'Jaipur was built quake-resistant'

By Our Special Correspondent

JAIPUR, FEB. 1. The devastating earthquake that shook Gujarat on Republic Day makes one wonder at the way Pink City was built by the ruler Sawai Jai Singh 274 years ago. One is tempted to say ``touchwood'' but the custodians of the legacy of the former rulers of Jaipur claim that this city - founded in 1727 - was built on an earthquake- resistant site, keeping the natural ridge as the focal point.

Though last Friday's earthquake, experienced in Jaipur also, led to minor cracks on the walls of the historic Hawa Mahal, old- timers in the City Palace here blame it more on ``bad housekeeping'' and lack of timely repair. Like the Chandra Mahal Palace, where the former ruler, Col. Bhawani Singh lives now, the foundation of the 200 year-old Hawa Mahal too, it is pointed out, was laid on a network of dry canals to make it least vulnerable to earthquakes.

``Perhaps in recent times, these underground structures have not been cleaned properly which may have led to the cracks on the walls of the Hawa Mahal,'' according to Mr. Yaduvendra Sahai, local historian and director of the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum here. ``While building Chandra Mahal and other structures, including the Jantar Mantar, Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II kept in mind the fact that the soil below a certain point is quake- resistant,'' Mr. Sahai notes.

The historian claims that Sawai Jai Singh perhaps ignored certain principles of the Shilpa Shastra - especially the one that pre- determined the character of the City according to the cardinal points - to choose naturally existing ridge and water bodies to keep the focal point 15 degree off the cardinal points. In the north of the new-found city, there was a taal (lake), which he dug deeper to create the present day ``Tal Katora''.

Towards the north-east of the City was the marshland called Santosh Sagar. On the south side, as there was no such water body, the ruler ordered digging of a moat just inside the southern wall - which at present is filled up to house markets such as Indra Bazar, Bapu Bazar and Nehru Bazar. City planners in the past believed that forts and towns should be surrounded by moats.

Mr. Sahai vouchsafes that Sawai Jai Singh also knew that a stable ground was better than an alluvial ground for building earthquake-resistant structures. He got the ``ustas''(architects) to map the underground water systems of the projected areas, where he wanted to build the City of Jaipur. ``He knew that disturbing the natural features could cause unnecessary stresses and strains which could result in subsequent building collapses,'' Mr. Sahai points out.

The founder of Jaipur did not disturb the ghat features towards the east but devised a ``guni'' in the passage, which was called Ghat ki Guni. This Guni was flattened recently for the sake of smooth traffic on the Jaipur-Agra National Highway. The result, according to Mr. Sahai, was a landslide in the nearby hillocks during the monsoons which followed.

The city builders of yore here gave enough thought to building material as well. The surroundings of Jaipur did not have normal building material as the hills around are volcanic containing mainly quartzite stone. This variety, though very strong, is not good as facade stone. Unlike his forefathers who used big boulders of ``seisht'' granite for building Amber and Jaigarh, Maharaja Sawai Man Singh used smaller boulders but avoided using rubble.

The lime-mortar used in those days were prepared after a series of actions and reactions with daily sieving for six months which resulted in its better cohesiveness than ordinary mortar. Perhaps, town planning here was the best of East and West. The Maharaja had thoroughly studied the ancient texts while planning the City but at the same time he was also aware of modern developments in the field. He even acquired an Atlas printed in Nurenburg in 1725 and had consulted European scholars, Mr. Sahai affirms.

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