The mandala principle in architecture assumed the presence of a perfect square, since a square is formed by four cardinal points and is a symbol of the Earth. This principle was used in the construction of temples, palaces and houses, it was even taken as a basis for drawing up general plans for the construction of large and small cities. This is how Jaipur, one of the wonderful cities in India, was built, built in accordance with the ancient rules of Shilpa Shastra, a holy book that was a guide for Indian artisans, artists and architects.
The plan was based on the number 9 -square mandala, symbolizing 9 planets, and therefore Jaipur was designed in the form of an almost even square and surrounded by a fortress wall with gates (in the middle of each side of it in the cardinal directions). The city is divided by wide, intersecting at right angles streets and built up with houses of 4-5 floors. A path was laid along the city walls for guards and ritual processions - "pradanshana" - in honor of the guardian gods of Jaipur. In the center of the city, at the intersection of the main streets, there is a meeting square for the council of elders, usually held in the shade of a banyan tree. There, on the square, the main city temple rises. The population settled from the center to the outskirts in accordance with the caste hierarchy - the nobility and merchants are closer to the temple, then artisans, and along the outskirts of the sudra, i.e. local poor. There were bazaars at the gate,therefore, the streets still bear the prefix "bazaar".
Jaipur's development plan aroused admiration and served to be emulated, everything in it was arranged so reasonably: straight central streets, the location of the main buildings of the city, a good water supply system. The open space on the central square was intended for the palace garden, and all the roads converged like rays to the City Palace.
The most inimitable and original building is considered to be the five-story Hawa Mahal palace, which means "Castle of the Winds". He received this name for an extraordinary ventilation system. The system of ceramic pipes is arranged in a special way; the facade is decorated with many openwork balconies and lanterns that create ventilation in the building. They seem to draw in air and push it back, so that cool fresh air is kept inside the castle.
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The city is famous for another unique building. This is a fantastic complex of buildings of the Jantar Mantar observatory: in a large courtyard, overgrown with grass, structures of indescribable forms are frozen. They rise above the earth, go underground, lie on the surface of the earth - bizarre stone structures, very similar to the images of modern surrealists, were instruments for calculating solar and lunar time. With the help of these instruments, astronomical time was calculated with an accuracy of one minute.
Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh, who established the observatory, was known as the famous astronomer of his time. He was fond of astronomy and astrology, spending several hours a day in Jantar Mantar. The Maharajah scientist was intensively developing his own system of calculating time, which at that time was the most perfect in the world. By order of the Maharaja astronomer in 1728, Jaipur itself was founded, which became the capital of his possessions in Rajasthan.
In the center of the Pink City there is a huge City Palace Nawab Sahebki Haveli - the residence of Sawai Jay Singa. The City Palace now houses a historical museum. Here the riches and relics of a whole dynasty of Jaipur rulers are exhibited: paintings, carpets, sculptures, manuscripts, paintings, miniatures, thrones, carriages and more.
Before Haveli, life is in full swing on the central highway of the city, which everyone simply calls Bazar. The first floors of houses, divided into equal cells, are solid shops. Along the sidewalks, with their noses buried in the parapet, there are cars of various brands and purposes, motorcycle and cycle rickshaws, bicycles, motorcycles.
Streets move along the carriageway, not in the least paying attention to either the lane or to the dividing strip in the middle of the pavement, and at the same time peacefully coexisting with each other, camels and campervans harnessed to carts, donkeys pulling huge carts with luggage, and cars, crowded buses and three-wheeled scooter strollers, adapted for taxis for two or three, or even a dozen people at once - their drivers generally do not recognize any rules. And in all this stream, which resembles an anthill in its chaos, the cows gradually pace, which, however, can suddenly stop or stand in a circle, guarding the calf that has decided to lie down to rest. The picture is complemented by monkeys frolicking on the canopies hanging over the first floors and jumping right over the heads of passers-by to the trees standing nearby.
Of course, Jaipur, the capital of the state of Rajasthan, has long outgrown the old city boundaries. The powerful walls that once surrounded it are almost in the very center of the present. Now these are not only exotic palaces, but also modern buildings of banks, government offices, new hospitals, schools, a university, numerous industrial enterprises and hundreds of different workshops. Everywhere the old coexists with the new.