Rashed's View

Hawa Mahal, the Palace of Winds, is in the heart of the walled city of Jaipur, on the outer boundary of the palace. It was built in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh overlooking the main shopping street in the city so that the ladies of the court, who did not often go out, could all view the shopping scene and everyday life from their palace windows without themselves being seen. For this reason it is primarily a facade of 953 delicately honeycombed windows known as jharokas! It is an exquisite example of Rajput architecture in red sandstone. Opposite the Hawa Mahal is a school started by the royal family (I forget the name), and their building architecture looks similar but is not as grand and more run down.