Today was a great and busy day! The weather was cloudy, a bit drizzly and cool, but we enjoyed some really interesting sight seeing. We drove into Jaipur and visited first the City Palace Museum which was built in the 18th century for the Maharajas of Rajasthan, the state of which Jaipur is the capital. The palace was added onto and expanded right through the 20th century, and even now, part of the complex is a palace that is currently inhabited by the Maharaja of Jaipur today. The title in our contemporary world is just a formality, since India has been a democracy since 1947 and so the old kings and queens of India no longer have power, although they retain respect and some social status. The palace grounds are now largely converted to museums. We went through the textile museum which contained gorgeous clothing warn by the Maharajas of Jaipur through the centuries. We then went through the museum containing armaments and weaponry and then visited the room where official state visitations between the Maharaja and visiting dignitaries took place. It was fascinating stuff and the buildings are beautiful with ornate decorations on the "pink" painted stone walls. Apparently, in the 19th century the Prince of Wales was making a state visit to Rajasthan and the city painted all the buildings pink in honor of his visit and since that time Jaipur has been known as the "pink city" and whenever buildings are refurbished or renovated or refinished they have to be painted pink. Although the pink is more terracotta orange than true pink.
On our way out of the Palace City we passed some snake charmers, complete with cobras in basket! I've included a pic!
After the Palace museum we visited Jantar Mantar. The Jantar Mantar is a collection of architectural astronomical instruments, built by Sawai Jai Singh who was a Rajput king. The title of (King) and Sawai was bestowed on him by Emperor Mohammad Shah. Jai Singh II of Amber built his new capital of Jaipur between 1727 and 1734. These astronomical instruments tell the time and also can calculate global times (i.e. if it's 12 noon here what time is it in London?) There are also an entire set of these instruments for every sign of the Zodiac with which astrologers could figure out someone's astrological chart if they had the date and time of the person's birth. Astrology is very important in India because life milestones have to be timed to coincide with astrological readings that indicate that a particular time is auspicious for whatever the occasion is. Weddings must take place when the couple's astrological readings suggest it is the right time, and a couple can't even get engaged unless their astrological charts indicate that they are likely to make a compatible couple. All important life events are checked first on the chart. So the instruments we saw in this observatory provided the information necessary to do that astrological charting. We had a terrific guide show us through that complex and he did quick assessments of all of us based on our birthdate and time of birth. It was truly fascinating to see how they built these instruments to read the sun throughout the day and tell time with remarkable accuracy.
After Jantar Mantar we had lunch in the Palace Cafe, which was a lovely room in the Palace complex. It was a buffet with lots of good Indian food. After lunch folks went off in different directions. I went with a few folks to visit a gem factory and crafts house. The ride there in the cab was an experience of India all in and of itself, as was the ride home from the gem factory, which took 45 minutes! The traffic congestion was unbelievable, with cars, buses, tuk-tuks, taxis and hoards of people competing for space on overcrowded roads that are also travelled by camel drawn carts, and lots of cows! The cows just wander boldly around and even when they venture out into the congested traffic, no one bothers them. In fact, if you could ride one of the cows you'd be safer than in any of the vehicles on the road.
After a short rest in the room, it was back on the bus to go to a Hindu temple. We visited the temple here that is dedicated to Vishnu and Lakshmi, but before going into that temple, we went into a smaller temple right near it that houses Ganesh, the elephant headed God. The deities in the Hindu temples rest during the afternoon, but around 5/5:30 the priests "wake them up" and ceremonies (pujas) are performed and devotees arrive to pray and to receive blessings. The Vishnu temple is a magnificent marble structure, built in 1985. We got there in time to experience the evening aarti ritual, where the priests offer fire to the gods and the devotees chant hymns and then receive blessings from the priests. I was delighted to recognize the hymn they were singing from my many visits to the Hindu Temple in Rochester. The Vishnu temple is made of marble and has lovely stained glass windows with images of the deities. On the outside of the temple there are carved into the walls images from many religions of the world, including Moses holding the tablets, Jesus Christ and the Buddha. Hindus are very accepting of all religions and so they include in the images at the temple images from other world religions. They are truly the original pluralists of the world!
After visiting the temple, we got back in the bus to go to dinner. On the way we stopped at a "liquor store" which was an experience of urban India to the core. The store is really a small storefront, where customers approach a plain wooden counter and ask for what they want and the owners bring it to you. The row of shops in which this one was found was typical of all the streets we see here, where the shops are tiny little holes in the wall, with whatever goods they are selling in space not much bigger than an ordinary living room. The prices are unbelievably cheap so we all wanted to buy our preferred libation in order to save on the costs of the bar prices in the hotels. Our guides accompanied us so they could do the talking since the proprietors of the establishment don't speak English. As we were leaving and heading back to the bus we stopped to greet a cow who was munching on her evening meal right at the stall next to the liquor stall. Everywhere you turn in this town, you run into a cow!
Then we went to dinner, which was yet another delicious Indian meal. After dinner we were treated to some traditional Indian folk dancing. We finally got back to the hotel at about 9:45, quite tired from a full day.
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