Ron and Sally Jo Blog

We flew to Jaipur, about 170 miles southwest of Delhi.  Jaipur is sometimes called the ”Pink City” because many of the buildings are painted/washed in that color.  The early city was built in 1720’s by Sawai Jai Singh II, a Mughal.

We visited a  1000-year old Jain Temple.  Here again, we did not know much about Jainism before.  Jainism is a religion of eternity and followers believe their religion is eternal.  Some say it began before Hinduism.  Their main beliefs are non-violence, non-absolutism, and non-possessiveness.  Followers take 5 main vows: non-violence, not lying, not stealing, chastity, and non-attachment.  Interestingly, Gandhi was greatly affected by these beliefs and adopted many of their principles.  (No photos inside)

To Jantar Mantar – an observatory built in 1730’s of masonry, stone, and brass and still used today.  Sawai Jai Singh II built 5 observatories around India but this is the largest and best preserved.  The large stone instruments form a natural artistic sculptural garden.  A “small sundial” calculates Jaipur’s local time up to an accuracy of 20 seconds.  The bigger one (largest sundial in the world) is correct to within 2 seconds.  There is a group of 12 pieces, each of which represents a sign of the zodiac and therefore faces a different constellation.  The instrument is used by astrologers to draw up horoscopes.  Astrology is very important in the life of Hindus.  There were many other instruments which were all fascinating.  (If anyone is really interested, the web site above talks about it more.)

We visited the City Palace Museum.  This has been home of the rulers of Jaipur since the first half of 18^th century.  Architecture combines Hindu, Muslim, and British colonial influences.  We saw manuscripts, carpets, musical instruments, royal costumes, weaponry, and miniature paintings.  We even watched an artist who has presented at the Chicago Museum of Art and Indianapolis Art Museum.  He demonstrated miniature drawing using a brush of one hair of a squirrel’s tail and then gave us the drawing in a book which we had bought.

One evening we went to the Birla Hindu Temple.  The same family that built the large temple in Kolkata that we visited, also built this one.  It is more recent (1988) and did not seem as elaborate.  However, it did have some stained glass windows.  It has three domes – the first in the style of Islam, the second in the style of Buddhism, and the third in the style of Hinduism.  The sculptures around the outside include Hindu deities as well as great historical figures from all religions, including Socrates, Zarathustra, Christ, Buddha, and Confucius.

We stopped in front of the Palace of the Winds.  This isn’t really a palace but an elaborate wall from where women could look out on life and not be seen.  We stopped at a “milk market.”  Farmers bring their milk in, buyers come to buy.  There is a “tester” who sticks his hand in the milk and tastes to determine the quality/amount of cream.

We visited Amber Palace, begun in 1592, built of red sandstone and marble.  Amber Fort is located on an opposite hill.  There is elaborate relief work and glass which helped in the heating and cooling of the palace rooms. There are four levels each having a courtyard.

We stopped at a textile place where they demonstrated block printing.  (We have seen this elsewhere! Indonesia & Ivory Coast)  They also were making rugs but these were from wool—often camel’s wool.

Diwali is the most important festival in Hinduism, celebrated this year on Oct 30.  It is the festival of lights and reminds us of Christmas in the U.S.  Everyone is shopping; decorations are everywhere.  It is auspicious to buy something new two days before Diwali.  There is variation in regional practices and rituals of celebrating Diwali but they all signify the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, knowledge over ignorance, and hope over despair.  In this area Lakshmi, goddess of wealth and prosperity and wife of Lord Vishnu is celebrated especially.

We walked through a local market one evening.  It was extremely crowded, and yes, everyone was buying.  New clothes, new kitchen utensils, even new cars are bought.

On our last afternoon we took a balloon ride.  Fun.  We flew over rural areas and often just at tree tops.  Children especially, liked to wave.  Farmers were not so happy since we scared the cattle and goats.  Erosion was clearly visible.

We had supper with a local Indian family which was very interesting.  She had artistic and craft talents and he worked in the government.

And then there are some photos from various parts of our visits that don’t fit anywhere!

 

This entry was posted on Monday, October 31st, 2016 at 12:10 pm and is filed under India. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.