Information on Fort Palace of Rajput
Amber contains every ingredient to make it the classic romantic Rajasthan palace-fort. It was built by one raja and completed by another. Its forbidding, practical exterior belies a bejewelled interior whose richness reflects the nearby sumptuous court of the Mughal emperors.
The Kachchwaha story is a blend of myth, legend and history. For myth, there are the clan origins, which are traced to the sun. Then, the legends. One tells how, when the Kachchwahas took Amber from the Susawat Minas around 1150, the enemy infiltrated and persuaded them into drunkenness before butchering them wholesale. Then, historical reality. Once in power, the Kachchwahas kept Amber as their capital for six centuries and the loyal Minas became hereditary guards of their treasure. As for the city’s name, it may derive from Ambikishwara, a name for the god Shiva, or Amba Mata, goddess of earth and fertility, or, mundanely, from Ambarisha, king of Ayodhya. Also Visit – Same Day Agra Tour By Car
The romance of the setting easily gives credit to myth and fact. The view on arrival from Jaipur, through the narrow pass between the chits, is stage-set perfect. The stern, anonymous exterior of honey-coloured stone ramparts and terraces seems to grow out of the rugged hill. Defensive walls snake up the hills on all sides. Jaigarh Fort hovers like a fiercely protective eagle on the hill above. All is reflected in Maota Lake in the foreground, where fanners wash and cool their beloved buffalo, and white cranes stand decoratively by the shore. To complete the set, an elephant may plod along the road with a young mahout on top, its huge ears flapping, and a packed lunch of grasses rolled up in its trunk.
At the fort base, through an arch on the right, the elephants find their mates in their special elephant cafe. Their jobs are well organized. more than 40 elephants work in strict rotation, each a paid-up member of one of the three elephant unions controlled by the Rajasthan government. Swaying their beautiful huge grey bodies from side to side, they relax and chew grass between shifts of plodding up the long hill to the fort, carrying visitors feverish with excitement at riding an elephant and playing the maharaja.
Before taking the trip, drop into the little Archaeological Museum (Greek coins, fragments of Ashoka pillars, etc) set amid bougainvillea-draped trees and the well-restored, formal Dilaram Gardens; both are charming. And sometimes it is possible to hire a boat to go out onto the lake, if themonsoon has been generous and the boatmen are about.
The natural advantages of the site become more obvious up near Jai pot (victory gate), where increasingly spectacular views of the gorge and the hills are interrupted by malicious monkeys jumping about the battlements and a local serenading each arrival on his ravanhatha, a sort of lute. The east-facing gate is also known as Surya Pol (sun gate), a convenient reminder of the celestial origins of the Kachchwahas. It opens into Jaleb Chowk, a large courtyard added by Jai Singh II in the eighteenth century. There, a chaatwallah invariably squats amid ordered piles of saffron-yellow spicy snacks, flower-beds fill the centre and, on the right, local craft shops have steps between them up to rooftop views. Also Visit – Delhi Sightseeing Tour by Car
Straight ahead are the elephant steps where more cautious visitors can take short rides around the courtyard. To the left of them, behind the cafe and newer shops, there is a wide balcony. From here you can look down on the abandoned-looking Kadmi Palace, where the chieftains lived before this fort was built. Old mansions and temples cluster around it; Jaigarh Fort towers above.
Amber fortunes took off when Akbar, cutting across Kachchwaha territory on his first pilgrimage to Ajmer in January 1562, summoned Raja Bihar Mal (ruled c 1548-74) and his whole family to attend the royal camp. The Rajput’s daughter became the Mughal’s wife and his adopted grandson, Man Singh, went into Mughal service. The next chief, Bhagwan Das (ruled 1574-89), continued to cement the relationship, marrying his daughter to Akbar’s son, Salim (Jahangir) at Fatehpur Sikri in 1585—their child was Khusrau. In his survey of Rajasthan published in 1832, James Tod deems this to have ‘sullied Rajput purity by matrimonial alliance with the Islamite… and the fruit of the marriage was the unfortunate Khusroo’. But his praise for Man Singh, `the most brilliant character of Akbar’s court’, knows no bounds. By the time Man Singh I (ruled 1589-1614) came to the throne, his Mughal military triumphs had reaped their reward. Coffers overflowed with booty and he ambitiously decided on building a new fort, inspired by the grand Mughal court.
Man Singh began his project around 1592, the renovation of protective Jaigarh Fort above and the building of a new palace here, called Raj Mahal—he also built several nearby Hindu temples. His descendant Jai Singh I (ruled 1621-67) added the most refined buildings (the visitor encounters these first) and completed the embellishments. Although from the exterior the palace seems to ramble over the hill, the interior layout was given a new order, the formal gardens and rich decoration all influenced to an extent by Mughal styles. Among hilltop forts. It ranks second only to Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh. And according to historian Percy Brown among Rajput ions it rivals ‘even Akbar’s deserted pavilions at Fatehpur Sikri in the richness of its architecture. Also Visit – Delhi Jaipur and Agra with Fatehpur Sikri Tour
Singh Pol (lion gate) is the principal entrance. But a detour up the steps to the right of it provides a little action to help bnng the palace to life. Here sweet smells of incense and coconut announce the Shila Devi or Kali Mata Mandir (Kali temple), the most sacred of all Kachchwaha family shrines and the only corner of state-owned Amber to remain in royal Jaipur hands today. Built by Man Singh I in 1604, it is dedicated to Silas Mata, one of the forms of Kali, the goddess of war who was revered by this soldiering people.
It is very much a living temple. Drummers and trumpets sound for the regular pujas. Inside, among the green marble pillars carved to imitate palm trees, the faithful come to ring the ceiling bell and offer sweets, coconuts and flowers to the deity’s image which Man Singh carried back from Jessore after he conquered East Bengal as Akbar’s commander-in-chief. With the deity he brought a few Brahmin priests. One descendant was to be the architect of Jaipur; more recent ones look after the temple today. Neither the move to Jaipur nor passing time has affected the temple’s importance for the chieftains. The wife of Man Singh II, the last ruling Maharaja of Jaipur, gave the solid silver entrance doors in 1939 in thanks for his recovery from a plane crash. And although the goat sacrifice was no longer a daily practice, he would sometimes arrive in his Bentley to sacrifice a live goat to the goddess with his own hands. (Visitors should leave shoes. cameras and any leather outside the temple).
The arched, double gateway of Singh Pol leads up to another courtyard and the Diwan-i-Am (public audience hall). Of Jai Singh’s additions, this is the best: a thoroughly Mughal borrowing of double pillars, clusters of brackets, wide eaves and high perforated parapet, surely built by masons trained in the Akbari stable. Set at the far corner of the dazzling white terrace, the building had such finesse that, the story goes, news of it aroused Jahangir to jealousy, and Jai Singh slapped over some stucco before the emperor’s commissioners arrived to see if the successful Rajput was becoming a danger.
The magnificent Ganesh Pol (c 1640, elephant gate) is Jai Singh’s ceremonial gate and also forms the facade and entrance to the private palace apartments. Its burst of colour, added in the eighteenth century, seems even brighter under the fierce Rajasthan sun. Both structure and decoration are Mughal-inspired, but adapted to the more exuberant taste and exotic requirements of the Hindu ruler. To the Mughal foundation has been added extra arches and a bizarre decorative scheme (apparently inspired by Mughal tile-work) of glass mosaic, floral tempera paintings and pictures of gods. Over the doorway sits protective Ganesh, the elephant-headed Hindu god of learning and good fortune. Above, from the Sohag Mandir chamber, the palace ladies could peek through the jali screens to watch the splendour of court pageantry. Also Visit – Golden Triangle Travel Package
Inside the third court, also built by Jai Singh 1, the geometric formality of the sunken garden is pure Mughal. Overlooking it, the Sukh Niwas (hail of pleasure) to the right is where the royals and courtesans came to find refuge from the heat, listing to the soothing sounds of water from a rooftop cistern tinkling down over the black and white marble cascades, and enjoying the fresh air cooled by water running through the hall and the cool colours of the ivory-encrusted doors. On the way back to Ganesh Pol, the room to the left of the gate delightful wall-paintings.
Jai Mahal, the place containing Jai Singh’s private apartments, overlooks the other end of the garden. Here Mughal and Hindu style find their ultimate refinement, probably the best in any Rajasthan palace. Motifs are perfectly balanced: elegant green cypresses contrast with tiny flowers; larger areas are painted with favourite Rajput scenes of hunting and War. Colours are soft greens, pinks, blues and yellows. Walls were rendered perfectly smooth with a mixture of powdered marble, egg shells and pearls for the final coat. Precious stones and mirrors are set into the plaster but gaudiness, so often the criticism of Rajput decorations, is absent. There are even marble panels of floral relief which seem to have been plucked from a Mughal building. To complete the scheme, the niches were filled with vases of flowers, Hindu deities and oil lamps which added sparkle to the mirror-work. While in these rooms you may spot a tiny thin old man, Gopal Lai, who has been restonng the traditional gold and silver minor-work at Amber for ten years, with plenty of work yet to be done.
The Jai Mahal (victory hall) is on the ground floor. The scalloped, shade-giving arches of the gallery are decorated with flowers and butterflies. It surrounds a room whose walls and ceiling are coated with marble and mirror-work, except where they leave space for dancing Knshna and Radha. It seems there could be nothing richer. But when the watchman shows you into the Sheesh Mahal (hall of minors), a tiny room off to the left, then closes the doors and lights a match and swirls it about, it is like being inside a vast twinkling diamond. Narrow steps in the courtyard wall lead up to the Jas Mandir (hall of glory), Jai Singh’s private apartment, remarkable for its fine alabaster jali screens set at ground level, so reclining royals could catch every little breeze and soothe their dusty-hot eyes with views of Maota Lake below. For royal comfort, rooms around the court include a marble-lined hamam (bath) and a dining-room.
Back towards Jaleb Chowk, an open corridor leads to a rooftop entertainment hall. In the cool of the evening the maharaja sat on his stone throne between picturesque pavilions to watch his ladies dancing on the central platform, with Jaigarh Fort as backdrop. Before leaving this area, it is worth going round to the top of Ganesh Pol to enjoy more fine jali screens and a ladies’-eye view of the Diwan-i-Am.
Man Singh’s older buildings surround a fourth court found along narrow passages leading from the garden court. They have a bold simplicity. This labyrinth of decaying, atmospheric minor palaces, zenana apartments, courtyards, terraces and gardens, is well worth exploring. Man Singh’s wives each had separate rooms (the odd Krishna and Radha mural survives) opening on to a large courtyard, which is not too difficult to find. Also Visit – Golden Triangle with Shimla Tour
If energy holds, a pleasant way to leave the fort is by the back door. (Alternatively, if you have real energy, leave by Jai Pol and stride 1.5 kilometres, or about a mile, up to the Awani Gate of Jaigarh Fort. In Jaleb
Chowk, near the balcony overlooking Kadmi Palace, a path leads down past temples including Sri Jagat Saromangi, built by Man Singh in memory of his eldest son, with sturdy stone elephants guarding its marble gateway and the sacred bird Garuda over the entrance indicating its dedication to Vishnu. Down past the Amber rulers’ tombs, a right turn leads past ancient painted mansions and temples of old Amber to the village centre. Turning left on to the road out to Delhi, then left again after the triple-domed mosque built by Akbar, you can clamber up the outer fort walls. A little further along the road, the tiny, open-fronted workshops on the right are busy with craftsmen cutting and polishing semi-precious stones, using the simple tools of wheel and water. Near them and beside a lofty old gateway (found with a little local guidance from the children), the steep but more regular steps of further stretches of the fort wall have look-out posts for pauses and provide even better views. The Amber royal chhatris are two minutes’ walk beyond the gate. Back where the tourist buses stop, a shop across the main road sells highly original fabrics and clothes designed by Surya Singh and his French wife Brigitte.
Swan Tours - Blogs 