Street view, Jeypur

Photograph of the main street at Jaipur in Rajasthan, taken by Lala Deen Dayal in the 1890s, from the Curzon Collection: 'Views of places proposed to be visited by Their Excellencies Lord & Lady Curzon during Autumn Tour 1902'. Lord Curzon served as Viceroy of India between 1899 and 1905. Jaipur was founded in 1727 as an entirely new and prestigious state capital by Maharaja Jai Singh II (r.1699-1743) of the Kachwaha Rajputs. It was built on the site of a royal hunting lodge and garden on a plain ringed by hills five miles south of Amber, the previous state capital. It is unusual among Rajput cities as its wide streets are laid out on a regular grid plan based around nine squares. However it retains the traditional arrangement of the major route being the main bazaar, the Sireh Deori, which leads from the western gate of the city walls past the city palace to the eastern city gate. This is a view looking down the length of the Sireh Deori, with the Ishwar Lath (1749), a tower of victory in the form of a minaret, in the distance.