Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum
The City Palace stands in the centre of the geometric grid which was Jaipur’s Old Town. It’s a complex of pink-and-white palaces built in 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh, and is today partly occupied by the royal family, and partly a museum -- the excellent Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum, established in 1959 as the Maharaja of Jaipur Museum, but renamed in 1970.
We entered the City Palace through the Tripolia Gate, although there’s another gate called Jaleb Chowk. Inside, the palace’s divided into three galleries -- I liked the Textiles and Costumes Gallery in the Mubarak Mahal best. The modestly-sized Mubarak Mahal, designed by Sir Swinton Jacob, is two-storied, with a pretty balcony of white marble. The upper storey is where the museum’s housed -- all glass cabinets, well-labelled and well-maintained. The collection of royal costumes includes fabulously ornate apparel -- such treasures as a jama (a long flared tunic) with 250 kalis (separate seams that make up the flares of the jama); chogas (coats); angarkhas (long tunics which button up along one side), pajamas, headgear for cows (!- all those beaded embroidered masks cows wear at fairs)); and saris. There are also some fine examples of an atamsukh (oversized winter wear for men, which looked more like a smallish quilt to me), ghagras or flared skirts, odhnis (voluminous veils) and more.
There’s more stuff too -- a smart chess set laid out in regal surroundings, with a hubble-bubble, a crystal decanter and bolsters. There are gold-embroidered platter-covers; embroidered shawls, turbans, and a tableau of fully-adorned life-size mannequins depicting a queen being attended by maids. On a different track, there’s a display of the polo habits of Jaipur’s maharajas (they prided themselves on being great polo players: between 1930 and 1938, the Jaipur polo team, headed by Maharaja Man Singh, won all the open tournaments in India and the UK).
The Sileh Khana (Armoury) is the next gallery -- a collection of martial artefacts. This race being one of warriors, there’s loads around, from paintings of battles and army formations, to howdahs, gunpowder flasks, pistols, flintlocks, swords, daggers, armour, battleaxes, and more. All well-labelled and good, but we got a bit bored. Before you leave, look up at the ceilings -- they’re beautifully ornamented with paint and mirrorwork.
The third gallery’s the Art Gallery, in the Diwan-e-Khas (the Hall of Private Audience). It’s an outdoor pavilion, all peachy-pink and pretty white arabesques. A few palanquins and sedan chairs stand here -- but the highlights are two huge gangajalis (containers specially made to hold Ganges water). Each stands 5''''3" and has a capacity of 900 lt -- making them the single largest pieces of silver in the world. The two urns were made especially for Maharaja Madho Singh II, for his tour of Britain in 1902; an orthodox Hindu, he refused to partake of any water other than that from the sacred Ganges!
On the whole, a museum you must check out!
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