Hawa Mahal is a major landmark and attraction of Jaipur. This palace is a stunning example of Rajput artistry. Read on for a quick tour of the Hawa Mahal in Jaipur.
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Author: Mousumi
Hawa Mahal is a major landmark and attraction of Jaipur.This palace is a stunning example of Rajput artistry. From Burree Chopad, the royal slopes down as it goes past the Old Legislative Assembly and Town Hall. The Palace Of Winds (Hawa Mahal) appears on your left, a repeating pattern going over five stories, a pyramid of smaller pyramids. The pyramid outline is even throught by cramming and multiplying casements; and uses repletion of motifs to enhance its beauty.
It forms part of the city palace and extends the zenana or women’s chamber, the chambers of the “harem”. Its original intention was to allow royal ladies to observe everyday life in the street below without being seen. It has five stories and is constructed of red and pink sandstone highlighted with white quakee quick lime. The side facing the street outside the palace complex has 953 small windows. They serve as a breeze-making device for those who stand inside its ramping corridors and give the palace its name too. Its design is fractal-a pattern which repeats itself at every scale, like South Indian temples. From the fourth story you can see the other side-past the sun-lit courtyard to the tallest sundial in the Jantar Mantar.The entrance opens onto a courtyard with a double-stories building on three sides, and one on the eastern wing with three more stories, which is just one room wide.
When Pratap Singh built this façade for his haren in 1799, he had in the library European texts that were obtained by Sawai Jai Singh II, the astronomer-king who built Jaipur.Using this knowledge, the architect Lal Chand Ustad designed the Hawa Mahal on modern principles, but with Vedic inspiration. As the air blown through compressed lips is cooler than an open mouth, so is the air inside Hawa Mahal relatively pleasant. The local guide often refers it as “naturally air-condissun”.Built in the shape of a crown for Lord Krishna, his many lovers gaze out of the divine god-head. The simple courtyard behind this wafer-thin façade probably doubled as the playing ground of raas-lilas.
Many scholars feel that the Hawa Mahal, for all its splendors, is a product of royal eccentrics, a romantic “castle in the air”, as it were. In his book Jaipurnama,Giles Tillotson opines, “the airy name also suggests something fanciful, something insubstantial…whatever former use is claimed for it the Hawa Mahal is really a piece of whimsy.”Hawa Mahal is currently under the supervision of the state archeological department. The best time to visit Hawa Mahal is sunrise when sunlight through the lattical windows gives it a wonderful glow.
How to Get There: -
Air: – Jaipur is connected to Delhi (300km), Arangabad, Kolkata, Varanasi, Udaipur and Mumbai.
Railway: – The train service to Jaipur is available from all major parts of the country.
Road: – Jaipur can be accesses from all major places in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Delhi and Mumbai by bus.
Where to Stay: – A few and comfortable hotels are listed below
Usha Karin Hotel
Sunraj Villa
K K Royal Days Hotel
Oberoi Rajvilas Hotel
Mandawa Haveli Hotel
Le Meridien Hotel
Janapath Guest House
Sheraton Rajputana Hotel
Raj palace Hotel
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