Jaipur Foot

Jaipur Foot

Jaipur is a well-known name in the world of handicraft and architecture. Besides this Jaipur has given a marvelous gift to the amputee person in form of Jaipur foot and thus paved its strong foot in the medical field also. This foot has bought a new hope and dreams in the desolate world of amputees. Earlier it was customary to fit an artificial limb -prostheses to a lower limb amputee which was known as 'SACH' foot. This foot used to be developed in America. The full form of this foot is Solid Ankle -Cushioned Heel. But there were some limitations for the user of SACH foot.The Indian handicapped especially living in rural areas had to face them a lot. The main problems were -firstly its cost was beyond the reach of many people and a simple man can't afford to buy it. Secondly a shoe was needed to cover the SACH foot, but the rural people have a habit to walk barefoot at home and wear slippers outside the house. In many rural areas it is a custom also to not to wear shoe at home. Thus to meet the requirement of rural amputee people an orthopedic surgeon of Jaipur, Dr.Promod Karan Sethi made the efforts and developed the popular Jaipur Foot. Dr Sethi, with the help of some local artisans developed an artificial limb that is- prostheses. The main difference among the two foots was that the Jaipur Foot was flexible as it was made of vulcanized rubber. Thus it was easy for a patient to squat, sit cross-legged and even walk on uneven paths of villages. Besides this it exactly looked like a normal foot so it can be used without shoe or slippers even in muddy fields. The other important innovation was its shank. Dr.Sethi has replaced the wooden shank of previous foot with aluminium one. It was cheaper as well as more comfortable one. It is the portion of the leg above the ankle and the foot piece. Thus this foot opened a new window for the handicapped people and decreased the sorrow of patient of loosing foot to a great extent. One of the great classical dancers Sudha Chandran was also able to dance again due to this foot only. The Jaipur Foot not only bought fame to Dr.Sethi but he was also rewarded for the same. He was honored with the Megsaysay Award and Padma Shri in 1981.Along with Dr.Sethi; Jaipur also achieved a great position in the world. Today Jaipur has become one of the India's largest artificial limbs Centres. Many people get its blessings every year in the form of the foot. In return they also give numerous of their blessings to the developer of this foot.

CRAFT CAPITAL OF RAJASTHAN

CRAFT CAPITAL OF RAJASTHAN

Rajasthan provides the masterpiece of craft item to the world. Among them Jaipur is the famous one for its unique and minute craftwork. Jaipur offers a large variety of artistic handicraft. This custom started, when Maharaja of Jaipur-Sawai Jai Singh planned the city and to encourage the workers he allotted a particular locality to every type of craftsman. The result was a great rise in their talent. Even today also their descendent continue to practice the same craft, living in the same localities and the result is production of the matchless artistic work.

Jaipur is world famous for its artistic work in ornament making. It is one of the largest centers in India for ornament making that includes not only gold and silver work but also Kundan work that is the setting of precious stones in gold and silver and also for the meenakari work. Jaipuri meenakars receives a large amount of silver from silver mines of Mewar region.

Besides this the Bandhani work of Jaipur is also world famous. This is a tie and die work in which knots are tied on a cloth before dying them. Thus various designs as enchanting patterns of dots, stripes and criss cross are produced on muslin, cotton or silk. The block printing of Jaipur is marvellous. In this craftwork of delicate and beautiful floral designs are carved on wooden blocks and these are hand printed on cotton and calico cloth.

The craftwork on pottery is another distinguished feature of Jaipur.The blue and white pottery has a thick porous body along with hand painted with floral and geometrical patterns in blue and green colors.

The hand knotted carpets here got an encouragement due to fascination of rulers of Rajasthan for them. Thus the carpet weaving has got a new way for its upliftment. The weavers also modified their work according to the demand. Then the razais (quilted wrap) are another feature of the place. These razias contain less than 500gm of cotton wool. These are the finest and delicate ones and inspite of less weight they are capable of warding off the chill winter.

The mojaris are quite a rage. These are the slip-on leather juti known as Salim Shahi. As it is said Emperor Shah Jahan used to wear these emerald-studded mojaris. These have leather sole and its upper part is beautifully covered with embroided cloth or velvet.

The lac bangles are very popular amongst Indian women. Bangles of this type are presented in various designs and attractive colors. One can't ignore the impressive craftwork of these bangles. They are exported to various parts of the world due to its beauty. Earlier lac was used as a form of lacquer for handmade playing cards. Varak leaves of real gold and silver are also prepared here. These are widely used for decorating sweet products and also for medicines. Gaddis of these leaves are produced manually by thousands of craftsmen.

Thus Jaipur provides a lot of attractive and useful craft materials not only to the country but to the world also and could be considered as the land of a lot of talented person having a lot of skill within them.

PINK CITY AND HAWA MAHAL

It is said that Sawai Jai Singh had intended to build his capital at Agra, Fatehpur Sikri and Delhi without using sandstone because of its non-availability. He, therefore, pigmented the walls of his City Palace to resemble the colours of red sandstone. Some say that in 1876 all the buildings of Jaipur were painted a uniform rose pink in honour of the visit of Queen Victoria's son, the Prince of Wales(later King Edward VII). This led to people describing Jaipur as the 'Pink City' and label lingers.
The Hawa Mahal of jaipur is a unique momument. It looks like a huge beautiful palace but all it has are passages and balconies! This five-windows and covered balconies behind pink sandstone jalis. The first two storeys are backed by a basement but the three storeyes above it have just passages and windows. This unusual structure was built by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh in 1799 for the royal ladies so they could see all that went on in the streets below while remaining unseen by the public. The windows served both as a screen for privacy as well as to provide ventilation and allow the cool air to circulate. The Hawa Mahal has become a landmark by which Jaipur and often the whole Rajasthan is represented.

INTRODUCTION TO CITY

Jaipur,the capital of the state of Rajasthan is named after its founder Maharaja Sawai jai Singh II. Jai Singh belonged to the Kachhwaha clan of Rajputs. They claimed to be Suryavanshi, deceendants of the sun god. Jai Singh was the 28th Kachhawha ruler who ascended the throne at the young age of 13. He distinguished himself early for his cool courage and mature grasp of the politics of that turbulent period. A man of vision, he proved to be an able statesman and administrator.
The Kachhawahas ruled from Amber, a rockbound stronghold nestled among the Aravillis. It was abandoned when Maharaja Jia Singh built his new capital at Jaipur. Long before he died at the age of 56, Jai Singh had made Jaipur one of the most important wtates in Rajasthan both in area and prosperity. After his death, nine successive rulers occupied the Jaipur throne was merged with other Rajput states to form the state Rajasthan of the Indian Union. Jaipur is built according to priniciples of town planning set down in the Shilpashastra, an ancient Hindu treatise on architecture.
Jai Singh laid out the city with the help of a brilliant Brahmin scholar Vidyadhar Bhattacharya in 1727. Rectangular in shape, the city was divided into nine blocks separated by wide roads. The Shahi Mahal (City Palace) and its gardens were at the centre. Along the main streets were the bazaars built with remarkable uniformity. Above the bazaars lived the city dewellers who entered their homes through bylances that branched off the main roads. The city was surrounded by high walls with eight magnificent gateways. Rugged hills surmounted with forts provided natural defences in the north and the east, while strong defensive walls protected the city from the south and the west.
Jaipur took seven years to build and became one of the best planned cities in india. Although the city has spread far beyond its original limits, the grid pattern of modern cities in the West.