Jaipur

Jaipur

Jaipur

Jaipur

जयपुर ਜੈਪੁਰ

Jaipur Listeni/ˈdʒaɪpʊər/ is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan in Northern India. It was founded on 18 November 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the ruler of Amber, after whom the city has been named. The city today has a population of 3.1 million. Jaipur is known as the Pink City of India.

The city is unusual among pre-modern Indian cities in the regularity of its streets, and the division of the city into six sectors by broad streets 34 m (111 ft) wide. The urban quarters are further divided by networks of gridded streets. Five quarters wrap around the east, south, and west sides of a central palace quarter, with a sixth quarter immediately to the east. The Palace quarter encloses the Hawa Mahal palace complex, formal gardens, and a small lake. Nahargarh Fort, which was the residence of the King Sawai Jai Singh II, crowns the hill in the northwest corner of the old city. The observatory, Jantar Mantar, is one of the World Heritage Sites.Included on the Golden Triangle tourist circuit, along with Delhi and Agra, Jaipur is an extremely popular tourist destination in Rajasthan and India.

Climate

Jaipur View From Nahargarh Fort.

Jaipur has a semiarid climate under the Köppen climate classification, receiving over 650 millimetres (26 in) of rainfall annually but most rains occur in the monsoon months between June and September. Temperatures remain relatively high throughout the year, with the summer months of April to early July having average daily temperatures of around 30 °C (86 °F). During the monsoon there are frequent, heavy rains and thunderstorms, but flooding is not common. The winter months of November to February are mild and pleasant, with average temperatures ranging from 15–18 °C (59–64 °F) and with little or no humidity. There are however occasional cold waves that lead to temperatures near freezing .

As of 2011, Jaipur had a population of 3,073,350 The Population of the Jaipur Metropolitan area is 3,646,590. Jaipur is the 10th largest city of India according to census of 2011. The Hindu population accounts for 89%, Muslim 5%, Jains 4.5%, Christians 0.5%, and Sikhs 1.0%. While 47.49% people lived in rural areas, 52.51% lived in urban areas. The overall literacy rate for the district was 76.44%. 87.27% males and 64.63% females were literate. The sex ratio was 898 females per 1,000 males.

Hindi, Punjabi, and Rajasthani are the most common languages for daily communication. According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report of 2009, Jaipur ranks third highest in the list of 35 Indian cities with a population of more than 1 million (10 lakh) for crime rates.

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The Ganesh Pol of Amber fort. Amber is now part of Jaipur Municipal Corporation.


The city was planned according to Indian Vastu Shastra (Vedic Planning for the comfort and prosperity of the citizens). The directions of each street and market are East to West and North to South. The Eastern gate is called Suraj (Sun) Pol, while the Western gate is called Chand (Moon) Pol. There are three gates facing East, West, and North and a Northern gate (known as Zorawar Singh gate) which faces toward the ancestral capital of Amber, while many gates face South. For Jai Singh II and his advisor Vidyadhar, the founding of Jaipur was a ritual and opportunity to plan a whole town according to the principles of Hindu architectural theory.

The city was originally built within walls, though it has expanded outside of the original walls over time. The gates used to be closed at sunset and opened at sunrise. The town of Jaipur is built in the form of an eight-part Mandala known as the 'Pithapada'.

Main Sights

Downtown Jaipur

Jaipur is a major tourist destination in India. In the 2008 Conde Nast Traveller Readers Choice Survey, Jaipur was ranked the 7th best place to visit in Asia.

The Presidential Suite at the Raj Palace Hotel, billed at US$45,000 per night, is listed at number 2 on World's 15 most expensive hotel suites complied by CNN Go in 2012.

Forts and monuments

Jaipur has a number of forts and monuments like

    Hawa Mahal,
    Amer Fort,
    Jaigarh Fort,
    Nahargarh Fort,
    City Palace,
    Jantar Mantar,
    Jal Mahal,
    Rambagh Palace,
    Albert Hall Museum.

Temples and places for worship

Jal Mahal Jaipur

Jaipur has numerous temples and religious places. It is because of the numerous temples that it is sometimes also known as Chhoti Kashi. Some of the famous temples in Jaipur include

    Govind Dev Ji Temple
    Galtaji
    Lakshmi Narayan Mandir commonly known as Birla Mandir
    Garh Ganesh Temple
    Panchayati Hall
    Sri Sri Krishna Balram Temple, jagatpura
    Kanak Vrindavan
    ISKON Temple
    Akshardham Temple

Gardens

The city has a number of gardens and parks. Prominent among them are

    Ram Niwas Garden
    Sisodia Rani Garden and Palace
    Jawahar Circle Garden
    Central Park, Jaipur
    Kulish Smriti Van
    Nahargarh Elephant Safari

Other places of interest include

    Chand Baori
    Kathputhli slum
    Raj Mandir Cinema

Culture

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Jawahar Kala Kendra, designed by Charles Correa, in Jaipur, Rajasthan.

Jaipur has a number of important cultural sites. Cultural centres like Jawahar Kala Kendra and Ravindra Manch have helped promote the culture of the state of Rajasthan. Albert Hall Museum (Government Central Museum) hosts several arts and antiquities. There is a government museum at Hawa Mahal and an art gallery at Viratnagar. The Town Hall (Old Vidhan Sabha Bhawan) is proposed to be converted into a museum. There are statues depicting Rajasthani culture around the city.

Arts and Crafts

The prior rulers of Jaipur patronised a number of arts and crafts. They invited skilled artisans, artists and craftsmen from India and abroad. The communities settled in the city and made Jaipur their home. As a result, Jaipur is a major hub for arts and crafts. Some of the crafts include bandhani; block printing; stone carving and sculpture; tarkashi; zari, gota, kinari and zardozi; silver jewellery; gems, kundan, meenakari and jewellery; miniature paintings; blue pottery; ivory carving; shellac work; leatherware.


Sports

The main cricket stadium in the city, Sawai Mansingh Stadium, has a seating capacity of 30,000, and has hosted many national and international cricket matches; it also contains other sports facilities.

The city is represented in the IPL by the team Rajasthan Royals.

Education

Jaipur contains eight universities, including the University of Rajasthan, National Institute of Ayurveda, Indian Institute of Health Management Research, The LNM Institute of Information Technology Jaipur and Malviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur, S.s. Jain Subodh P.g. College. It contains a large number of other colleges, institutes, schools and other facilities of tertiary education.

The well-known schools of Jaipur are Maharaja Sawai Man Singh Vidyalaya, Neerja Modi School, St. Xavier's School, Jaipur, Army Public School Ryan International school, Maheshwari Public School, Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan's Vidyashram, Delhi Public School, Subodh Public School (Rambagh) and Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls' Public School.

Transport

Roads

National Highway No.8 links Delhi to Mumbai, National Highway 12 links to Kota, Baran District and National Highway 11 links Bikaner to Agra, passing through Jaipur district with a total length of 366 km. RSRTC operates bus service to all the parts of Rajasthan and New Delhi, Uttar pradesh, Haryana, Madhya pradesh, and Gujarat.

City bus


City buses are operated by Jaipur City Transport Services Limited (JCTSL).[11] of RSRTC under JNNURM. The service operates more than 300 regular and low-floor buses. The three major bus depots are Vaishali Nagar (Jaipur), Vidyadhar Nagar and Sanganer.

Jaipur BRTS


Jaipur Bus Rapid Transit Service was approved by government in August 2006 for implementation.The responsibility for managing Jaipur BRTS has been given to JCSTL, a special purpose vehicle formed by Jaipur Development Authority and Jaipur Nagar Nigam in a joint venture. The BRTS is expected to cater to city's growing traffic for next 15–20 years. In Phase I, two corridors have been proposed: a "North-South Corridor" from Sikar Road to Tonk Road and an "East-West Corridor" from Ajmer Road to Delhi Road. A section of the North-South Corridor from C-Zone Bypass near Harmada to Pani Pech became operational in 2010.

Rail

Jaipur is connected to Delhi and all main cities viz. Alwar, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Coimbatore, Chennai, Jamshedpur, Nagpur, Gurgaon, Chandigarh etc. in India.

Jaipur Metro


A rapid transit rail project by the name Jaipur Metro is under progress. It began trial runs in September 2013 and is expected to start operating from June 2014.


Airport


Jaipur International Airport is in the satellite town of Sanganer, 10 km from the city-centre, and offers sporadic service to major domestic and international locations. Terminal 1 was earlier used for international and domestic flights, while Terminal 2 was reserved for domestic carriers. Currently however, operations at Terminal 1 have been suspended for renovation reasons,and Terminal 2 is fully functional. The airport handled 255,704 international and 1,267,876 passengers in 2009–2010.Jaipur Airport also provides air cargo services. The up-gradation of airport has offered improved connectivity and wider choice of services to air travelers, boosting international tourism and economic development of the region. Frequently, during winter, many flights for Indira Gandhi International Airport are diverted to Jaipur airport due to heavy fog in Delhi.