Jaipur is acknowledged as one of India’s most fascinating cities because the city is painted in pink color — the visual delight and the city’s vibes of traditional and modern culture. Jaipur is located in the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan and serves as the state’s capital city.
Rajasthan translates as the “Residence of Prince,” and formerly, the state name was Rajputana, translated as “Rajput’s (Prince) country.” Rajasthan is famous for its excellent hospitality, food, forts, history, vibrant architecture, traditional dances and songs, culture, art, mountains, and dessert. Rajasthan’s climate varies from extremely humid to arid; thus, the state experiences a low amount of rain but intense cold and heat.
Jaipur was India’s first planned city and had a rich history of rulers who built vast, luxurious palaces and forts. Millions of tourists visit Rajasthan every year, and the tour is incomplete without touring the capital city, also known as the Paris of India and the Pink City of India.
Jaipur has ample tourist places, but the most common thing is all the historic buildings, along with certain homes, shops, town halls, and government offices, are painted in a uniform shade of pink color. It looks phenomenally beautiful and brings complete delight to the eyes. However, even the hundred-year-old buildings still maintain the pink shade.
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The history behind why Jaipur is called Pink City?
Sawai Raja Jai Singh II was then the Kingdom of Amber ruler, and he founded the walled city in the early 1700s — then Jainagara (translates town of victory), now Jaipur. So the King decided to construct the city. Thus, Jaipur was the first Indian city to be ever built.
Vidyadhar Bhattacharya was the designer of the city hired by the King, and he built the city according to the Hindu grid design, which was found during 3000 BCE archaeological ruins. Vidyadhar Bhattacharya was trained in silpa-sutras — the ancient manual on architecture and city planning written in Sanskrit.
In 1733, Amber was replaced by Jaipur as the King’s capital city. Under the rule of the British Raj in the 1800s, Jaipur served as the capital state and became the Rajasthan state capital city after India gained Independence in 1947. Sawai Raja Jai Singh II has fought numerous battles and is known as the most knowledgeable King who ruled India in the 18th century.
In 1876 during the rule of Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II, Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband, visited India for his colonial tour. As Jaipur served the capital during the British colonial time, Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II was the most powerful and prosperous King in India during that time; he planned a strategy to impress Prince Albert to gain Royal family personal favors and to strengthen the relationship between India and Britishers.
Maharaja built a vast concert hall and to impress the Prince he named it the Prince Albert Hall Museum. The museum has a Persian mural and many other extraordinary paintings. The murals placed in the museum express the ancient civilization. It is one of the rich museums with vast collections of artifacts, including stone, jewelry, ivory, metal sculptures, and many more. The building was made out of pink terracotta as the color symbolizes hospitality. Later, he repainted the entire city, including the forts and places with the same color to maintain the color combination.
Another reason to give the city a pink touch was numerous marvels in Jaipur built with red sandstone, and when the sun rays hit the walls of the forts, it visually looks like a shade of pink.
The strategy works. Prince Albert was impressed by the Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II efforts, and when he witnessed the warm pink color everywhere, he named it “Pink City.” Since then, the Jaipur has been nicknamed “the Pink City of India.”
Jaipur has still maintained the tag of the Pink City of India.
During Prince Albert’s visit to Jaipur, the city transformed into a pink hue, and it looks royal. The wife of Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II convinced him that all the buildings should get a pink color makeover to maintain their uniformity. Thus, in 1877, Maharaja passed the law to change all the building colors into the hue of pink.
Even after the independence in 1947, the Government never changed the rule, and the citizens continued coloring the homes in a shade of pink that made the city look like a romantic fairy tale. Even the satellite images of Jaipur city flashes the shade of pink.
Famous Historic Buildings shaded pink in Jaipur.
- Hawa Mahal
It was constructed for the royal women, allowing them to peek out the window to watch the street life — processions or any celebration as they were restricted to make public appearances. Hawa Mahal has 953 open windows and is beautifully designed in the shape of a honeycomb.
- Jaigarh Fort
Sawan Jai Singh II built Jaigarh fort, and the fort is a house of the world’s most giant cannon on wheels — Jaivana Cannon. The fort is 3 km long and over 1 km in width. It was believed that there are a magnificent Royal treasure buried under the fort.
- Jantar Mantar
Sawai Jai Singh II built Jantar Mantar as an astronomical viewing point. It is believed that Jantar Mantar is one of the excellent masterpieces of architecture in India’s history and considered one of the most accurate pre-modern times to observe the astronomical locations.
- Jal Mahal
Jal Mahal translates as — Place on Water, was built for royal families as their summer getaway in the middle of Man Sagar Lake. It looks breathtaking during the monsoon.
- Amer Fort
One of the most classic gorgeous forts of Jaipur, Amer Fort, is situated at the top of a hill. During ancient times, the fort served as the defense around Jaipur. The fort is magnificently constructed in a blend of Mughal and Indian — Rajput architecture.
Conclusion
Accept few new constructions; Jaipur’s pink hues still look magnificent when you look from the top of the forts. The added lights to the forts, places, buildings, and streets make the city spellbound during the festivals.