Jaipur

Jaipur

Jaipur (jīˈpo͝or), former native state, W India. It is now part of Rajasthan state. The region of Jaipur is semiarid and mostly level, with scattered rocky hills. Despite light rainfall, fair crops of corn, millet, and cotton are raised. Marble, copper, beryllium, and other minerals are mined, and cotton, woolen cloth, and metal products are manufactured. Jaipur was founded in the 12th cent. by the Kachwaha clan of the Rajputs. It became (c.1550) a feudatory of the Mughal empire. In 1818, Great Britain exacted a treaty providing for an annual tribute. Jaipur, city (1991 pop. 1,518,235), capital of Rajasthan, was founded in 1728. Known as the pink city from the color of its houses, it is a transportation junction and a commercial center. It is enclosed by a crenellated wall 20 ft (6 m) high. An unusual feature for an Indian city of this size are the wide, regular streets. The grounds of the former maharaja's palace occupy one seventh of the municipal area. Among Jaipur's famed art products are jewelry, enamels, and muslins. Its industries include metalworking, engineering, and manufactures in beer, glass, carpets, hosiery, shoes, blankets, and chemicals. Rajasthan Univ. is there. Jaipur has a large banking business. The deserted city of Amber, which was the capital of Jaipur state until 1728, is 5 mi (8 km) from Jaipur. The palace there is a fine example of Rajput architecture.

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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Jaipur

 

a city in northwestern India, in the semidesert outskirts of the Malwa Plateau; administrative center of the state of Rajasthan. Population, 613,400 (1971). A commerce and transportation junction, Jaipur is the most important economic and cultural center in the state. It has cotton, leather footwear, ceramics, and food industries and railroad and automotive repair shops. Jaipur’s cottage industries produce goods made from cloth with silver and gold ornamentation, as well as marble, ivory, and metal goods. The city is a tourist center and the site of a university.

Jaipur, founded in 1728, is a walled city divided into blocks, by streets which run east-to-west and north-to-south. An 18th-century palace complex with gardens, pools, and fountains, the Palace of Chandra Mahal (including the maharajah of Jaipur’s art museum), the Jantar Mantar Observatory, and the Palace of Hawa Mahal (the Hall of Winds, 1751-68) occupy central Jaipur. The city’s new section, with hotels, movie theaters, shops, a school of arts and crafts, and a park, was built south of the city walls during the 19th and 20th centuries.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Jaipur

a city of great beauty in N India, capital of Rajasthan state: University of Rajasthan (1947). Pop.: 2 324 319 (2001)

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005