Jewels of the Jaipur court

Rajnish Wattas

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THE Pink City of Jaipur is the favourite of art lovers, antique collectors, architects, urban planners and tourists. Founded by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II in 1727, it was India’s first planned city based on the indigenous architectural principles of Vastu Shastra. The vast range of interests of its rulers made them patrons of artists, poets, artisans and scholars, encouraging them to settle there.

A visit to the City Palace not only awes you with its architecture and astronomical observatories, but also its magnificent art pieces displayed in the palace museum. ‘Masterpieces at the Jaipur Court’ is a narrative of its exquisite arts, artefacts, paintings, monuments and treasures. While previous books brought out by the museum covered one singular aspect of the collection, this presents a broad-based selection across all categories, as a whole.

From paintings, textiles, arms, armour, manuscripts and photographs and the fine buildings housing them, all are represented. The selections have been picked not only by the in-house curators, but also by several Indian and international scholars who contributed two-thirds of the entries in this volume, bringing a unique richness and diversity to the publication. “We wanted their individual voices, and passion for these objects to connect with our readers and visitors,” say the editors, Mrinalini Venkateswaran and Giles Tillotson.

For me, as an architect, the city maps, mathematical treatises and architectural drawings in the book are fascinating. Take, for instance, the maps of Agra and Surat that Jai Singh II asked his builders to study before embarking upon the layout of the new city. ‘The map of Agra, a watercolour on cotton fabric in 1725, is so detailed and a unique document with measurements given in gaz, the Mughal yard.’

Jai Singh’s obsession with understanding the heavens and planetary movements speaks of his cosmic interests. ‘The principal difficulty that he wanted to solve with the help of Philippe de Hire’s Tabulae Astronimicae was related to the moon.’ Sanskrit translations of Euclid’s ‘Elements’ and works of some French Jesuit scholars were commissioned. One of them, ‘Grahamadhyaamakriya’ or calculation of the mean eclipse rendered in 1735, is included in it.

Among the works of outstanding craftsmanship, both imported and by Indian artisans, is the dazzling array of custom-made arms, armour, textiles, historical and religious manuscripts, photographs and other objects. The rarest of the rare manuscript is the Persian classic ‘Mush u Garibh’, a parable for educating kids.

The Jaipur rulers were great devotees of Krishna. An eye-catching ritual object is the Jal Jhulani boat made in ‘wood, tectile, lacquer and gilding in the 19th century’. In Jaipur, Bhadrapad Ekadshi is celebrated with great fervour. “Paintings in the museum depict similar boats — one even shows Krishna leaving by an elephant-headed boat after a night of passion,” writes Aparna Andhare.

The rich collection preserved so meticulously by the royal court of Jaipur is exquisitely presented in this outstanding book.