My Love Story With India (Part 6)
JAIPUR:
AMER PALACE
Spanning a period of about two
centuries, with a classic fusion of Mughal and Hindu architecture built of red
and yellow sandstones with white marble, the Amer Palace is a testament to
man’s ability to create masterpieces. It took three generations of Jaipur kings
beginning with Raja Man Singh I and completed by Mirza Raja Jai Singh and Sawai
Jai Singh in the twentieth century.
The most exceptional Kings of Jaipur has the name “SAWAI” added to their names. It means 25% more intelligent than the usual.
The most exceptional Kings of Jaipur has the name “SAWAI” added to their names. It means 25% more intelligent than the usual.
Amer Palace is home to the Kesar Kyari Garden, Maota Lake, Palace of Winds (Hawa Mahal), Man Singh Palace, Baradari, and much more.
PALACE OF MIRRORS (Sheesh Mahal)
There are three entrances into the
Amer Fort Palace: The Sun Gate (Suraj Pol – through elephants come through a
very steep climb directly into the courtyard), Lion Gate (Singh Pol – takes you
to the Hall of Public Audience; Diwan-i-Am with 27 colonnades), and Elephant
Gate (Ganesh Pol – leads to the private apartments of the royal family).
To enter the inner palaces of the
Amer, the main entrance portal known as the Ganesh Pol is the most magnificinet
portal in Rajasthan. It is covered with elegant frescos and crowned with
pavilions carrying fascinating jail screens. This place houses the Sheesh Mahal
(Palace of Mirrors where the art with ornamentation with glass sits),
Diwan-e-Khas, or ‘Hall of Private Audience”, Jai Mandir with millions of glass
pieces on stucco, the Zenana palace and not too far from it, the courtyard with
a Baradari (a 12-door building structure
that allows free flow of air), which is surrounded by ladies apartments and
fresco depicting Khrisna-lila scenes simply draws your attention to stand
still, watch and marvel at the ancient lives and minds of those who once lived
there.
Now imagine it is nighttime.
Strike a match to a candle and that single flame of light can illuminate over
100,000 reflective mirrors, lighting up the entire Palace of Mirrors!
The architectural finishing of the
Palace of Mirrors and some notable marble-built structures often left me in
wonderment as to their true secret. Well, I got to find out that limestone powder,
marble dust and sea shell powder to which is added olive oil and coconut oil
for a thorough blend is what makes the beautiful walls smooth, sparkle and
glimmer like that of the Taj Mahal. The gemstone powder is the source of
reflected lights you see when the sun’s rays glaze over the walls of the Taj
Mahal.
Our guide tells us a most
fascinating story. During the 13th century the King of Jaipur
fascinated with Persian carpets, wanted to decorate his palace with them. Of
course there were carpet markers in Jaipur, but here’s the difference. In
Jaipur the carpet weavers weave their carpets in a single layer carpets with
double knot at the ends. But the Persians (modern day Iran) weaved their
carpets knot by knot in a symmetrical double knot and double layers which keeps
the carpet firmer compared to that of Jaipur. However, when it comes to bearing
weight on it, say for example you place a heavy box on the Jaipur carpet and
that of the Turkish carpet, the Jaipur carpet easily bounces back to its
original form after the carpet is removed because of its loose style of weaving.
This is not the case for the Turkish carpet which remains in the depressed
state, thus losing its original form. The rule therefore is not to place heavy
objects on a Persian carpet!
To show his subjects how beautiful
the carpets made by the Persians for his palace were, he commissioned the
Persians to once again weave a large-than-life equivalent for public view. This
carpet sits atop the Maota lake like a beautiful garden of well groomed flower
plants. Today, the double knot carpet technique of the Persians is has become
part of the weaving technique of Jaipur’s carpet weavers.
Our eager guide let us in another
secret. I discovered the Flower with Many
Elements. This flower sculpture becomes whatever your palm – placed over it
to obscure a part of it – can turn into a crab, a snake, a flower, a tail, etc.
And here’s another secret! When we got to the Turkish Bath we discovered
there’s a wonderful architectural design calculated such that I can whisper to
you through a particular wall and no one else will hear our conversation but
us!
Gosh! India has an incredible way
of telling stories through motifs, bass reliefs, fresco, wall paintings, and
architecture.
THE ONE
TRUE SMILE
The year was in the 1600s. Twelve
women sit in the courtyard close to the Zenana Palace (Queen’s Palace) – each
with a golden glowing smile. These are the 12 wives of the Warrior King,
Maharaja Man Singh seated under the roof of the Baradari for their usual private meetings with the King, the
curtain pulled off revealing to the guards and visitors those seated within.
The Maharaja looks at his wives adoringly – he knew something that the other 11
Maharanis did not know. Yet each them share with him a distinctive esoteric
smile; the smile that is suppose to betray she was the chosen one who got the
king the night before. But only one of them on any particular one day actually
has the One True Smile – a gift bequeathed her the night before when she and the
king spent the night together in romantic and erotic karma sutra bliss.
The king visits each wife using
this axis and a series of secret passage doors without the other wives being aware
he was spending the night with the other. And since the Zenana (Queen Palace)
has no window through which the wives can see the goings-on around them, the
King easily has his way with the Chosen Queen of the Night in the courtyard
with the curtains pulled down. From here it is easy for him to ‘sneak’ right
back to his palace just as the Queen of the Night is guarded by back unseen to
her chambers in the Zenana.
However, when the women sit in the
courtyard, originally called the Harem, you’ll find all 12 wives smiling
pretentiously, none wearing a frown, afraid of giving herself away as the one
who knew the king did not spend the night with her. Yet, amongst them, only one
wife can tell that the 11 other smiles wore plastered smiles, one meant to hide
their disappointment or embarrassment. Ironically, the wife with the one true
smile – the most radiant and authentic smile of all – keeps this as her special
entitled secret; savouring it like a well-kept secret.
The king keeps a string of female guards or eunuchs to watch over his Queens and concubines. Maharaja Man Singh is reputed to have kept an additional 100 concubines and hundreds of female servants! These guards and eunuchs run every day tasks: massages, security, chores, errands (and sometimes getting an ‘accidental’ male visitor to sleep with the sex-and-attention-deprived wives for a quickie. Should the male visitor however be caught by the King – who keeps an ever vigilant eye on his harem and spies the ‘unknown man’, he is instantly castrated and turned into a eunuch who now becomes one of the security guards for the wives).
On the Zenana walls close to the
lintel near the roof we see miniature 400-years-old painting of in their
original depictions. In Hindu religion, the knowledge of Kama Sutra was never
debased as porn but was used practically as sex education to children and
pupils. But this perception suddenly changed with the Muslim invasion of Islam
which considered knowledge of this as immoral and deserving of heavy fines,
leading to the dearth of that knowledge for a very long time (up to 200 years);
until more recently, a revival of its original spirit is now been championed,
regaining a new momentum, which is now been taught as what it once was: proper
sex education. Any wonder why India women are such dreamy romantics.
Our guide shows us a particular
Teak Wood – over 400-years-old – which allows for stamp indentions, etc. These
doors are specifically used to make the private doors leading to the chamber of
each Queen.
As we head to the library, India
tunes blare from flutes. We turn our heads and there they were! The snake
charmers! Here’s another top secret: both real and plastic snakes are conjured
when snake chamber blow their flutes and hit the wooden drums. Jaipur is a land
of snakes and snake charmers belong to a particular caste.
PINK CITY
Pink City is the only planned city
in Jaipur; 9 Sq.km long. Originally
built with 7 Gates, an 8th one was added in modern time. Pink is the
compulsory colour since 1876 when the Maharaja welcomed the Prince of Wales as
a tribute to him. However, the internal walls of a home are painted according
to the varied taste of the occupants.
Amber Fort was built before the
City Palace. And the King moved from Amber Fort to the Palace. The Pink City is
also known as the Sun Dynasty. The Moon palace is the highest building in the
Walled City (another name for the Pink City). No other building is allowed to be
taller than the Moon Palace which is also known as the Yellow Building.
The China Mirror (Snake Mirror)
was an exchanged between the Chinese and Jaipur.
The Pink city is planned according
to the caste system. And the natives lives inside here. The lower floors are
used for businesses and the top floors are for accommodation purposes. There
are 4 major castes: The Priests, The Soldiers, The Merchants and The Servants. Even
your surname can betray the caste you belong to, so does the job you do, even
the colour and style of the turban a man wears is a giveaway of sub-castes. For
women, the style of costumes and jewelries she’s adorned with reveals her
caste.
Visiting the Royal Artists centre,
we see how squirrel furs makes fantastic single-hair brushes for royal art
painters in Jaipur. The art of painting is passed on from one generation to
another. Sitting down on a soft padded stool, I watch in fascination as the
artist, using a single brush, dipped in natural colour palate, painted me an
elephant in less than 5 minutes!
My current artist is a 5th
Generation artist. And so will is progeny (unless say 500 years from now, the
caste distinction has been demystified to the point where people wonder how
their ancestors could have lived that long that way [wink!]). I see an ancient original seal and stamp
can be seen bearing the inscriptions: JEYPOOR. It means Jaipur as we know it
today.
BLOCK PAINTING FABRIC DESIGNING
Colours of paints are taken
naturally from vegetable plants and their particular flowers, e.g. the colour BLUE is taken from Indigo
flowers. Natural vegetable colours do not wash when the process is complete,
says the block painting expert. To begin the process, the cloth is laid
stretched on a flat board, and block after block – up to five or seven colours
– each with a particular colour, is placed one after the other in succession.
After that, the cloth is placed in salt water which heightens the colour, and
is in turn dipped into rain water to make it permanent. Block painting is used
to make fabrics like table cloths, bed sheets, etc.
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