History of Jaipur City

History of Jaipur City

By Suhaina Mazhar Sumazla

Jaipur is the capital of the Indian state of Rajasthan. The history of the Jaipur city starts with its formation in the 18th century. Maharaja Jai Singh II was the founder of Jaipur. He was born on 3rd November 1688 and when his father Maharaja Bishan Singh died on 31st December 1699, he came to the throne. He was only 11 years old when he became the king. He was called Sawai Maharaja Jai Singh II, the title of Sawai given to him by the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah. Sawai meant one and one quarter indicating more than one man. This title adorned all his successors.

In ancient days, Jaipur was a part of Matsya Kingdom. Kucchwaha Rajputs who were ruling over the place in 12th century built the famous Amber Fort. The Kingdoms of Mewar and Marwar that included Udaipur and Jodhpur were parts of Jaipur at that time. Maharaja Jai Singh II belonged to the lineage of the Kucchwaha Rajputs. The name Jaipur was given by Maharaja Jai Singh II. Amber was his capital initially. It was situated 11 km from Jaipur. However due to security reasons and water scarcity, he wanted to build a new capital city. The Brahmin scholar of Bengal named Vidhyadhar Bhattacharya helped him to design the city. As per his plans, the construction of Jaipur started in 1727.

The city of Jaipur had nine blocks in total. Two of them were reserved for stately buildings and royal palaces. The other seven blocks were allotted to the public. Huge fortification walls were built around the city with seven strong gates. The building of the city was based on Shilpa Shashtra. The architect Vidhyadhar Bhattacharya referred the books of Ptolemy and Euclid and made his plans accordingly. The architecture was considered as the advanced one, the best in India at that time.

It took four years for completing the whole structure of Jaipur. The directions of the streets were east to west and north to south. The gate at the east side was called Sural Pol meaning Sun Gate, the gate at its west side was called Chand Pol meaning Moon Gate and the gate at the north was called Zorawar Singh Gate. After completing the city, Jai Singh II shifted his capital to Jaipur from Amber.

After the death of Jai Singh II in 1744, there were struggles for power among his sons. The kingdom did not have able ruler and was open to invasions. Sawai Pratap Singh became the Maharaja of Jaipur in 1778. He was only fourteen years old at that time. In his reign of 25 years, he contributed to the progress of the place. At the same time, he had to face consistent threats from Marathas and Mughals. He was succeeded by Sawai Ram Singh II. He was a strong follower of Vaishnavism. He was also a social reformer and abolished slavery, sati and child infanticide.

In 1853, Prince of Wales who later became King Edward II visited Jaipur. As a mark of welcome, the whole city was painted in pink. This tradition of painting in pink is preserved from that time and the city eventually came to be called Pink City. You can understand this through the Jaipur photos and Jaipur videos.

Suhaina Mazhar is a freelance content writer and blogger and has written thousands of original articles. Click here to find out interesting details about Jaipur and watch Jaipur photos and Jaipur videos.

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