Today the day woke up wet, the first drops of rain fell during the night but now it’s not raining and I started my day with a walk in Central Park. Luckily I took my raincoat, because a downpour came just as I was getting there, and I was lucky it was only about 15 min and I managed to shelter during that time.
Then I went to the Birla Mandir Temple and the Ekalingeshwar Mahadev Temple, which is at the top of a hill and is believed to be older than the city of Jaipur itself and usually only opens on Mahashivratri, which is a holiday in honour of the god Shiva.
Next I went to the Albert Museum, which I visited and which brings together a collection of artefacts telling part of the history of Rajasthan.
The Pagri (turban) was the most important part of medieval dress, varying in style, colour and size, and could be up to 25 metres long, indicating social class, caste, region and occasion, being functional and culturally significant.
The caste system in India is an age-old form of rigid, hereditary social stratification, based on Hinduism, which divides society into hierarchical groups (varnas) according to karma and dharma. More than 3000 years old, it determines social status, occupation and marriage, with no social mobility. Although discriminatory and now illegal in the country, the system still persists in culture and everyday life.
Then I wandered through the Johari and Bapu bazaars and the area around the City Palace and the Hawa Mahal or Palace of Winds, which has almost 1000 windows, built so that the women of the Maharaja’s family could observe the city without being seen. That must be how nosy gossip about other people’s lives was born. 😁
In the evening I walked from my hotel to the top of Nahargarh Fort, a 2 km climb, to watch the sunset, which I couldn’t see because of the huge amount of dust in the air, and not even the rain helped clear the air a bit.
I ended up having dinner up there at Restaurant Padao to say goodbye to Jaipur and ended up watching the city lights come on from Nahargarh Fort.