[Abha Sharma]

Plan of Jaipur is a grid of 3x3 with gridlines being the city’s main streets.

•  The central axis of the town was laid from East to West between the gates of the Sun(Suraj pol) and the moon(Chandpol) 
  

• This was crossed by two roads at right angles dividing the town into nine almost square, almost equally sized blocks, which were further sub divided by lanes and alleys all at right angles. 
  
• The town has around it a masonry wall, 25ft. high & 9ft. thick, with eight gates viz; Chandpole Gate,  Ghat Gate, Ajmeri Gate,  Sanganeri Gate, Surajpole Gate, Gangapole Gate, Zorawar Singh Gate, and New Gate. 
  
• The palace building covered two blocks, the town six and the remaining ninth block was not usable on account of steep hills. So this North-West ward was transferred to the South-East corner of the city, making the shape of the plan as a whole asymmetrical rather than square.  
  
• The city’s division into nine wards was also in conformity with the Hindu caste system, which necessitated the segregation of people belonging to different communities and ranks. 
  
• Even the lanes were named after the occupations of inhabitants such as Maniharon ka Rasta, Thatheron ka Rasta & many others.
  
• Following the directions of the Hindu Shilpa shastra, width of the main streets & other lanes were fixed. Thus the main streets of the city were 111ft. wide, secondary streets 55 ft. wide & the smaller ones 27ft. wide. 
  
•  South of the main road were four almost equal rectangles. The rectangle opposite the palace has been broken up into two equal and smaller rectangles by the Chaura Rasta.Thus altogether there are now five rectangles on the south of the main road called Chowkris. 
  
• On the North of the main road from West to East are the Purani Basti, the Palace and Ramchandraji.
  
• The principal bazaar leads from the western gate in the city wall, The Chandpole, passing in front of the Tripolia Gate, to the eastern city gate, the Surajpole.
  
•  To the NW of this lay the Jai Niwas. Given that its royal association meant that it had to be within the palace compound, the site of the palace was established. Indeed, given the wish to locate the palace centrally, the position of the brahmasthana was also established. A wall surrounds the palace buildings. 
  
• The serving class occupied the peripheral areas.
  
• Another constraint was the position of the lake, which formed a part of the pleasure garden around which the city was built. This lake lay close to the hillside. In the original design it fell outside the main block of the city; but due to Jai Singh’s wish to include the old garden in the city, the lake was made the tank of palace garden.