India: Forts, Temples, and Monuments, Part Two

One of the oldest and most interesting examples of jaw-dropping architecture we saw in India was the ancient step well, called Chand Baori. It's in the tiny village of Abhaneri in eastern Rajasthan, and was built between 800-900AD. It has double flights of 3500 steps on three sides, descending almost 100 feet down to a murky, green pool. A temple is built into the fourth side, dedicated to the Hashat Mata the Goddess of Joy and Happiness, along with several pavilions, and a royal residence for the king and queen, with a stage for performing arts. You may recognize this location from scenes in two movies: The Dark Knight Rises and The Fall. I only wish that the sun had been in a slightly different position, so I might have been able to capture a more Escher-esque look in my photos. 

Rajasthan is an extremely hot and arid place, so it is believed this well was built to store rain water, and to provide a cool place for community gatherings during periods of intense heat. The temperature at the bottom stays 5-6 degrees cooler than at the surface.

The well is no longer in use, and is now managed by the Archeological Survey of India. A lot of work has been done to preserve many of the fine stone carvings found at the site. 

When we first started thinking about traveling to India a few years ago, I read somewhere that the city of Udaipur is a place one should not miss. Declared the World's Best City in a poll by Travel and Leisure magazine in 2009, Udaipur is definitely the cleanest Indian city we visited. Apparently, there is a successful campaign designed to instill pride and encourage the people to keep the municipality clean and inviting, much like our litterbug campaigns back in the 50s and 60s. 

During several discussions with our guide, Jayanta, we agreed that education and regulation could make a big difference in regard to the issue of garbage and trash on the streets of other large Indian cities. It is certainly working for Udaipur, but because its population (less than 600,000) is much smaller than other cities we visited (Agra 1.6 million, Jaipur 3.1 million, Delhi 11 million!), there obviously isn't as much trash to clean up!

Not only is Udaipur the cleanest city, it is also one of the most opulent we stayed in. Surrounded by the foothills of the Aravalli Range, it is also known as the "City of Lakes" because it has five major lakes within its limits. There is a palace on an island on Lake Pichola (the largest lake), and many more along the banks of the lakes, most of which are now luxury hotels, much like Venice, which accounts for its second nickname "Venice of the East."

The largest of these Rajput-era palaces is the City Palace, a massive group of palaces built at different times beginning in 1559, six years after Maharana Udai Singh II (see painting below), for whom the city is named, founded the city as the capital of the Mewar kingdom.

We toured many parts of the City Palace, and were stunned by its lavish extravagance.

I'm not sure when this particular item (below) was installed, but this is the royal "throne" of the Maharana! Looks pretty comfy.

Right next door to the City Palace is a large Hindu temple called the Jagdish Temple, completed in 1651 by Maharana Jagat Singh I. It is an incredible building, with again, many very steep steps!

The entire exterior of the temple is covered with intricate carvings, and as you can see, unlike Muslims, Hindus do not have a problem with representations of humans and other animals.

Our next stop was along the road to Jodhpur, where, situated on the western side of the Aravalli Range, was the Jain Temple at Ranakpur. 

Jainism is one of the world's oldest religions. I believe it is an off-shoot of Hinduism, but don't quote me on that. Its practitioners follow a path of "ahimsa," or total nonviolence toward all living beings - meaning ALL living things, including bugs or tiny organisms that might be killed by uprooting plants like potatoes, onions, or garlic! Needless to say, very strict Jains are vegan beyond most of the vegans I know!

This beautiful temple, which was completed in 1458, was a real treat on our long ride from Udaipur. As part of our tour, we were given audio guides to listen to, but I was so busy taking photos, that I didn't pay a lot of attention to the narrative. However, the soothing Indian music from the headset, and the cool, smooth marble under my bare feet, gave me a feeling of peace and tranquility that was almost transcendent.

We only spent one night in Jodhpur, but we did manage to visit two interesting sites. The first one was Jaswant Thada, a white marble memorial for Maharaja Jaswant Singh II, built in 1899.

From the memorial site, we could view our next stop, the towering Mehrangarh Fort, high above the city of Jodhpur.

Construction of the Mahrangarh Fort (Sun Fort) was begun in 1459 by Rao Jodha, founder of Jodhpur, but most of what stands today was built 200 years later. The enormous fort sits atop a hill, 400 feet above the city, and its walls are as much as 118 feet tall, and 69 feet thick! Inside, there are many examples of the finely carved stone we had seen elsewhere in India. You might also recognize this fort, because it too, was used in both of the movies mentioned earlier. 

From the top of the walls, there are spectacular views of the "Blue City," named for the houses below the fort that are painted vivid shades of blue.

The fort museum has a stunning collection of antiquities, including elephant howdahs, a type of seat attached to elephants' backs, and palanquins, basically a chair with poles carried by servants, so ladies of the nobility wouldn't have to walk. Most of these were made of wood, covered in precious metals, with elaborate ornamentation. Some of them were very beautiful, and often had the peacock incorporated into the design.

The collection also had many everyday items used in the palaces, like this gorgeous silver hookah and vase.

These stylized artichoke things, we were told, were weights made to hold down the corners of the large carpets.

And finally, this "poster" depicting the history of the various ruling Maharajas. The guy in the center looks a little like the artist formerly (and currently) known as Prince, don't you think?

To view photos enlarged, click on one and a slide show should open up. 

Also, I have a few more shots not included in the blog that you can see by using this link to my Flickr page.

India: Forts, Temples, and Monuments, Part One

Although I do think that the most interesting thing about India is its people, we learned a lot about Indian history and culture by visiting many of its iconic and awe-inspiring edifices. The best known of those of course, is the Taj Mahal in Agra, one of the most recognizable monuments in the world!

This breathtakingly beautiful mausoleum was built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to their 14th child. Construction began in 1632 and was completed eleven years later. Most of the buildings in the complex were constructed with red sandstone (very common in India), but the tomb itself is white marble, carved, painted, and decorated with inlaid stone. The interior is embellished with inlaid precious and semi-precious stones, like jade, malachite, and carnelian. Every aspect of its design is symmetrical.

The minarets on the four corners of the square plinth, or stone foundation of the tomb, are each 130 feet tall, and are built outside of the plinth, so if they were to collapse, they would hopefully fall away from the tomb.

The Taj Mahal sits on the banks of the Yamuna River, and from behind the mausoleum, you can see the Agra Fort up river in the distance.

Although the original brick fort was built sometime in the 11th century, Mughal Emperor Akbar decided to make the city of Agra his capital in 1556. He began rebuilding the mostly ruined brick fort, and did so with red sandstone from Rajasthan.

The fort is quite impressive, and the way it looks today is mostly due to Akbar's grandson: Shah Jahan (who also built the Taj Mahal). He tore down some of the over 500 red sandstone buildings his grandfather had built, and replaced them with palaces of lavishly ornamented white marble. 

Near the end of Jahan's life, he was arrested and kept imprisoned in the fort by one of his sons, Aurangzeb, the 6th Mughal Emperor of India. It is said that Shah Jahan died in one of the towers he had built, where from the marble terrace, he had a view of the Taj Mahal, where his beloved wife was buried.

Another famous mausoleum in Agra is the Tomb of I'timad-ud-Daulah, also known as the "Baby Taj." This mausoleum was commissioned by Nur Jahan, the wife of Jahangir (4th Mughal Emperor) in 1622, for her father, and although it is much smaller, it is considered the draft for the Taj Mahal.

In Old Delhi, we visited the Jama Masjid, the largest and most renowned mosque in India. Also built by Shah Jahan between 1650 and 1656, it can be entered from three sides, by climbing up about three dozen very steep steps. This was not so easy for some of the older folks in our group, but it was just a taste of many more steps to come at other sites we would visit. When we entered, we were of course, required to take off our shoes, and we women were given a long robe-type garment to cover our street clothes. (As you can see two minutes into Sam's Delhi video.)

The mosque has a huge, paved courtyard, which can accommodate about 25,000 worshipers, and the floor inside the mosque has 899 prayer "spaces" marked by black and white marble.

We also visited another very old Muslim site, the Qutab Minar, and the complex of ancient and medieval buildings and ruins that surround it. This minaret is the second tallest in India, standing 238 feet tall, with 379 steps to the top, and although construction began in 1192, many additions and repairs were made over the next several centuries, due to earthquakes and lightning strikes.

The first three stories are made of intricately carved red sandstone, and the top two stories are a combination of sandstone and white marble. Verses from the Qu'ran are cut into the sandstone of the minar, and delicately carved designs also adorn the other structures in the complex.

While still in New Delhi, we visited what is now called the Gandhi Smriti (or Gandhi Remembrance), the place where Mahatma Gandhi spent the last 144 days of his life and was assassinated on January 30, 1948. Formerly the home of the Birla family (Indian business tycoons), it is now a museum about Gandhi, his life and teachings. 

The grounds there are very peaceful and beautiful, with sculptures and other installations in remembrance of the person many Indians call the Father of the Nation.

Even Gandhi's final footsteps are memorialized from where he left his room to where he was shot on that fateful day in 1948, only five and a half months after India gained independence from Great Britain.

Gandhi is known the world over for his politics of non-violence, and he holds a very special place in the hearts of most Indians. We also visited his cremation site at Raj Ghat, where there burns an eternal flame in his memory. School children, pilgrims, tourists of all kinds, and world dignitaries come to this site every day to pay their respects.

When our tour stopped for two nights in Jaipur (aka the Pink City), we were in for some real treats as far as beautiful and unusual architecture is concerned. 

The Amber Fort (also spelled and pronounced Amer) was built in the late 16th century. It is quite a sight from the main road, reflecting off the still waters of the Maota Lake.

Our group did not ride elephants up the hill and into the fort, but look closely and you can see people precariously riding on top of the huge animals, lumbering up the long, zigzagging road to the Sun Gate on the eastern side of the main courtyard.

From on top of the fort, one can look down and see the saffron garden built on the manmade lake far below.

Probably the most beautiful feature of the Amer Fort is the Sheesh Mahal, or Mirror Palace. The walls and ceiling of this hall are covered with beautiful carvings, paintings, and flowers made with pieces of glass. At night, if only two candles are lit, apparently the reflections look like thousands of stars!

Jaipur got its "Pink City" nickname because most of the buildings, in addition to being made with pink-colored sandstone, were also painted pink as a sign of hospitality when Prince Albert came to visit in the mid-19th century, a tradition that is now mandated by law. Personally, I would not call the color pink. It is more of a salmon, or even brick red in some cases, such as the Hawa Mahal, or "Wind Palace."

The City Palace of Jaipur has some of the most amazing decorative elements I have ever seen. One of the inner courtyards has four gates, each representing one of the four seasons and Hindu gods. (Unfortunately, I only have photos of three of the gates.)

This is the Rose Gate representing winter, and dedicated to the Goddess Devi.

This is the Lotus Gate suggesting summer, and dedicated to Lord Shiva.

And this is my favorite: the Peacock Gate representing autumn and honoring Lord Vishnu. (The peacock is the national bird of India and is featured in art and decorations everywhere.)

Hopefully, I haven't bored my readers too much with historical facts. There is so much more to share, that I will stop for now and continue with more in the next post. Namasté!

Remember, if you want to see these photos enlarged, all you have to do is click on one and it should open a slide show of all the photos. 

Also, you can follow this link to my Flickr page to see these and a few more photos from the trip.