Naughty Nyonya: Amber Fort, Jaipur

beautiful ceilings set in precious stones

mirror work on marble

the whole court is in muted marble with silvered mirrors

intricate, detailed mirror work in very structured designs

taken from moghul. hindu and muslim art

and who lives in a Maharajah's palace today?

Pigeons!

Lucky birds!

beautiful arches frames the vista

Wall, ceilings . . . so that when the ladies of the court wears colourful sarees,

it is reflected all the pavillion by million of mirrors.

Yeah! Like Mine did!
A glittering sparkling rainbow court!

These buildings outside the fort houses
the many concubines of the Maharajah

Welcome!

Maharani peeps down at the front courtyard
from behind latticed marble screens in intricate patterns

Hmph! They can't see me in my pretty skirt?!

These peep slats are slanted to make sure the court ladies
have a perfectly angled view of the activity in the courtyard below
- like the arrival of neighbouring maharajahs and entourage
for some shooting parties or elephant tug-of-war games.

Ladies in sarees.

We are always stopped with requests

to have our pictures taken

Palace rooftop.

Here the Maharajah sits in the cool evenings

and are entertained by court performers

and dancing ladies.

Me!

view over the blue city of Jaipur

from Amber Fort

View from the hilltop fort

The beautiful Mughal gardens that

inspires the garden design for carpets

One cowboy checking out the low ceilings and anrrow marble stairs
that forms a intricate web of secret passages for escape from invaders.
The low ceiling continues until it leads to a doorway leading to the
garden of the court ladies. Because of the low ceilings,
one keeps one's head down and as one exits into the open courtyard.
Meanwhile, a soldier would be stationed by the doorway to decapitate
one by one the enemies exiting from the low doorway.

Very convenient and clever.

A maze of secret narrow passages leads to the rooms
of the maharajah's many wives. They are built in such a way
that the wives will never know if the the maharajah is visiting
any which one wife. And the Maharajah can identify the room
of his favourite wife to spend the evening with by the height of
the different doorways.

Each corresponds to the height of the different maharanis!