Shades of royalty
Rachna Singh

Jaipur Nama: Tales from the Pink City
by Giles Tillotson.
Penguin Books. Pages 260. Rs 295.

Jaipur with its piquant blend of antiquity and modernity, history of intrigue and legends of Rajput valour and ‘aan’ has been the focus of historians, architects, naturalists et al for over 200 years. Even today, the ambience of a rich past clings to the city bringing to life the history of the Kachchwaha clan, which ruled Jaipur from the day it was built by Sawai Jai Singh.

The history section of most libraries has several books delineating the life and times of the Rajas of Jaipur. Most of us would, therefore, react with a sense of ennui to another entry in this statistical collection. But Giles Tillotson’s Jaipur Nama is not just another dry and dusty historical tome. This book has the rare distinction of making history interesting and appealing. Jaipur Nama presents the history of Jaipur as witnessed by chroniclers as varied as a court pandit, a merchant, a pilgrim, a French naturalist and various representatives of the British Raj. Its narrative is an eclectic mix of descriptions of present-day Jaipur juxtaposed with extracts from the writings of old scholars.

Tillotson takes the readers on a wonderful journey that starts from the National Highway No 8 and moves to the heart of the present-day pink city set against the Aravalli spurs. Tillotson’s time machine takes the reader to the 18^th century court of Sawai Jai Singh to witness an arcane Vedic ritual and the zenana intrigue, which dogs the natural and adopted successors to the throne. Completely caught up in the time warp, the reader moves happily through the 19^th and 20^th centuries and becomes a close observer of the ‘Ram rajya’ and the voyage to England of Raja Madho Singh. The narratives of Vishvanath Ranade, a priest in the court of Raja Jai Singh, blends seamlessly with the account of Shivanarayan Saksena, Madho Singh’s royal chronicler. The descriptions of the French traveller, Louis Rousselet, Heber, the young Bishop of Calcutta, Jacquemont, the naturalist, add a fresh dimension to the accounts of the Rajas of Jaipur. Thus, what emerges is a well-rounded, unbiased rendering of the past. Tillotson’s comments and observations link together the varied perspectives and give a quality of wholeness to the book. Short passages on ‘minakari’, ‘tah-i-nishan’ or damascening and blue pottery give a contemporary relevance to the narrative.

Jaipur Nama is not weighed down by an academic delineation of facts nor is it just an entertainer built around myths and legends of the Rajput clan. The book is in fact a blend of both and will, therefore, appeal to all book-lovers. For those of us who have been to Jaipur, it brings to life the sights and sounds of Jaipur and adds a certain pizzazz to the reading. For those of us who have not been to Jaipur, it acts as a tourist hard-sell spurring the reader to see the City Palace, the Jal Mahal, the Jaigarh Fort, the Amber Palace, the Nahargarh Fort and even the Shekhawati havelis. So we join the author in reiterating "Jagat main aakar kya kiya, kabhi na dekha Jaipuria?"

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