Delhi Agra Jaipur Luxury Tours

Delhi Agra Jaipur Luxury Tour Packages

A Tale of Three Cities

Travelling in India is now easier but perhaps a little less exciting than it was in earlier centuries. The modern tourist does not have the option of sailing up the Yamuna and seeing the Taj Mahal glowing against an unpolluted sky, or the dreaming domes of the jama Masjid beyond the walls of Delhi's Red Fort which at one time bordered the river. They can no longer arrive in Jaipur on camel back and see the skyline of the old city or the silhouette of Amber fort. Further back in time, watchmen must have raised the alarm as they saw the distant clouds of dust that warned of an invading army from Afghanistan or Persia. Jaipur had been less vulnerable than Delhi or Agra, for the expanse of desert to the west was a more effective defence than stone ramparts. More recent invasions include the thousands of refugees at the time of Partition, Rajasthani villagers escaping drought in the countryside, and the tourists, who are assailed by crowded, exuberant cityscapes where the architecture and lifestyles of the past jostle with the present. Delhi Agra Jaipur Tour Packages…

Delhi Luxury Tours … In present-day Delhi, Agra and Jaipur are embedded many older towns — that of the Tughlaqs (Tughlaqabad), of Sikandar (Sikandara), of Akbar (Akbarabad — the Agra of Jahangir) and of Shahjahan (Shahjahanabad). Jaipur's walled city was laid out by Raja Jai Singh II of Amber, below the existing hill fort, and the city of the plain has now spread far beyond Jai Singh's city walls. For over eight centuries, the northern part of Rajasthan and the Ganga-Yamuna valley have had a shared history, so that these three cities carry within themselves memories of glory and conquest but happily also a thirst for the beautiful.

Historians of modern town-planning study blueprints and multi-coloured maps; it may come as a surprise to them that the Jaipur City Museum has many maps which show how the city was planned — over two and a half centuries ago. The town planning concepts of the Harappan civilisation in the 3rd millennium BC were transmitted through the centuries and written in the Silpa Sastras (The Art of Building). Later versions of this were used in planning the layout of Jaipur. The British extravaganza of New Delhi was designed by Lutyens also from Baroque models of an earlier century. Later in the modern capital of Punjab and Haryana commissioned by Jawarharlal Nehru and overseen by Le Courbusier, Chandigarh, we can see elements of Jaipur, and also of New Delhi — all three being interesting examples of the "open" city. In the later extensions built for Delhi and Jaipur, the organic links with the designs of Jai Singh and Lutyens are apparent.

In India it is common practice to have new streets or overbridges "inaugurated" by some suitably senior figure at a time convenient to the great personage. In 1648 the emperor Shahjahan presided at the beginnings of his Delhi: "On the night of Friday 25th Zi'l Hijja, in the twelfth year of his auspicious reign...being the time appointed by the astrologers, the foundations were marked out with the usual ceremonies". Jai Singh, likewise, must have bowed to the astrologers, but he is remembered for his fascination with *astronomy. He built observatories in many towns, and saw the Almighty as his suzerain, "the King of Kings...whose power the lofty orbs of Heaven are only a few leaves; and the stars...small pieces of money in the treasury of the empire of the Most High". Agra Luxury Tours…

The upward thrust of the Mewar plateau and the Great Indian Desert or the Thar separates the Indus valley from that of the Yamuna-Ganga. "Land divides and water unites"— how true this is of the cultural zones of northern India. Pontoon bridges (formed by upturned boats laid side by side), stone bridges and iron bridges have spanned rivers, but deserts are difficult to cross. On either side of the desert (known as maru in the Sanskrit texts of the Vedas and Mahabharata) were territories with names which clearly evoked local geography — Sind (from "Sindhu", the Indus), Punjab (panch five, ab, water: thus, "the land of the five rivers"), and the Doab (do, two, referring to the tracts watered by the Ganga and the Yamuna). The hills of Rajasthan are very ancient; many millennia ago they were a green and pleasant land. In early historic times the river Saraswati flowed here and joined the Indus, before disappearing underground to become a memory and to provide guessing-games for archaeologists. Brajbhumi, the region associated with Krishna, is the land beside the Yamuna, with its main centres at Mathura and Vrindaran, but it stretches fingers into Rajasthan as far as the shrine of Nathdwara. The temple there houses a celebrated image of the cowherd prince who became the King of Dwarka on the west coast, separated from the land of his childhood by the desert.

For centuries the towns on the Yamuna have been crossroads cities, where the road from the west coast to the Himalayas scissored that from Afghanistan to the Bay of Bengal. The lines of pack-animals carrying salt from the sea met those carrying wheat from the Punjab. Jewellery from Rajasthan and ivoryware from Delhi were exchanged tor Gujarat silk and Bengal , these Cities we cotton. When re the stable centres of prosperous kingdoms, families of substance — particularly the rulers — indulged a boundless appetite for the beautiful and the unusual, and weavers, carvers and painters busily refined their skills to meet their patrons' demands. Later, a less discriminating but large market developed in countries overseas; after Independence, the handicrafts revival movement helped sustain the crafts. Delhi Agra Jaipur Tour Packages…

Jaipur Luxury Tours… In the 17th century, European tourists —then called travellers — were exploring North India, marvelling at the forts and towns which made those of Europe seem puny. The armchair travellers back in Europe had read of the Mughal towns of Agra and Delhi; much later, Jaipur became known to them, when Colonel Tod in the 1830s surveyed the desert kingdoms and wrote three volumes of racy prose, combining myth and fact in a spellbinding narrative. The audacious rail-way construction programme which linked Delhi and Agra to Kolkata (Calcutta) and later to the west coast via Rajasthan brought tourists to the region that was officiallycalled Rajputana. For travellers in the late 19th century, Jaipur was attractive for another reason: Delhi and Agra had been two of the epicentres of the Revolt of 1857, during which the princes of Rajasthan had stood aside, "loyal" to the British. Their loyalty was rewarded: when Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress in 1877, these princes, along with many others, were designated as feudatories under British paramountcy, and the Maharaja of Jaipur was accorded a satisfactorily large number of gun salutes —the symbol of statehood. The Jaipur ruler was following a tradition of "accommodation". Descended from theKachchwahas who had established themselves in the desert in the 10th century and who claimed descent through Lord Rama from the sun, the Maharaja's ancestors had in the 16th century accepted Mughal suzerainty, and a Kachchwaha princess had married Emperor Akbar. The kings of Amber served as governors of the Mughals in Bengal and Afghanistan.

Jaipur was one of the most important urban centres of North India in the 18th century, much as Delhi had been in the 17th and Agra in the 16th centuries. It was an unusual city for Rajasthan, in that it was not a rugged fort, but one built on the plains -- symbolic of Raja Jai Singh's attitude of mind, which eagerly sought knowledge from all quarters. Halls of faceted mirrors sparkled in the palaces of all three cities and stylised floral designs danced through Rajasthani textiles, through jewelled pietra dura in the Taj Mahal and in bas-relief in sandstone in Delhi Fort. Jaipur rulers borrowed Mughal fashions and in periods of crisis in Delhi or Agra, court poets and artists fled to Jaipur or to Amber and were accorded patronage. The durbar of Jai Singh was what Fatehpur Sikri had been under Akbar, a magnificent centre of patronage for the arts. Delhi Agra Jaipur Tour Packages…

Jaipur itself did not suffer from Persian and Afghan invasions like Delhi, but the indifference of Jai Singh's successors led to the dispersal of the priceless library he had built. By the late 18th century, the three cities were being buffeted by the incursions of the swift-footed Maratha warriors from the southwest. Had the raiders been able to consolidate what they had gained for a few decades, there would in truth have been a Maharashtra (maha, great, rashtra, kingdom) over much of Rajasthan and the northern plain. But they were outmanoeuvred by the British armies moving up the Ganga valley from Calcutta. With military and diplomatic skills, the British established a firm line of control. One decisive battle in 1803 won them a swathe of territory which included both Agra and Delhi. From there, their eyes turned to Afghanistan and, therefore, to Sind and Punjab which lay in between. Rajasthan escaped a conquest and after the Revolt of 1857, the British came to an accommodation with the ruling Rajputs which averted this danger permanently, although keeping them well under British influence. Thus the rulers of Rajasthan had again done the impossible; retained their identity and established good relations with the sovereign power. Delhi Agra Jaipur Luxury Tour Packages…

The game of shifting capitals has been played since the 12th century. Delhi was Sultanate and Mughal capital, alternating with Agra, until 1857. The year after, it was "punished" by being made just another provincial town of Punjab; in 1911, in a surprise move, it was chosen as the capital of British India. Initially, Agra was capital of the Northwestern Provinces, but later had to yield its place to Allahabad which became the capital of the huge United Provinces. Jaipur was a Rajput state till after Independence, when it was selected as the capital of the new state of Rajasthan. Today, Delhi is a huge modern city and the political centre of the country, Jaipur is the gateway city of Rajasthan, and Agra a busy and crowded town with remnants of Mughal splendour nestling in it. Delhi Agra Jaipur Tours…

These cities take their pasts for granted, in a modern India of mind-boggling problems and a sense of hurry. All Indian cities have been growing in size and population in the last four decades. This explains the crowds fo and chaos which, for the first-time visitor, can be a disconcerting encounter. It also explains the land-hunger which leads to all available urban (including public) spaces being occupied or encroached upon. In the contemporary pandemonium of these three cities the legacy of their historic and beautifully crafted buildings, shines out all the more unexpectedly.

For more information on Delhi Agra Jaipur Luxury Tour Packages, Delhi Agra, Jaipur Tour Packages, Delhi Luxury Tours, Agra Luxury Tours, Jaipur Luxury Tours, Contact Swan Tours – one of the leading travel agents in India since 1995.

Delhi Agra Jaipur Luxury Tour

Delhi Agra Jaipur Luxury Tour - Explore a royal journey like never before in three most visited destinations of Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur in India. Book a luxury tour package covering three historical rich cities of Golden Triangle in India. Stay in the luxury of Oberoi hotels property while visiting the magnificent cities of Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur.

Discover three historical cities in India, Delhi, Agra and Jaipur Tour package, the beauty of pink city and Taj Mahal which is one of The 7 wonders of the world. Explore its lovely monuments and exciting markets. Excluded in the Agra Tours would be a voyage to the delightful Taj Mahal and several other Mughal structures and gardens that extract the city an old world attraction. Jaipur Tours also are ever pleasing for the city, however specifically modern, is full of striking palaces, towering forts and various temples, A Luxury Golden Triangle Tour is a great chance to view closely the cultural heritage of the country.