Jaipur is the first planned city of northern India after Mohenjo-daro and the Greek city of Sirkap in Taxila. Its builder was Sawai Jai Singh, the versatile ruler of Amer whose multifarious activities as a statesman, an astronomer and a patron of Hinduism form part of this book. The planning of the city too was perhaps done by Jai Singh himself, ably assisted by a Bengali Brahman, Vidyadhar, who later became his favourite minister. Within a few years of its founding Jaipur became and has since remained the most important city in Rajasthan. From the start it has had a good water supply system. In providing street lighting, medical facilities, higher education, etc., it by the middle of the 19th century it had become a center of banking and jewellery trade in north India and by the end of the century a center of Sanskrit learning. One of the products of the city was Todarmal, who was perhaps the first writer of modern Hindi prose. The city is also an important religious center. The city is also an important religious center. The history of Jaipur could thus he said to be the history of civilization in northern India during the 18th and 19th centuries. This capital story of the birth and growth of the capital of one of the most forward looking states of India should be of interest to the lay reader as well as to specialist.
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