Rajsthan: Jaipur City, Amber Fort and Jal Mahal
Travelling in Rajasthan in February 2008
Jaipur >> Shekhawati >> Pushkar >> Jaisalmer >> Jodhpur
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Close to the City Palace is Iswari Minar Swarg Sal, commonly known as Swarg Suli. Its a tall minaret, almost seven stories high and probably shares the honour for being one of the tallest points in Old City along with Chandra Mahal. I can see it from far off, but finding the entrance to it is an effort. I have to get off the main roads and walk through a narrow, more or less abandoned street. But for a fading handwritten sign on a cardboard sheet that says ‘this way up,’ I would be scrambling up and down the street trying to find my way into the minaret.
I walk up the narrow staircase to the terrace on the first floor where I am greeted by a bored man sitting on a rusting chair, with a folder in his lap and a small bag across his shoulder.
“Is this the way up the minar?” I ask him pointing at a dark ramp that seems to lead nowhere.
“Yes,” he said as he opened his folder, “five rupees, please.” I pay the money and ask him if no one visits the place.
“Not many,” he said as he teared a ticket from the folder, “very few people.”
As I walk up, I am glad there are very few people coming here. Its a dark helical ramp that slowly leads up, with a tiny window in every floor that brings in only a little light. A rush of tourists like in Hawa Mahal or City Palace would result in a stampede, or at least makes few people choke from claustrophobia.
At the top of the minaret is open space with all-round view of the city. Standing up there, I can see the sprawl of Jaipur, the Aravali Hills spreading to the east limiting the growth of Old City, and the plains to the west where the new city is growing quickly. It is easy to spot Hawa Mahal, City Palace and the streets of the Old City I have passed through earlier. And to the North is Nahargarh Fort up on a hill.
Views from the Minaret
In the thirty minutes or so I spent on the top, there were no more than half-a-dozen people walking up to the top. Like most roofs in the Old City, pigeons, not people dominated the minaret.
Although I never made it to Nahargarh looming high to the north and visible from most parts of the old city, I could see its walls spreading all over the hills from the cenotaphs of Rajasthan’s Rulers built at the base of the hill, at Gaitor Village. Located just outside the walls of the Old City under leafy ficus trees, they are one of the finest examples of what can be produced with Rajasthan’s smooth marble stones. Tall Chhatris around the cenotaph, the tombs and roofs are all made with smooth creamy white marbles. There are stories from Mahabharata and Krishna’s playful childhood etched on the walls and around the graves. And in the background on the high hill are walls of Nahargarh meandering along the ridge.
Raju drove me to Amber (pronounced Amer) Fort that afternoon. Going past the old city, the surroundings suddenly change from urban to forested. We climb up a hill on a road surrounded by dense pack of trees that now stand bare in the dry winter. But I can imagine how beautiful and lush green will this winding road going up and down can be, in the rainy days.
Like Naharagarh, Amber too, is up on the top of a hill dominating a ridge. Standing in a valley and surrounded by fortified hills all around me, I am impressed by the majestic effort put by the rulers of Jaipur to protect themselves from possible conflicts. There are fort walls in every angle as I look up, with Amber’s towering structure making everything else look small. A large tank at the base of the hill matches the fort in size adds to the beauty, but there is not much water to see today. After a delicious paratha at a place recommended by Raju, I am ready to take the climb to the fort.
Unfortunately I am in Jaipur in a wrong time, when nearly every monument is going through some stages of restoration. So is Amber Fort. I see bamboo poles stacked up against the wall for painting the outside wall. And inside, I enter into a large open courtyard now partly covered with gravel, cement and other construction material. Fortunately, insides of the fort are untouched and I can explore in peace.
The insides of Amber are evidently royal. Large courtyards, spacious interiors, elaborately decorated walls and marble structure. The king’s prize possession probably was the zanana with dozens of rooms interconnected by a maze of passages. “It is easy to get lost,” said a guidebook and that’s exactly how it turned out with me.
We stop at Jal Mahal on our way back. The Jal Mahal Palace is built in the middle of a lake, and is now left to itself for such a long time that trees have grown over them. The lake’s water is visibly polluted, but nevertheless home to a few wading Black Winged Stilts and a large number of pigeons. We spend the evening near the lake waiting for the sun to go down and the warm day turn into a cold dusk, before heading back to the city.
Continued at Jaipur Information
