Ginger Without Borders

Day 21: Jaipur Day II, Part I: Amber Fort

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The Muslim Mughals were not the only Indian royalty with extreme wealth and an interest in building monumental architecture. Our second day in Jaipur began with a visit to the fortress built by the Hindu Rajput Amer dynasty during their alliance with the Mughal Emperors: the Amber Fort (also known as the Amer Fort), another UNESCO World Heritage Site. We finally were lucky enough to get the best guide we had in India for our Jaipur explorations. He was a former physician who became a guide in his retirement (India’s Central Medical Services has a mandatory retirement age of 65). He related the Indian history of Jaipur and Amer in conversational tone and actually enjoyed questions.

The city of Amer, the original capital of the Hindu Rajput Amber Kingdom, is 6.8 miles outside Jaipur and features the Amber Fort with its palaces built into a great defensible position in the mountains. The Amber Fort’s large ramparts and gates overlook Maota Lake, which is the main source of water for the fortress. It’s formidible walls (still intact) are 8 miles long with small watchtowers that trace the mountaintops surrounding the old city of Amer.

The walls of Amber Fort overlooking Maota Lake. The walls at the lake level surround the Saffron Gardens (see picture below) that supplied provisions for the Fort.

Constructed of sandstone and marble, it is laid out on four levels with six separate courtyards, each with its own gate. Similarly to Mughal palaces, there is the public hall, a private audience hall, and then two levels of royal residences. There are 130 Hindu temples inside the walls of the Fort. The original Fort was built in 1592 by Raja Man Singh I, a close advisor to Mughal Emperor Akbar (one of the Emperor’s “nine jewels” known as the Nauratan). He later expanded it in the early 1600’s to provide a private room for each of his 12 queens. Each room had a staircase connected to the King’s room but the Queens were not permitted to go upstairs. A later Raja had only one queen so he created one room equal to three old queen’s rooms.

The main public courtyard with the public audience hall to the left. The main gate in the background, Jalebi Chowk, is decorated with designs “painted” in gem dust so they never need refreshing. Note the walls of the city on the hill above the fort. The walls completely incircle the fortress and the old city of Amer.
The public audience hall.
The gardens for the private residence for the Raja, built in the mid 1600’s. The gardens and fountain are in the fashion inspired by Mughal gardens and the walls (note the domes at the top) are a fusion of Rajpuat and Mughal architecture. Water from the central fountain cascades through the channels. Again note the walls of the city on the crest of the ridge above the fortress.
The private courtyard of the Raja, known as the mirror room (not completed until the capital was transferred to Jaipur in 1727). The mirrors are convex shaped and designed with colored foil so they will glitter under candlelight (similar to the Mughal rooms of like design).
Dawn reflected in a decoration in the mirror room.
Dawn and Lena in the Baradari Pavilion, part of the original palace of Raja Man Singh I, who built the Fort. This pavilion would have been curtained for privacy because it was the meeting place of the Raja’s queens. The queens, the Raja’s consorts and all their female attendants lived in this part of the Fort.
The main entrance to the Fort overlooking the Old City. Note the wall rising along the top of the ridge to the left. You can see the edge of Maota Lake at the center right. And yes those are elephants headed down the hill to the old city with their tourist riders. Thankfully, Indian law only permits the elephants to make the trip up the hill and back down four times per day. Having seen elephants in the wild, we had no desire to ride one in captivity.
The Saffron Garden in the middle of Maota Lake. Note the walls of the city as they rise from the lake to the top of the ridge. The view of the Fort in the top picture was taken from the road that runs along the the opposite bank of the lake. Only the walls of the Saffron Garden are visible in the top picture.

This day was our hottest in India so far.  When we stopped at the viewing area on the road to Amer just to the right opposite the Saffron Garden to take pictures of the fort, there was a snake charmer playing for tourists.  He put his cobra in his cloth bag and headed towards our group with the White Tourists ($$$). Lena warned him that I was afraid of snakes while I literally started running in the opposite direction. He deduced pretty quickly that we would not leave a big tip and went looking for better prospects. Luckily this was as close to a snake as I got in India. Respect for snakes (Lena would call it fear) is something I inherited from my Mom.

On our return to Jaipur, we passed an elephant and his trainer headed towards Amer on the two lane road.

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