No visit to Jaipur will be complete without a trip to see the Hawa Mahal in person. It sits at Badi Choupad and stands tall at five stories adorned with its 953 windows. Its distinct architecture looks like a humungous pink honeycomb that allows the breeze to freely blow through, earning it the name “The Palace of the Wind”. It was built in 1799 as an extension to a palace nearby but has proven itself to be worthy of being called the main landmark of Jaipur. This watercolor on cotton fabric painting of the Hawa Mahal of Jaipur is a work of Vitthal Das Rathore. His work artfully depicted the Hawa Mahal in all its pink and honeycomb glory. it may be on the backside but the grandeur of the palace stands out against the crowd of procession-goers.
The Hawa Mahal was originally designed to carry the lattice look to give royal ladies the chance to peek at the life outside without being seen, as they have to observe purdah which does not allow them to be seen with their bare faces. The Hawa Mahal is also considered the masterpiece or chef-d'œuvre of Maharaja Jai Singh, who is said to have worshipped Krishna at the third storey called the Vichitra Mandir. In there, the Maharaja devoted poems and devotion to Lord Krishna.
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