from northeast to southwest Rajasthan, and then continue as isolated hills and ridges into the state of Haryana (formerly part of the state of Punjab) and near Delhi.

The highest point is on Mt Abu, and is known as Guru Shikar. It rises 5653 feet (1.72 km) . The hill range is further divided into the Sambhar-Sirohi and the Sambhar-Khetri ranges.

The peaks of the Aravalli Hills are famous for their white peaks, formed not by snow, but by large masses of rose coloured quartz.

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*: at Jaigarh Fort, Jaipur, Rajasthan.

Ek Soni Chhatri - One Beautiful Umbrella

Ek Soni Chhatri - One Beautiful Umbrella, originally uploaded by 1ash.

A beautiful chhatri structure at the Jaigarh fort, situated at the end of a pretty, colourful and lush courtyard. Although this fort was a strictly military structure when designed, it would not have been possible for the creators to not incorporate some aesthetically pleasing components into the overall complex.

This is especially appreciated when one looks out of the chhatri (a feature of Rajput Hindu architecture) and witnesses the view over Amber Fort, Amber, and Jaipur.

We were lucky to have a relatively bright and clear sky early this morning.

Fort Wall, Jaigarh Fort

Fort Wall, Jaigarh Fort, originally uploaded by ashish100.

View across the fort wall at Jaigarh. To the left is the main fort internal residence and buildings, and to the right are the Aravelli Hills and Jaipur City. Obscured in the view is the old city of Amber and the Amber Fort complex which adjoins Jaigarh.

The Jaigarh Fort was built prior to the development of Jaipur and the Aravelli Hills. When Jaipur was created, it assumed great importance, and was restored and equipped to aid the defence of the new city.

In the background are the Aravelli Hills, and just anterior to this lies the old city of Amber, where the Amber Fort is sited, as well as the prefort residences of the ruling family of Jaipur.

Jaigarh Fort adjoins the Amber Fort.

The Dinner

The Dinner, originally uploaded by ashish100.

An intimate and warm dinner to bid seeyas to an old mate.

Sun Wheel

Sun Wheel, originally uploaded by ashish100.

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. Today the main purpose of the observatory is to function as a tourist attraction."

It was declared a National Monument in 1948.

Ganesh Pol, City Palace

Ganesh Pol, City Palace, originally uploaded by ashish100.

The Ganesh Pol, or Ganesh Gate is one of the four gates in the City Palace of Jaipur. Ganesh is the Hindu God of intellect and wisdom. He is the first son of the deity Shiva, and his wife Parvati, and is depicted as large bellied, 4 armed and with the head of a one-tusked elephant. He is attended to by a mouse, often aslo depicted.

In Sanskrit, 'Ga' represents Buddhi (or intellect), and 'Na' represents Vidnyana (wisdom).

A crop of a crop. Crooked, but happy with what was salvaged.

In the City palace, the Ganesh Pol is in the middle of the west wall of the courtyard of the Diwan-i-Am (court, or literally 'lounge' of the ordinary person, as opposed to the Diwan-i-Khas) and leads into the Pritam Niwas Chowk through the famous Peacock Gate.

Peacock Pol (Gate), City Palace

Peacock Pol (Gate), City Palace, originally uploaded by ashish100.

This is the most famous of the 4 gates in the City Palace. It separates the Pritam Niwas Chowk (or Street) from the Sarbato Bhadra Chowk, where the Diwan-i-Khas is located.

City Palace was built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh, founder of Jaipur, the capital replacing Amber. The architectural style employed is a mix of Rajasthani Hindu and Mughal influences.

The main structure in the palace is called the Chand Mahal ("Moon Palace").

It's amazing what RAW and a little post processing can do. This shot was horribly whited out, but actually easy to correct in Aperture. Something that seemed really hard to do with jpg.

Diwan-i-Khas, City Palace

Diwan-i-Khas, City Palace, originally uploaded by ashish100.

This was the formal hall to greet VIP ("khas") guests visiting Jaipur and receiving the audience of the Maharaja of Jaipur.

Built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh, founder of Jaipur, the capital replacing Amber. The architectural style employed is a mix of Rajasthani Hindu and Mughal influences.

Lights & Cheer

Lights & Cheer, originally uploaded by ashish100.

A cropped shot of Christmas lights at Melbourne Central, a shopping centre in Melbourne's CBD.

Very minimal processing, I kinda liked it RAW. I think it's probably more interesting large

things are slowly changing

finally changing to the new blogger thing here.. some stuff will be missing or look different

hello ashish :)

Hawa Mahal

Hawa Mahal, originally uploaded by ashish100.

Inside the Hawa Mahal, looking towards the main structure, which contains the 853 windows which the Queens (Maharanis) of Jaipur used to view the city and enjoy the royal procession when the Maharaja would enter the city, victorious from battle as commander of the Mughal army (an interesting situation engineered by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh wedding his daughter to the Mughal emperor's son to bring peace to Jaipur).

Maharani Ki Chhatri, Jaipur

Maharani Ki Chhatri, Jaipur, originally uploaded by ashish100.

An almost complete Chhatri. Those Maharanis who died after their husbands had chhatris ('umbrellas') that were deliberately incomplete to communicate this status. I am unsure whether the presence of domes signalled a more complete chhatri than one such as this. I am also unclear if there was a gradation of completion, correlated to time between death of the Raja and Rani.

As with the Maharajas, the queens of Jaipur were cremated and then monumental cenotaphs erected in their honour. There is an interesting story of one Maharani who was very close to her elephant. When she passed away, her elephant stood beside her cenotaph for three days, before passing away in grief (and starvation). Today this elephant has its own cenotaph in the gardens.

Two interesting points - if the queen died before her Maharaja died, her cenotaph would be finished off with a roof structure. If she died after her king, it would remain unfinished.

The signature architectural feature here is the Hindu Chhatri ('umbrella') which is significant in its use in Rajput and other Hindu architecture, borrowed from the Mughals.

Maharani Ki Chhatri (Cenotaphs of the Maharanis); Jaipur

Maharani Ki Chhatri (Cenotaphs of the Maharanis); Jaipur, originally uploaded by ashish100.

As with the Maharajas, the queens of Jaipur were cremated and then monumental cenotaphs erected in their honour. There is an interesting story of one Maharani who was very close to her elephant. When she passed away, her elephant stood beside her cenotaph for three days, before passing away in grief (and starvation). Today this elephant has its own cenotaph in the gardens.

Two interesting points - if the queen died before her Maharaja died, her cenotaph would be finished off with a roof structure. If she died after her king, it would remain unfinished.

The signature architectural feature here is the Hindu Chhatri ('umbrella') which is significant in its use in Rajput and other Hindu architecture, borrowed from the Mughals.

Petals

Petals, originally uploaded by ashish100.

A stonework flower carving in a cenotaph of a Jaipur Maharaja.

Rajasthan state, India.

Cenotaphs of the Maharajas

Cenotaphs of the Maharajas, originally uploaded by ashish100.

In Jaipur, two distinct sites are set down for the erection of cenotaphs to commemorate the lives and achievements of the royal family. One is for the Maharajas, and the second site is for their Maharanis. As the Maharajas ruled, and there were often multiple (10 usually) Maharanis to each Maharaja, the cenotaphs of the Maharajas were more elaborate.

This looks through the cenotaph of Maharaja Jai Singh, towards those of two other Maharajas.