Back in early 1700s Rajasthan, Amber was struggling—water‐shortages, cramped streets, seasonal famines. Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, passionate about astronomy and town planning, decided it was time for a fresh start.

He tasked Vidyadhar Bhattacharya, a scholar from Bengal, to design a new city on flat terrain about 11–12 km south of Amber. They drew from ancient doctrines like Shilpa Shastra and Vastu Shastra, but also examined European city layouts. The result: Jaipur, founded formally in 1727, built entirely in a well-laid grid, divided into nine sectors aligned with numerology and astronomy.

The new city had walls, gates, wide straight roads intersecting at right angles, dedicated zones for palaces, temples, markets, public spaces, and homes. Jai Singh even invited merchants with incentives to settle there. Opening gates like Suraj Pol and Chand Pol gave Jaipur both symbolism and access. The plan was elegant, strategic, and symbolic—a city built not by accident, but by design.

Today, Jaipur still reflects this vision: uniform façades in some areas, organised bazaars, and an unmistakable sense of structure. Its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site underscores how rare it is to find such early planned urbanism in India preserving both form and function.