Gangaur is one of the oldest and the most important festivals of Rajasthan. It is celebrated in all the districts of the state with equal excitement. “Gangaur” literally means the union of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. The festival is all about worshipping Goddess Parvati. Married women pray the goddess for the prosperity of their husbands while the unmarried women pray to get a good husband in future.

 

Gangaur festival is celebrated in the Chaitra Month (March) every year. According to the Hindu calendar, this month starts the New Year for Hindus. This month also marks the end of winter season and the beginning of summers.

 

Gangaur is an 18-day festival and is celebrated with full zeal and excitement by the local people. Females apply Mehndi on their hands and palms and wear beautiful and vibrant colored clothes.

 

A “Juloos” (procession) of Gangaur starts from the Zanani-Deodhi of the City Palace and goes to various parts of the city and concludes at a place near Talkatora. The “Juloos” comprises of bullock carts, chariots, old palanquins etc.

Teej is another important festival of Rajasthan. It is similar to Gangaur wherein the women worship Goddess Parvati and pray for the well-being of their husbands. This festival includes folk dance performances by the ladies. Folk songs are also sung on this occasion.

 

Ladies wear new – “laheria” printed – clothes and adorn themselves with a lot of jewellery. They gather at a common place and pray to the goddess. Swings are tied across the trees and the women swing to welcome “Sawan”.

 

The sweets of the occasion are “Ghevar” and “Pheeni”.

As the name suggests, this festival is all about decorating elephants. This festival is celebrated on the full moon day of Phalgun Poornima in the month of February/March.

 

It is celebrated on a day before Holi. Lord Ganesh is worshipped on this occasion.

 

For this celebration, elephants are pleasantly prepared and dressed with brilliant and weaved velvet floor coverings and parasols and other overwhelming adornments like enormous elephant gems and anklets decked with bells.

 

Complicated customary Indian motifs are then painted on their bodies. Ear danglers and shaded brocade scarves decorate their ears and necks. Their tusks arejeweled up by embellishing them with gold and silver wrist trinkets and rings.

A huge fair is held at Sheel Ki Doongri, Chaksu to appease Goddess Durga whose fury, it is believed, can cause smallpox disease.

 

According to legends, Sheetla Mata is the deity who leads to plagues and epidemics when angry. So to please her and calm her down, devotees pray before the deity and make several offerings as per the customs. Devotees across the country come to visit the temple of the Sheetla Mata and to attend the fair. People prepare various kinds of foods on this auspicious day, termed as Sheetla Asthami and make a visit to offer their prayers and Puja to the deity on this fair.

 

Daily Aarti, the prayer is done to the deity that is performed by the local Pujaris, Brahmins. The food is offered to the goddess and this food is termed as Prasad and includes Rabri, Bajra and curd. These three are the core requisites of the Prasad and as per local lingo; it is referred to as Baseda. There are also numerous rituals as well as religious activities that take place during the fair. People give food to old & some needy people to seek their holy blessings.

Every year, January 14 is celebrated as the kite festival or “Makar Sankranti” in Jaipur.

 

People enjoy this festival by flying kites. It has been the most well-known occasion as of late with even tourists participating in different kite flying activities. People fly kites of different colours and sizes and the whole atmosphere becomes absolutely mesmerising

 

Kites of every shade of indigo, ochre, red, blue, yellow, green, fushcia, indigo, ochre, pink, orange against the blue January sky is a dazzling sight. From dawn to dusk, people of all ages fly kites rejoicing in the spirit of the day. Crowded rooftops, fun-loving rivalry to outdo each other, and delicious feast are the hall-marks of the day.

 

People are seen indulging in the appetizing flavors of sweets prepared specially for the day

One of the historic landmarks of the city, City Palace is situated right at the center of the city and is made of grey-white marble stone.It was built by Maharaj Sawai Jai Singh II between 1729 and 1732 A.D. The king built the outer walls of the palace and his successors made the additions which continued till the 20th century.

 

City Palace includes the Chandra Mahal palace and the Mubarak Mahal palace. At the entrance of the palace, there are two elephants made of marble that guard the passageway. Chandra Mahal houses a museum which has a rare collection of various types of Rajasthani dresses, Mughal armoury and Rajput weapons and swords of different shapes and sizes.

 

The museum also consists of an art gallery with a collection of paintings, royal belongings, carpets and astronomical works in Persian, Latin and Sanskrit, which were developed by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II.

JantarMantar is one of Jai Singh’s five striking observatories. Built with stone and marble, its perplexing instruments whose settings and shapes are exactly and logically outlined explain the medieval Indian Astronomy.   The Ram Yantras utilised for measuring heights are one-of-a-kind. This is the biggest of the five observatories established by Sawai Jai Singh II in India. It has been recorded in UNESCO world heritage sites. Major Yantras or instruments that one can find here are: ‘Dhruva’, Small ‘Samrat’, ‘Narivalya’, The Observer’s Seat, ‘Raj’, ‘Unnathamsa’,Small ‘Kranti’, ‘Disha’, ‘Dakshina’, Large ‘Samrat’, ‘Rashivalayas’, ‘Jai Prakash’, Small ‘Smash’, Large ‘Slam Yantra’,Small ‘Smash’, ‘Diganta’ and Large ‘Kranti’.

Hawa Mahal, also known as ‘Palace of Winds’, was built by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh in 1799 A.D. Ustad Lal Chand was the designer of the palace.
The palace was designed in the form of Lord Krishna’s crown. There are 953 small windows in the palace, known as ‘Jharokhas’.

 

The reason for the king to build this palace was to let the royal ladies see the streets of the city and observe day-to-day life without being seen by any outsider.

Albert Hall is the oldest museum of Rajasthan and is located in Jaipur city. The Museum is located inside Ram NiwasBagh opposite to New Gate.

 

It was designed by Sir Samuel Swinton Jacob and was built by Maharaja Ram Singh and was opened for general public in 1887. The museum is the finest example of Indo-Saracen architecture.
Maharaja Ram Singh wanted the place to be a Town Hall. His successor Raja Madho Singh II, however, decided to give it a shape of a museum and included the hall as a part of Ram Niwas Bagh. Albert hall is also known as “Government Central Museum”.

One of the biggest tourist attractions JalMahal, also known as ‘Water Palace’, is a palace situated in the middle of Man Sagar Lake.

 

Maharaja Jai Singh II renovated the place in the 18th century and utilised the palace as a hunting lodge.

 

One can hire a boat from the shore and visit the palace.

Jal Mahal has beautifully decorated hallways on the first floor. The palace also houses a “Chameli Bagh”.

 

Across the lake, one can find hills, ancient forts and temples.

Previously known as “Amber”,this place served as the capital for Kachwaha Rajputs. The fort houses palaces, gardens, halls and temples which were built by Raja Man Singh, Raja Jai Singh and Sawai Jai Singh. To reach the fort, there is a steep way.

 

It is a place of great tourist attraction wherein the tourists can hire elephants to reach the top of the fort. There is a Shila Mata temple in the premises of the Amer fort.The Idol of Shila Mata was brought from Jessore in East Bengal (now in Bangladesh) by Raja Man Singh.

The palace has a pillared hall which is known as ‘Deewan-e-Aam’ and the ‘Ganesh Pole’. As we move further inside, there is a garden known as ‘SukhNiwas’ and ‘Jas Mandir’. Jas Mandir is a fine example of the mix of Mughal architecture and Rajput designs. Raja Man Singh had built the older structures in the 16th century.

Equipped with the latest mechanized projection framework, the planetarium offers out-of-the-box audio-visual educational entertainment. A science museum is also a part of this. The planetarium regularly holds sky-shows to drive out the heavenly myths, broadcast the basic ideas of Astronomy and also train the professionals to be glad about the splendour of the night sky. The topics include mysteries of cosmos, evolution of Earth, exploration of Mars and other planets. Interactive sessions are held after the sky-shows. The planetarium organises the activities of ‘Amateur Astronomers Association’, which include astrophotography, telescope fabrication and organizing sky-watch sessions.

Around 10 km away from Jaipur city, Galtaji is a pilgrimage for Hindus in a village called Khaniya-Balaji. There are a number of temples around Galtaji amidst the hills which surround Jaipur city.

 

There is a natural spring which emerges from the top of the hill filling a number of sacred Ponds (Kunds) in which the pilgrim take a holy bath.

 

From the temple located at the hilltop, one can see the mesmerising view of Jaipur city. It is said that Galtaji was named after a Saint “Galav”, who used to live here and practice meditation and performed “Tapasya”.

Laxmi Narayan temple, also known as ‘Birla temple’, is situated at the foot of the hill of Moti Doongri.

 

It is a temple made of white marble and is another place of tourist attraction in the city.

Nahargarh fort is located beyond the hills of Jaigarh fort. It is believed that Nahargarh was once the royal residence of Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II.

 

Nahargarh stands on the edge of the Aravalli Hills, overlooking the pink city of Jaipur in the Indian state of Rajasthan. The view of the city from the fort is impressive. Open from 10 AM not 8:00 am Along with Amer Fort and Jaigarh Fort, Nahargarh once formed a strong defense ring for the city.

 

The fort was originally named Sudarshangarh, but it became known as Nahargarh, which means ‘abode of tigers’.

 

Most of the part of the fort is in ruins now though the buildings constructed by Sawai Ram Singh II and Sawai Madho Singh II still exist.

Sargasuli is also known as ‘IsarLat’. It is a tower which was built by Maharaja Ishwari Singh as a memorable after one of his victories.

 

Maharaja Sawai Ishwari Singh defeated Madhosingh in the battle. The war took place because of some internal disputes between Maharaja Sawai Ishwari Singh and Madhosingh.

 

The tower was built as a sign of victory. You can have a look at the whole Jaipur city from this tower as it is situated at the heart of the city. Jaipur is a harmonious blend of culture, education and religion.

 

Sargasuli is the highest building of Jaipur and is situated on the western side of Tripolia Bazaar.

At the center of the sprawling Jai Niwas Garden towards the north of the Chandra Mahal is the temple of Lord Krishna.

 

The temple doesn’t have any towers to support the roof which makes it a building of utmost attraction for the tourists.

 

The idol of Govind Devji, initially introduced in a temple of Vrindavan, was reinstalled here by Sawai Jai Singh-II as his family god.

Along the street to Agra through a thin gauge in the southern eastern corner of the walled city, a few gardens were built by the Kings in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

 

The biggest and the most renowned isthe gardenbuilt by Sawai jai Singh II for his Sisodia queen. It comprises of layered multilevel gardens with fountains and painted pavilions.

Jaigarh fort is located on the cape called ‘Cheel ka Teela’ on the Aravali hills. The fort was constructed by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II in 1726 A.D. It was built with the vision of securing Amer Fort from enemy attacks and is also known as ‘Victory Fort’.

 

The total length of Jaigarh fort is around 3 km from north to south and has a width of around 1 km.It is one of the few military structures of Medieval India.

 

It houses royal residences, gardens, open and secured water reservoirs, a silo, an arsenal, an all around arranged gun foundry, a few temples, a tall tower and a monster mounted cannon – The Jai Ban – the biggest in the nation.

Located off the Jaipur-Amber street, Gaitore is the last resting place for the Maharajas of Jaipur. Set in a valley, the cenotaphs of the previous rulers comprise of Chhatri or umbrella-molded commemorations.

 

The most special one is Jai Singh’s Chhatribecause of the carvings that have been utilized to adorn it.

It is believed to be a replica of a Scottish castle and exists on the hilltop. This place is believed to be once a residence of Maharani Gayatri Devi. It is also saidthat MaharajaMadho Singh’s son had occupied this place in the past