Jaipur Architecture

Jaipur city was founded on 18 November, 1727, by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II. The king had profound knowledge of Vastu Shastra and astrology. He planned the whole layout of the city by referring the ancient Indian books on Architecture. He even discussed the entire plan with Vidhyadhar Bhattacharya, the chief Bengali architect. They planned the city by considering all the principles of Vastu Shastra, Astronomy, Ptolemy, Euclid and architecture and architect knowledge. The aspects such as water, transportation, security, etc were given high importance while planning the city’s architecture.

The architecture of the city has its own unique and distinct features. It includes every single aspects and principles of Vastu Shastra and astronomy so that the city may flourish with prosperously and peacefully. The town is built in the eight- part form “Mandala” also known as “Pithapada”. It is divided in nine blocks (symbolizing the nine planets in astrology), out of which seven are allotted to the public while two consist the state buildings and palaces. The commercial shops are laid out in the multiples of nine (27). Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II was very kneen on security aspect of the city, he built a twenty feet high and nine – inch thick wall with seven gateways protected the city from the invasion of enemies. The streets were broadly laid out into six sectors of 111ft, which is a holy number according to the Hinduism. Every street’s and market’s directions are from East to West and North to South. Entrance gate of Jaipur have a certain height, direction, location, etc are all according to the Indian Vastu Shastra principles.

There are three gates facing East, West and north: Eastern gate is known as Suraj (Sun)Pol or Galta Gate, Western gate is known as Chand (Moon)Pol and the Northern gate is known as Dhruv Pol or Zorawar Singh Gate. Northern gate faces towards the ancestral capital of Amber. Other gates facing to South are Gangpol, Krishna Pol (originally known as Ajmeri Gate), Ghat gate (originally known as Ram Pol) and Sanganeri Gate (originally known as Shiv Pol). Jaipur has the remarkable architecture amongst the other pre- modern Indian cities.