Thikana Govind Dev Ji

Govind Dev Ji’s Temple is situated in the City Palace Complex itself. Legend has it that Lord Krishna came in  Sawi Jai Singh Ji’s dream and asked to have His idol installed there.The Kachawa rulers of Jaipur have always maintained that the real ruler of Jaipur is Govind Dev ji and they  just Diwans. So the Lord Krishna got his wish.

The idol of Govind Dev Ji was originally installed in Vrindaban by Maharaja Man Singh Ji but was taken in hiding due to a threat from Aurangzeb’s armies. 45 years later,in 1714, Sawai Jai Singh Ji installed the idol in Kanak Vridaban and later on in the present day City Palace.

Open to general public the temple is thronged from early morning every day. People come from all over for a darshan regularly.All hindu festivals are celebrated with great zeal  at the temple.That is why the temple administration saw a need for a covered area where 5000 people could sit for satsang at a time.

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The Govind Dev ji Trust commissioned the State Road Development Corporation with the responsibility of building the new satsang bhawan. The corporation in turn commissioned Jaipur’s noted structural engineer Deepak Sogani to do the needful.Mr Sogani used the latest technology of post tensioning (PT) to cast a single span roof  of 118 feet length and 124 feet width.This architectural feat has been  included in the Guinness Book of Records. One more wonder to visit in Jaipur on your next visit don’t you think?

The Monsoon Ride To Bhangarh

Western Motor Sports Logo

 

Western Motor Sports,Jaipur, organized a motor rally from Jaipur to Bhangarh and back on the same day.The distance covered was 220 Km. ( all metalled road except for a patch of 1.5 km track  of  gravel). Held on 5 th July 2009 the rally was aptly named The Monsoon Ride.The Pink City Restaurant opposite Jal Mahal,on Amber Road,Jaipur was the flag off point.

The Rally based on the format of Time ,Speed and Distance  took the partisipants  through the scenic Aravalies and touched base at Bhangarh- A historical site of note-said to be haunted.

Western Motorsports are a group of  motor sports enthusiasts who are  veterans of Indian Rallies like Maruti Suzuki Raid de the Himalayas and Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm.They formed Western Motorsports so that common motor enthusiast  could take part in professionally conducted events.The President,Anukraman Singh,  is well versed in conducting such events.In September 2009 they conducted 2000 km 5 day  TSD event by the name of Indian Motor Car Rally which was a great success.

Almost every Sunday Western Motorsports conducts OTR ( off the road) to explore new areas and to teach the budding Motorsports enthusiast techniques by  the vetrans.
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Local Perfumes Of Jaipur

Recently Boucheron launched a perfume  called ” Jaipur”.You would think that was the only association Jaipur had with perfumes. But do you know local perfumeries have been making variety of local  perfume or Itr for the use of the Royal family of Jaipur for years now. It might be a   dying art due to easy availability of cheap deodorants and western perfumes but in its hey day Kings proposed their love for their Queens by offering these perfumes.

Naturally made from Rose petals ,Sandal wood etc. by a recipe handed down from one generation to next  there is a different Itr for different seasons of the year. They can even reproduce the smell   first rains of monsoons produce when they wet the parched land of  Rajasthan. This perfume is also used to stop a nosebleed.

Now a days Itr is not commonly  used. But people use itr  sometimes  to   perfume the stage on which the bride and groom are going to sit during the reception to receive their guests. Sometimes they use Itr on religious festivals to perfume temples etc.

A Deer Park In Jaipur

 

Spring Fight At The Dear Park In Jaipur

The Forest Department’s Ashok Vihar Deer Park, is spread on a parcel of  land two and a half hectares in area. It is located in the heart of the city,in the C-Scheme Colony. It is not a big park but it has given good cheer to many a local child  and  children visiting Jaipur.Recently due to lack of space in the Park  and insufficient fodder and ever increasing numbers of chitals  a dozen deers were realesed in the Jhalana Forest Area and some were sent to the Kaila Devi Forest Park in Karauli. Though the Forest Department looks after the Park the food for the deer comes from the Jaipur Zoo.Far from the crowds and ever present traffic  this is one more place for a peaceful morning walk in Jaipur.

 

Jantar Mantar

Built in 1827 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh Ji and  situated in the present day City Palace Complex  this Astronomical  Observatory’s instuments are  made with stone, marble and masonry and  consequently were so accurate that Sawai Jai Singh Ji was able to find errors in the   astronomical tables then in use.Sawai Jai Singh Ji published his own tables in 1723. There are 18 instruments in the Observatory.The largest instrument is the Samrat Yantra.It is a Sun Dial.It is 89 feet high and 148 feet wide and can find the local time with an  error of only a couple of seconds.It is in use till date.Samrat Yantra is used on the full moon night of guru poornima to find out when the monsoon is going to set in and how plentiful it will  be.

Due to the efforts of UNESCO and Archaeological Survey of India, Jaipur Jantar Mantar, has  become  the second World Heritage Site from Rajassthan.In 1985 Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur,had joined the World Heritage Sites list.

Places To Visit Near Jaipur-A list

When you are in Jaipur you see all the popular places ,monuments , gardens, palaces,forts which are in or very near Jaipur but miss the places a little out of town but surely worth a visit.This is an effort to list  such places.This list  should also be useful to the people of Jaipur looking for a weekend break near the city.

Sanganer

16 km from Jaipur off the Tonk road this  town is famous for the hand made paper and block printing with vegetable dyes.

Jaisinghpura Khor

12 km from Jaipur on the Amber road,a meena village,it has a fort,a stepwell and a jain temple.

Shahpura near Bhilwara

220 km from Jaipur this town is famous for Pabuji ki Phad paintings made till this day by the Joshi’s  and a stepwell and  Ramdwara temple.

Bagru

35 km from Jaipur on the Jaipur-Ajmer highway this village is famous for hand block printing with vegetable dyes ( Bagru Print) and a fort.

Jamwa  Ramgarh

32 km from Jaipur this village was known for an artificial lake once spread over an area of 20 km.It used to be  a very popular picnic spot during the rainy season.

Samode

40 km from Jaipur this village has a fort which has been converted into a Palace hotel.This palaces is well worth a visit with lunch at the fort.  M.M.Kaye’s Far Pavilions was shot here extensively.

Bhandarej

Bhangarh

Abhaneri

Mehndipur Balaji

lalsot

Sikandra

Kuchaman

142 km from Jaipur this village had the distinction of being on the silk route.Sambhar is 60 km from here.It has a famous fort on a hillock.

Sambhar

94 km from Jaipur it has the biggest inland salt lake and the holy Devyani tank and the palace.

Pushkar

Sawaimadhopur

The Ranthambore National Park covering 329 km  comes under Project Tiger.

Bharatpur

176 km from jaipur- a Jat kingdom-is an ancient city and was part of the Matsy kingdom around 1500 B.C.The impressive Lohagarh fort was built around 18th century by Raja Surajmal  and definitely worth a visit.

Keoladeo Ghana National Park once a hunting preserve of the royalty was declared a sanctuary in 1956 and a national preserve in 1982.Now it is  a world heritage sight.over 400 species of birds have been sighted here.Open all year round from 6 am to 6 pm.Mode of transport inside the sanctuary are bi-cycle,boat and cycle rickshaws.

Bairath (Viratnagar)

86 km from Jaipur on Alwar-Shahpura road in this ancient village relics from Mauryan, Mughal and Rajput periods have been found.Remains of  Budhist monastraies built by the Emperor Ashok have been excavated here.Parswanath a Jain temple is nearby.Legend has it that Pandavas  spent a year here.

Pachewar

90 km from Jaipur on Malpura Road in Tonk District is this 300 year old fort of Khangarot-Kachawa rajputs.

Pachar

85 km from Jaipur via Renwal is the village of Pachar.Famous for its fort and Jain Mandir.

Salasar Balaji

Khatu Shyam Ji

Kota

249 km from Jaipur settled  on the banks of river Chambal ,famous for Kota Stone and Kota Doria Saris.

Mahaveer ji

The temple  to Mahaveerji was built at the spot where a statue of shri Mahaveerji was discovered by a cow herds man.A big fair is held every year in the month of March.

Neemrana

Almost midway on the Jaipur-Delhi Highway in the lap of the ancient Aravali range lies the vanquished kingdom of Nimola Meo-who when defeated by the Chauhans took an oath from them to name the kingdom after him.Sensitively refurbished to its old glory the fort has been converted into a world famous non-hotels.Definitely worth your time.There is a stepwell nearby to sight see besides the fort.For activities they provide Zipping-flying  supported by cables.

Karauli

Founded some 500 years ago as Kalyanpuri ,Karauli is famous for an annual  cattle fair held in February,  and the temples of Kaila Devi and Madan Mohan Ji and  the Bhanwar Vilas Palace,now a heritage hotel,built in 1938 by Maharaja Ganesh Pal Dev Bahadur.There is also the Kaila Devi  game sanctuary.It is spread over 25 kms and is part of the Ranthambore Game Preserve.

Tonk

110 km from Jaipur on the NH 12 Nawab Ameer Khan settled the modern Tonk.Places of interest are the Sunehri Kothi,inlaid with magnificient mirror work (Closed on Sundays) and the Arabic and Persian Research Institute ( 01432-247389).Tonk also produces high quality Namdha.20 km from Tonk is   Natwara Fort of Karnot Rathores.

Kanota

15 km from Jaipur on Jaipur Agra High way Kanota Fort houses a Museum  and a library with rare books.

Rajmahal Palace in rajmahal village on the banks of the Banas river at the foot hills of the Aravalies was built by Rai Singh Sisodia some 350 years ago is being run by the Kanota family as a Palace Hotel.

Bundi

210 km from Jaipur Boondi was founded  in 1342 by  Rao Deva Hada    as the capital of his Hadoti kingdom.

Isar Lat

Sargasooli,Victory Tower,Isar Lat,Jaipur,Rajasthan

The Victory Tower known as Isar Lat or Sargasooli or Vijay Stambh was built by Sawai Ishwari Singh Ji in 1749 to celebrate  his many victories in wars.It over looks the Tripolia Bazar and the Atish Market.Tourists are welcome to climb this tower  by paying a small  entrance fee.It is an easy  climb up to the  top of this seven story tower.It has been recently renovated by an expence of about 20 lac rupees.

Vipassana

In 1977, Dhamma Thali,The Jaipur Vipassana Centre ,was established in a hall. It was located near the Sisodia Rani Ka Bagh on the way to Galtaji.Today it has a hundred halls and is situated on a parcel of land measuring about six and a half hectares.

Vipassana meditation was discovered 2500 years ago by Bhagwan Budhha.For years it was practiced all over India.But it disappeared over the years.There is mention of this technique of meditation in the vedas .In Burma, todays Myanmar, Vipassana was taught in its pure form by the guru shisya method of teaching.Shriman Satya Narayan Goenka was taught the technique for 14 years in Mayanmar by Acahary U Ba Khin before he came to India to teach Vipassana in 1969.

Today there are about 40 centres in India and some 40 more abroad where Vipassana is being taught.All activities of the centres are managed purely by donations .

On 29th August 2000, Shriman S.N.Goenka addressed the Millennium World Peace Summit in the UN General Assembly Hall. Vipassana is a way of life taught by Bhagwan Buddha.It is not a religion.Silence of body soul and mind plays a big role in its practice. Looking to the fast paced life of today the centre teaches 10 day cources to beginners.People from all walks of life from all parts of world come here to be taught the Vipassana way of meditation.

Global Cook Book-1

Anybody who writes any thing has dreams of being published.So when I got a mailer from Fuel My Blog about their Christmas project of publishing a cook book  representing recipes from around the world of local delicacies Fuel My Blog Community members eat at their homes in their daily lives I started plotting about submitting my fish curry recipe. It was already posted on my Blog.What I needed was a good photograph of the prepared curry.So I prepared the dish just as stated in the Post and requested my brother ,Tajendra, to take a picture of the prepared Curry. And mailed it to the Fuel My Blog.And to my surprise they included it in the recipe book.This is where I thank them wholeheartedly.The reason for the numeral ‘one’ in the  title of this post is that I wish them all success in publishing other Global Cook Books with numerals ending at 101 if at all.
A Fish Curry Recipe From Jaipur,India

They have self published the book using cutting edge technology provided by the website Blurb and possible because of the Internet & Computers.

Take a look.Tell the world  how they have done in your opinion. If you decide to buy remember they are supporting Stop Hunger, a  charity .And if you would like to  publish some material in whatever numbers then consider Blurb.
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Horn Please!

HORN PLEASE!

This time around when you are following a vehicle which urges you to do just that on its bumper-do not press the horn button.Just follow him at his speed.There is no where to go.Have you noticed there is traffic all around you.You can not escape it.You can not beat it to your home/office.Go with the flow.I can make a bet with you now if you do that you will not be frustrated or full of rage waiting to explode at the most slightest trigger.In jaipur of today on a week day you can not safely drive fast to your destination.It can not be done.If you do try it you will make a lot of noise by accelarateing your vehicle’s engine and honking the horn and overtaking on the wrong side.In today’s Jaipur nobody needs it.

From this month, Jaipur is going to celebrate a no honking day on one Sunday every month.There is a big need too because the noise pollution levels in the busiest areas are much higher than 50 decibels assumed for a pollution free environment.New Delhi and Kolkatta are already trying out this one day a month of silence to educate the populace in that unending stream of traffic.

There was also talk of banning music in the vehicles.Ban loud music from a deck or CD/DVD player but in my opinion the vehicle driver needs the FM radio when he is stuck in an unending traffic jam/commute.