Urban Morphology of Jaipur: City Planning & Expansion

Location of Jaipur

Located among the Aravalli hill ranges at a distance of 200 miles from the national capital Delhi and 150 miles from Agra (The earlier Mughal Capital) and 84miles from Ajmer lies the capital of Rajasthan more popularly known as Pink city “Jaipur” with 26 55’ – Latitude & 75 50’ – Longitude. This modern administrative district of Rajasthan lies in the Banas river basin of the eastern well-drained plains of Rajasthan having a number of seasonal rivers including Banganga, Dhundh and Bandi as the prominent ones.

Geological Context of Jaipur

Physiography

On the basis of the existing relief features, the eastern plains of Rajasthan include the area on the northeast, east and southeast of the Aravalli range is known as the Eastern Plain. The Vindhyan Plateau marks the southeastern limit of the Plain. The western boundary is demarcated by the eastern edge of the Aravalli up to the north of Udaipur.

This Plain is further subdivided into two physiographic units Banas Basin&Chappan Plains. The BANAS Basin is the region marked by various types of erosional features, produced in the granite and gneiss rocks marking the topography of the area in which Jaipur city lies. From the foot of the Aravalli range the plain slopes gradually towards the northeast. (Environmental Background of Rajasthan)

Hydrology

The Aravalli range is the major Geographical feature that forms the water divide backbone of the region with multiple rivers serving as water sources. The region is benefited from rivers originating outside the state boundaries of Rajasthan as they flow through it.

The Great Indian watershed runs along this Aravalli range axis from the Sāmbhar Lake southward to Ajmer. Smaller streams and their tributaries drain the west and south of the Aravalli axis. Rivers Luni, Sukri, Banas, Sabarmati and Mahi are the most significant streams in this region and are non-perennial in nature.

The river Banas rises from the catchment area lying between Kankroli and Nathdwara and flows towards the east as far as Mandalgarh further it flows towards the northeast up to Tonk where it again turns towards the east and finally this river turns at right angles and flows south to join the river Chambal. The upper reaches of this stream are hilly and have good rainfall.

This river plays a significant role in the development & settlements of the region as its tributaries drain the entire Mewar plain and the city of Jaipur lies in its basin where, The Western and northern boundaries of the Basin are formed and demarcated by the Aravalli hill ranges along with Extensive dunes covering the Basin areas in Jaipur, Ajmer and Dausa Districts. These districts also benefited from the river’s chief tributaries known as Berach, Kothari, Khari, Dhoond and Morel. (IN-24740-R13-080, 2004)

Historical Context of Jaipur

10th Century Onwards

As per the Historical development during the 10th century & onwards, the Dhoondhar Region of Eastern Rajasthan was ruled by Badgujars, Rajputs and Minas till the 11th Century. This region has played a significant role due to its commercial significance for having the shortest trade route between the rich port cities of Gujarat & Malabar and north Indian cities.

As per Aryan Epics, it’s called Matsya Desh/Mina Wati. This region has four distinguishable politico-cultural regions including Jaipur, Mewat, Hadauti and Mewar. It initially was comprised of the current districts of Jaipur, Dausa and Tonk, where Jaipur and Amber areas further constituted the subzone within the larger geographical tract of this region.

11th Century Onwards

The region was increasingly under the power of the Kachchwaha dynasty of Rajputs who laid the foundation of the Dhoondhar kingdom in 967 AD with Dausaas it’s capital. Later their capital was shifted from Dausa to Amber between 1179 and 1216 AD, after seizing the political power from the ruling clan of Minas. This shift encouraged building construction activities and established settlements around the areas of Amber Fort and the temple of Ambikeshwar Mahadev.

17th Century Onwards

By the 17th century, the Kachchwaha Rajput clan gained political importance in the Mughal administration. And they contributed much to the financial and cultural wealth of the Dhoondhar region through their political alliance with the Mughals.

The most prominent period belongs to Raja Sawai Jai Singh II from 1700 to 1743 that outlived five Mughal emperors and tried to prop up the Mughal Empire from 1707 – (Aurangzeb’s death) to the sack of Delhi by Nadir Shah (1739). He established the city of Jaipur and strengthened the boundaries of the region.

Development and Evolution of Jaipur City

From time to time Dhoondhar Region has its capital shifting under different rulers due to political as well as defensive reasons from 1179 and 1216 AD from Dausa to Amber and from Amber to Jaipur during 1700-1743.

Contrary to the traditional past practices of typical Rajput hill settlements in the region which were known for their Defensive strategy as a governing planning parameter, the capital was shifted to Jaipur which is planned in the plain lands rather than the typical Rajput hillside defensive style of settlements. This was intentionally done to envision the bold &strong political statement at par with Mughal cities and as a thriving trade and commerce hub for the entire Dhoondhar region.

This was an innovative idea of having the city on plain land and was further supported by the following reasons:

Defensive Reasons

• The natural topography of the region has been utilised in setting out the layout for the new city while prioritising Defence strategy as the major parameter.
• Leading to which the site at the South of Amber was selected which ensured greater distance from Delhi while preventing the expansion of the city in that direction.
• It also ensured that the city is only allowed to expand towards the south with the geographical limitation offered by the out skirting hill ranges (Nahargarh hills – shaped as a horseshoe) making it a basin-like shape for the open plain bounded on the north-west and east hills.

Geographical Reasons

• The physical restriction offered by the rocky terrain of Amber limited the expansion of the old Amber settlement and the need for a new capital for the 18th-century Dhoondhar region was felt owing to its congestion.
• Geographically the area ensured sufficient availability of building materials, from the hills which will be needed for the future development of the city in the times to come.
• Further, the presence of perennial water sources, owing to the hilly geographical surroundings in the nearby area ensured the availability of adequate drinking water for the new city with a good drainage system.

Physical Constraints Affecting Site Selection

• The site was selected for the new city in a valley located south of Amber, a terrain that was the bed of a dried lake having dense forest cover to the north and the east of the selected terrain.
• Physically the city was constrained by the hills on the north housing the Jaigarh fort and the hills on the east, which contained the sacred spot of Galtaji.

Urban Planning in Jaipur

Jaipur happens to be the only 18th-century walled city in India which can still cater to the present-day urban needs &pressures including public infrastructure, commercial land use, vehicular traffic on roads, etc while crediting to its gridiron pattern which was built with a futuristic planning vision and extraordinary foresight. This was an innovative concept of accommodating the natural terrain & geographical features contrary to the traditional planning guidelines practised in the region. (Determinant of Jaipur Form)

Traditional Planning Guidelines

The traditional settlements in Rajasthan were majorly based on defensive, agrarian, mercantile or religious considerations. Generally, the presence of a political or centre marked by a religious deity or symbol is taken as the reference point for the settlement governing the placement of the ruler’s abode and the rest of the city pattern follows organically. There are examples where the city names are associated either with the political or religious centre, as in the case of amber, it derives its name from Ambikeshwar Temple and similarly, Jaipur derives its name from Sawai Raja Jai Singh.

The city planning pattern in Rajasthan has Dausa & Amber as traditional hilltop planned layouts for agrarian economy-based settlements. These settlement planning were guided by the natural contours & topographical considerations incorporated within their urban layouts. The generic plan from the hill towns of Dausa & Amber has organic layouts which were used as inspiration for Jaipur city planning that catered for the shift from an agrarian economy towards a trading economy.

This shift from an agrarian base towards an economic base was Contrary to the previously planned capitals available within the Dhoondhar region, making Jaipur city planning innovatively revolutionary while linking the concept of a Shastric city with grid-iron pattern layout and incorporating geographical as well as physical features within the urban form.

Jaipur City Planning Guidelines

The axes of the city were predetermined by Geographical features whereas political considerations have been the governing factor for deciding the city’s form by deciding its physical extent.

Geographical Considerations

• The natural ridge is approximately bearing east-West alignment with a slight deviation of 15 deg. from the cardinal axes as it runs across this plain, north of the road and parallel to it. The area to the south of the ridge is flat while the one on its North slopes gently downwards. This arrangement with reference to the Shastri city concept is an ideal arrangement having a downward slope directed towards the northeast.
• The crest of the Ridge offered a straight line that suggested the best possible utilisation of the topographic feature; this was used as the main east-west thoroughfare while building a road to serve the purpose of drainage. This planning consideration also regularized the Amber-Sanganer road as a north-south route at right angles to it, leading to the innovation of CHAUPAR at the point of intersection at the city’s main crossroads. (Determinant of Jaipur Form)

Political Considerations

• While planning it was also realised that the external peripheries of the upcoming city need to exist within the line of the Agra-Ajmer road marking its southern boundary. This leads to the formulation and achievement of the first fixed dimension for the city grid by extending the North-South road southwards to include possible extents. The dimension so achieved was used to fix the length of a side of a square and this established the size of the grid module for the entire urban pattern in the city. A Sawaya (a quarter extra) system of measurement was used in the planning and details of Jaipur, with the use of dimensions that are a quarter more than a whole number.
• The North to South Road was planned to fall within the city boundaries while cutting the plain and linking the principal trading town of Amber with Jaipur city.
• Another major road was planned running in the East-West direction in order to utilise the already established Trading & communication connection between the old Mughal cities of Agra and Ajmer. This was an attempt to secure the economic success of this new city of Jaipur. As a consequence to which the city was contained to the north of its line as the imperial route between Agra & Ajmer cannot encroach.
• Further, the grid pattern was completed by dividing the east-west Axis of the new city into three perpendicular roads making a total of eight portions as shown in Figure 21. With this, the city achieved its grid pattern with the central grids frozen on equal size whereas the outer grids were made as per the remaining dimensions after accommodating nearby geographical features. The grid extends Uptill Chand Pol in the west direction and Suraj Pol in the east direction. (Determinant of Jaipur Form)

Religious Considerations

Jaipur city plan is based on the cardinal directions known as the Prastara type of layout, making Jaipur the first grid-based city plan in India proposed as per the ancient Indian treatise on an architecture known as Hindu Shilpa-shastra.

The Shilpa-shastra prescribes principles according to the religious shastra making the site be preferably divided into grids also referred to as mandalas that may range between a grid size of 2x 2 to 10 x 10 and in the case of Jaipur city a grid of 3×3 is used by using the gridlines as the city’s main streets.

Plan

• As suggested by the Shilpa-shastra the city had a total of 9 squares in its grid but the mandala in the north-west direction could not get completed due to the presence of hill features whereas an extra mandala was used in the south-east direction to fill in the gap that existed between the city grid and the eastern hills, making the shape of the plan as a whole asymmetrical rather than square. As shown in Table.
• Among the rest of the grids, two grids were designated for the royal palace building and the remaining was assigned for the development of the public settlement.
• Further, the grid opposite the palace grids was divided into two equal and smaller rectangles by the CHAURA RASTA, leading to five rectangles on the south of the main road called CHOWKRIS as shown in Figure.

Wards

• The city’s grid divided into nine wards also accommodated the Hindu caste system, which needs segregation of people with respect to their castes and their rank. Leading towards naming their roads & streets after the occupations of its inhabitants such as Maniharon ka Rasta, Thatheron ka Rasta & many others. Whereas the serving class was to occupy the peripheral areas as per the ranking system.
• By following the principles prescribed by Hindu Shilpa shastra, the width of the main streets was fixed at 111 feet width, the secondary streets at 55 feet width& the smaller ones at 27 feet width.

Lakes

• In order to facilitate water supply to this new city, the Darbhavati River in the north was dammed to create the Jai Sagar and Man Sagar lakes which contain the Jal Mahal today. Later the Jhotwara River in the North West was diverted through the Amani Shah Nallah and a number of canals were channelized through Brahmapuri and Jai Niwas to supply water to the city.

• Further to Raja Jai Singh’s wish of including a garden in the city, the lake was included as the tank for the palace garden leading to the formation of the pleasure garden around which the city structure was formed. Apart from other historic water bodies located within the walled city, the locations called Badi Chaupar and Choti Chaupar in the city grid served as public squares with fountains.
• The existing surface water bodies in the city include Talkatora, Jai Sagar, Man Sagar (Jal Mahal Lake) and the Ramgarh Lake whereas the artificial lakes were created within the city plan as a response to the natural topography.

Bazaars

• Since Jaipur has an economic base therefore Bazaar spaces played a major role including markets like Kishanpole bazaar, Gangauri bazaar, Johari bazaar, Sireh Deorhi bazaar, etc. These Bazaar spaces are allocated across the west-east axis starting from the western gate in the city wall known as The Chandpole, passing in front of the Tripolia Gate, all the way Uptill the eastern city gate known as the Surajpole. As shown in Figure.

City Gates

• The city consists of the following 8 peripheral Gates to provide access across its 25feet high & 9feet thick city boundary masonry wall. These gates are known as Chandpole Gate, Ghat Gate, Ajmeri Gate, Sanganeri Gate, Surajpole Gate, Gangapole Gate, Zorawar Singh Gate, and New Gate.
• The central axis of the town was laid from East to West between the gates of the Sun (Suraj pol) and the moon(Chandpol)

Road Network

• Jaipur’s road network follows a definite hierarchy. The major east-west and north-south roads, form the sector boundaries and are called Rajmarg as they lead to the city gates measuring 33 meters in width. Next, there is a network of 16.5m wide which runs north-south in each sector linking the internal areas of the sectors to the major activity spine.
• An orthogonal grid of 8.25mx4.00m roads in the Prastara-chessboard pattern further divides sectors into Mohallas.

Streetscapes and Chowks

• The width of the main roads was kept 39 1/4 gaz – 108 feet, secondary roads are half this size – 54 feet, tertiary roads are 27 feet and the inner mohalla streets are 13 feet wide.
• The main markets, haveli and temples on the main streets in Jaipur were constructed by the state in the 18th century, thus ensuring that a uniform street facade is maintained. The widths of roads were predetermined.
• Junctions of the main axial streets formed the two square civic open spaces called Chaupar (Badi Chaupar and Choti Chaupar). The width of the square Chaupar was three times that of the main street.
• Historically, the chapters were outlets for intense social use with water structures connected by underground aqueducts, supplying numerous sources of drinking water at street level. Presently, the centre of each Chaupar has square enclosures with ornamental fountains.
• The streets and chowks (central open squares in a town) of the internal chowkries (sectors) with numerous clusters or Mohallas were not predetermined; hence show a mix of the gridiron and organic pattern, with the basic unit of built form being the rectangular haveli.

Current Urban Expansion of Jaipur

For ages, Jaipur city has been expanding while maintaining its original grid character. The spatial and temporal growth pattern of Jaipur may be analysed while divided into four distinct phases. Each phase contributes to the development of the city.

Phase I: 1727-1850 AD

Jaipur, founded by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II in 1727 A.D. was one of the few planned cities of its times based on the principles of the ancient town planning doctrine of Shilpa Shastra.

Phase II: 1850-1930

During this phase, the city grew out of the confines of the walled city. The establishment of a railway line in 1868 A.D. fuelled the growth of the city.

Phase III: 1930-1970

In the 1930s, five development schemes, Fateh Tiba, the area south of Ramniwas Bagh, Ashok Nagar, New Colony in Jalu Pura and Bani Park commonly known as A, B, C, D, and E respectively were conceived to provide residential plots, land for public institutions and other amenities for the increasing population. Rajasthan University was inaugurated in 1947 thereby opening opportunities for the southward growth of the city.

Phase IV: Post 1970s

During the last 3 decades, major growth direction has taken place towards the southwest and northwest of the city due to the presence of hills on the northern and eastern sides acting as natural barriers. (Gupta, July – September 2011)

Phase V: Present Scenario of Urban Expansion

• As observed major changes were found within and between two land use classes i.e. agriculture and built-up land in the case of Jaipur
• Major problems associated with this urban centre are unplanned expansion, changing land use and land cover and loss of productive agricultural land. With increased urban pressure and Due to barriers of hills and mountains in the north, northeast and east part, the city has grown towards the south, south-west and west direction along major roads and plain areas.
• Most of the settlements are on the base of fallow land and croplands, putting heavy pressure on the ecologically sensitive areas by way of deforestation and mining in reserve forest areas.
• The residential area has a higher rate of expansion after 1975, the major expansion is observed in the western, southern and south-eastern parts and along the national highways 8, 11 and 12.
• The city has expanded towards southern and western directions engulfing the productive cropped area, fallow land, and degraded forest land. The urban area has covered the surrounding towns, which are developing as the satellite towns like Sanganer, which is 20kms from AJmeri gate in the south, Bagru, which is about 35kms away from the city and similarly there are areas like Chomu, Achrol, Kanota, etc.