Pakistan is a paradigm example of a failed state that has undergone an extremely dangerous form of radical Islamisation.
Jai Mahal Palace
Construction of The Palace
The ground on which the Jai Mahal Palace stands has always been referred to
as Natani ka Bagh or the Garden of Natani. Sawai Ishwari Singh's (1743-50)
Military Commander and Prime Minister, Hargovind Natani, developed it around
1745. Natani was a prominent military figure but is also known to be something
of a traitor. Unlike Rajput warriors he did not belong to the Kshatriya caste
but came from the lower trading castes. In 1747 Natani led the Jaipur armies to
victory at Rajmahal in Tonk, against Madho Singh's combined forces of Udaipur,
Kota, Bundi, and the Marathas of Holkar states. He was honoured for this victory
with a tower called Ishwar Lat built by Maharaja Sawai Ishwari Singh in 1749
that overlooked Natani's house in Chhoti Chopar. Ishwar Lat (c. 1751) is the
highest tower dominating the skyline on the western side of the Tripolia baazar.
It is an octagonal minaret of seven storeys topped by a canopy and has balconies
on alternate floors. Locally it is called Swargasuli or a dart piercing the
heavens.
Jai Mahal PalaceAfter accomplishing other such successful military campaigns
Natani was awarded the position of Dewan or Prime Minister of Jaipur. However,
after three years he betrayed Ishwari Singh to Madho Singh that resulted in the
former's suicide. After Natani's death his property was reverted to the state as
according to the state laws he had committed an act of disgrace. Thus Natani ka
Bagh became a princely property since then. In the 1860s it was allotted as the
Residency Surgeon's house. In 1881 during one of the occupant Dr Thomas Holbein
Hendley's tenancy, a meteorological observatory was built beside the garden. It
was later joined into the gardens of the palace of which only a dilapidated
tower remains. When Sawai Man Singh II (1922-1947) took over Jaipur State,
Natani ka Bagh became the official residence of the Prime Ministers of Jaipur
and continued to be so till 1948. Sometime during his reign Man Singh II changed
the name of the garden to Jai Mahal in honour either of his second son, Jai or
his great ancestor, Sawai Jai Singh II or simply after the city itself. Jai
Mahal Palace remained unoccupied from 1948 till 1955 when it was converted into
one of India's earliest palace hotels.
The Palace Converted into Hotel
The Jaipur jeweller Laxmi Kumar Kasliwal Man Singh decided that the only
available accommodation Khasa Kothi wasn't enough for the potential tourists of
Jaipur. and thus retaining all the original staff of the Maharaja, architect
Durga Lal Nandiwal and Maharaja Man Singh together made new architectural
changes to transform the palace into a hotel. Alterations were done between 1952
and 1955 and finally in December 1955 it opened its doors and welcomed guests as
a luxury hotel. The first guests were the entourage of Nikita Krushchev and
Nikolai Bulganin. Jai Mahal Palace was Jaipur's leading hotel until 1957 when
Ram Bagh Palace opened up as a heritage hotel. In 1984 the palace was turned
over to the Taj Hotel Group and renovations on the palace started in 1985 and
finished in 1986. 40 rooms were completed and within six months another 60 were
added. It is probably the most authentic palace adaptation taken up by the Taj
Group.
The Magnificent Waterways
The Jai Mahal garden has a tiered waterway that flows past stone pavilions
into fountained pools. Red stone steps and walkways interlink these pools. It
has been inspired and styled on the design of the traditional Mughal Gardens,
more prominently from the text of Babur's Lotus Garden of Dholpur
