The Pink City of India
Jaipur is the largest city and the capital of Rajasthan in Northern India. It was founded by Maharaja Jai Singh II, the ruler of Amer on 18 November 1726 after whom the city is named as Jaipur. As of 2011, the city is ranked as the tenth most populous city in the country. Jaipur in Rajasthan is popular worldwide as the Pink City of India. The pink city is planned by Vidyadhar Bhattacharya, and it holds the distinction of being the first planned city of India. Popular worldwide for its coloured gems, the capital city of Rajasthan combines the charm of its ancient history with all the advantages of a metropolis.
From the Indian capital New Delhi, the lively modern city Jaipur is located at a distance of 260 km (162 miles). Along with Agra (240 km, 149 mi), Jaipur forms a part of the west Golden Triangle tourist circuit that includes Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. Being a popular tourist destination in India, Jaipur serves as a gateway to other tourist destinations such as Jodhpur (348 km, 216 mi), Udaipur (421 km, 262 mi), Jaisalmer (571 km, 355 mi) and Mount Abu (520 km, 323 mi) in Rajasthan.
History of Jaipur
Jaipur was founded by Jai Singh II, the Raja of Amer in 1726 who ruled from 1688 to 1758. To accommodate the growing population and increasing scarcity of water he planned to shift his capital from Amer, 11 km (7 miles) from Jaipur to Jaipur. While planning the layout of Jaipur, Jai Singh consulted several books on architecture and architects. Jaipur was finally planned on the basis of the principles of Vastu shastra and Shilpa Shastra, under the architectural guidance of Vidyadhar Bhattacharya. In 1726 the construction of the city began and it took four years to complete the major roads, offices and palaces. The city was divided into nine blocks, two of which contained the state buildings and palaces, with the remaining seven allotted to the public. Pierced by seven fortified gates, huge ramparts were built.
Why Jaipur is popular worldwide as the Pink City of India?
To welcome the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, in 1876, during the rule of Sawai Ram Singh, the city was painted pink since the colour pink was symbolic of hospitality. To give Jaipur a distinctive appearance and the epithet Pink city, many of the avenues remained painted in pink. In the 19th century, the city grew rapidly and by 1900 it had a population of 160,000.