Founder of Jaipur - Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh

Jaipur, the capital of the state Rajasthan is named after its founder Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II. Jai Singh belonged to the Kachhawaha clan of Rajputs. They claimed to be Suryavanshi, descendents of the Sun God. Jai Singh was the 28th Kachhawaha ruler who ascended the throne at the young age of 13. He distinguished himself early for his cool courage and mature graph of the politics of that turbulent period. A man of vision, he proved to be an able statesman and administrator. The Kachhawahas ruled from Amber, a rockbound stronghold nestled among the Aravallis. It was abandoned when Maharaja Jai Singh built his new capital at Jaipur. Long before he died at the age of 56, Jai singh had made Jaipur one of the most important states in Rajasthan both in area and prosperity.

He was born in 1686 A.D.and ascended the throne of Amber in 1699 A.D. He founded Jaipur in the year 1727 A.D. He shifted his capital from Amber to Jaipur to solve the problem of growing population and scarcity of water. The search of safe place to eradicate the crisis resulted in the foundation of Jaipur To plan the city he appointed a brilliant architect from Bengal, Vidhyadhar Bhattacharya, who designed it in accordance to Shilpa Shastra (Vaastu). It happened around that time when Aurangazeb, the Mughal Emperor, died and the decline of Mughal Empire had set in. At this time he started giving more attention towards his state and started segregating himself from the affair of Mughal Court. Taking the advantage of this opportunity he planned his new capital in the planes. Jaipur is also considered as the first planned city of the country. It is the result of collaborate efforts of Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh’s science and astrology and Vidhyadhar Bhattacharya. . Jaipur became a learning center in his time.

Besides this he was also a great warrior and astronomer. Jai Singh has shown his deep interest and devotion to astronomical work since his childhood. He obtained a thorough knowledge of its principles and rules with its constant study. He studied Hindu, Muslim and European methods impartially rather sticking to any one method. He even sent his certain assistants to Europe to get books and information. Thus he attained mastery over the subject. In addition to this he also established many large astronomical observatories at five principal cities of India. They are Jaipur, Ujjain, Benares, Delhi and Mathura. Through these schemes of scientific research he set up a notable example that has its influence till now. After contributing a lot for the progress, Maharaja Jai Singh died in 1734. After his death, nine successive rulers occupied the Jaipur throne until 1948, when Jaipur was merged with other Rajput states to form the state of Rajasthan of the Indian Union.

Jaipur is also known as pink city due to extensive use of pink plastered stones in the buildings. Jaipur is a famous tourist destination in the state because till now, in this modern also era it has maintained its rich historical past. The royal zeal of the city could be observed through its ancient monuments, temples, massive forts and magnificent palaces, that indicate the life style, culture, history and food of ancient time.Some of the forts that were built by him are Jaigarh fort, Nahargarh fort, City Palace and many other. Thus to visit Jaipur and view such a wonderful attractions is a great delight.