Jaipur to Delhi January 26th

Woke up in Jaipur after a visit to Galta Ji yesterday afternoon.

http://www.jaipur-travel-guide.com/Jaipur-attractions/Galta-Ji-Jaipur-monkey-temple.html

One thing about me doing this tour as a local I have no idea what is next on the agenda.  I knew I was heading to Jaipur and I was not interested in riding the elephant. Knowing it was a long drive back to Delhi I figured we would see the city a bit and hit the road.  Little did I know what was next.  Jaipur is two cities with total population of about four million.  As I started to jump in the car i noticed Pradeep in my seat.

Pink City in Jaipur refers to the old walled city that was built in the year 1727 by Maharaja Jai Singh II. The wall that marks the boundary of the Pink City is about six metres high and three metres thick and encompasses a number of structures within its confines. In keeping with the magnificence of the structure, there are seven different gates that provide access to the Old City, namely Chand Pol, Suraj Pol, Ajmeri Gate, New Gate, Sanganeri Gate, Ghat Gate, Samrat Gate and Zorawar Singh Gate. Built about 275 years ago, today it presents the glorious past of our country through its culture and architecture.

Maharaja Jai Singh II was a mathematician and a great astronomer.  He built the world’s largest sundial.  The Samrat Yantra is a huge sundial. It can be used to estimate the local time, to locate the polar star, and to measure the declination of celestial objects. The Rama Yantra can be used to measure the altitude and azimuth of celestial objects. The Shanku Yantra can be used to measure the latitude of the place.His fist was accurate up to 20 seconds. But that was not good enough so he built a second one.  Both pictured here.  He was a strong believer in astrology which helped him greatly in battle.

He took arms against his enemies as the astrological clock said it would be the right time for victory.  Pardeed told me he never lost a battle.  The bottom picture is the Zodiac sign Cancer.  In seeing what the stars have in mind for your life Jai and his followers broke down not just the month or day that you were born, but down to a 20 minute period of time.  This was the structure used for that measurement.  Of course there a 12 here one for each sign. 

One other stop was a look at the Jal Mahal the Water Temple.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jal_Mahal

Oh Yea, food has been great also.  Looking forward to Hyderabad where it is said that best meal in the world is that of Hyderabad Bryani.

https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Hyderabadi-Biryani-so-famous-in-India-and-the-world-over