gates-of-jaipur-new-gate-chaura-rasta-near-golcha-cinema-jaipurthrumylens
Heritage of Jaipur, Weekly Photo Challenge

Pol / Gates in Jaipur

(Posted in response to the Weekly Photo Challenge – Frame!)

Pol or  पोल (in Hindi ) refers to a specific type of entrance gate that is part of the outer perimeter of any premises. One of the distinguishing feature of any Pol is the presence of large wooden gate with a smaller gate framed into it for a greater control on the ingress. The wall should be high as well as broad enough to allow installation of such a gate. In earlier times such Pol were heavily guarded and controlled as these were the only entry and exit points of the city. They formed part of the primary defence of any city or settlement.

These Pols were not unique to Jaipur rather they were common across Rajasthan and rest of India. And why India?..they were present even in places like Morocco. What was unique then? The architectural style. Each city or region had its own  architectural style. Even in Jaipur, one can find variations in architectural style among such gates depending on the year in which they were built. By the way, most of the havelis in Jaipur also had smaller version of these Pol.

Posted here are pictures of various types of Pol and gates in Jaipur.

New Gate built in 1940’s is synonymous with colour and architecture of Jaipur

gates-of-jaipur-new-gate-chaura-rasta-near-golcha-cinema-jaipurthrumylens
The last gate to be built in walled city of Jaipur- New Gate.

Exit gate of City Palace, Jaipur.

city-palace-entry-gate-charge-sarvatrobhadra-palace-jaipurthrumylens
locals infront of City Palace gate in Jaipur

Pol of Charan Mandir (temple) near Nahargarh Fort, Jaipur.

charan-mandir-nahargarh-road-jaipur-lord-krishna-jaipurthrumylens
Pol with wooden gate at Charan Mandir, Jaipur

Pol at Ghat ki Guni, Jaipur. One can see Pol at the other side too. To check out write up on Ghat ki Guni click here.

sisodia-rani-garden-jaipur-ghat-ki-ghuni-agra-road-jaipur-jaipurthrumylens

Pol at Diggi Palace during Jaipur Literature Festival.

 

picture-from-jaipur-literature-festival-zeejlf-diggi-palace-heritage-location
Captured here – Pol with a wooden door during Jaipur Literature Festival at Hotel Diggi Placae, Jaipur

Another picture of the same Pol from the other side in a different setting.

diggi-house-heritage-hotel-venue-for-jaipur-literature-festival-jaipurthrumylens
Beautiful Pol at  Hotel Diggi Palace, Jaipur

 

For a change here are two pictures of  Pol in black & white.

Pol at Samode Palace in the village of Samod, near Jaipur.

samode-palace-entrance-gate-near-jaipur-jaipurthrumylens

Below picture was framed in Amer town, near Jaipur.

gates-of-jaipur-kheri-gate-amer-near-sagar-anokhi-museum-jaipur

These are not the most popular gates of Jaipur. I will write a separate post on 7 popular gates of Jaipur pretty soon.

This post is part of  Weekly Photo Challenge – Frame!. Check out previous posts on Weekly Photo Challenge–Click here

Stay updated via:Facebook , Twitter, Instagram, Google+

Advertisements

58 thoughts on “Pol / Gates in Jaipur”

    1. Jamie, I probably should have added some more pictures to differentiate between these gates from the ones at other places. will do in next post. In any case, humans were always learning from each other through ages. Would love to know more about gates in your country! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Well, the blog is about Jaipur ! Just sharing how people use them globally, in different forms. If one travels to the Mediterranean? Especially Greece. They are are used on private property. Perhaps not so grand as the the ones found in Jaipur, but quite unique from property, to property. Some left open, others locked and barred. Gates, are definitely an interesting subject and are used by WordPress as a prompt.

        The ones at Fort Rodd date only from the turn of last century, when as a fort the British used it to defend the city of Victoria. Some of the guns remain in place and it is now purely a tourist destination, under Parks Canada. The gates are functional with a postern to enter. While many of the forts across Canada remain. They are this country’s main link to that history.

        Since the first nations people did not use this type of possessive functionality. In fact they did not see “owning” any part of the planet as being rational. Yes they used traditional territory and sometimes those borders could be fluid.

        The gates seen at Jaipur hark back to the Mughal occupation perhaps? Or replicated to imitate. For the domes seem to echo both the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia in Istanbul. Then again echoed, throughout the Moslem Empire. The exception here being Charan Mandir. with it’s simple arch.

        Cheers Jamie.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Jamie! Thank you so much for the details…Well, the post actuallt originated with the word POl which is used for certain door only. I guess the word would have originated from word “pola” which means hollow. Since the area above the door is kind of concave, it would have originated from this word. So, I feel on a second thought a little more details would have added better to this post.Yes, there are many private houses with such doors in Jaipur as well. Although you can see Mughal influence clearly in some places, since the Jaipur style is amalgamation of Rajput and Mughal architecture. In my opinion, this must be a later influence. Elsewhere in Rajasthan you can see pure Rajput style as well which is unique to this region.
        Thanks for starting this conversation..Quite some learning! Always a pleasure to have your thoughts on on this blog! 🙂

        Like

    1. Mick New gate was last gate to be built by Jaipur royalty barely few years before Indian independence. In its original design the gate drew heavy influence from Brandenburg gate of Berlin. But it was later modified. Mick I’ll post pictures of all seven gates of walled city soon!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  11. Beautiful frames. I like the such a shapes of the entrance doors so much. To me it is the entrance to the fairy tail which is so different from the place where I live… the entrance to another culture and openings.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  12. WoW!! Lovely pics..i always feel excited when something comes in relation to Jaipur.Love the way of explanation though i will be posting a series on Rajasthan tourism.I hope you’re next post comprises of famous gates(Pols)…👌👌🙏

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank You Prashant! Series on Rajasthan Tourism? That sounds interesting… What is this all about?
      Sure … I’ll post on gates as well. It’s been on my mind for quite some time. Well there’s been too many things to write about 🙂
      Btw where are you based?

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Presently at Delhi,i stayed at Jaipur for long & did graduation(HM) there too.I write mostly about less known places with its culture and bieng a hotelier i never forget to mention food.I missed some common & famous gates in your blog maybe you’ll write further in next but its a good read with beautiful clicks.:)

        Like

      2. Great to know about your Jaipur connection Prashantt! 🙂
        I think we have something in common…exploring something different and offbeat! will surely write on gates soon! 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  16. A great post, Arv. I loved looking at, and comparing, the different gates. They all have something to interest the eye and admire. As you say, city gates – or gates of notable buildings – can be found in many countries worldwide, but these gates are unique to Jaipur and exhibit their own architectural style. I’ll be sure to read your post about the seven most popular ones.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thanks Millie! I’m happy to know that you enjoyed pictures of these gates. These gates exist in all cities which were threatened by outside attacks.
      Sure Millie I’ll hasten that impending post on gates. thanks for appreciating and sharing your thoughts Millie! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  18. Pingback: Old city Gates of Jaipur – Jaipur thru my lens !!
  19. Pingback: 5 Popular Post on Jaipurthrumylens in 2016 – Jaipur thru my lens !!
  20. Pingback: Exploring Hawa Mahal in Jaipur/ Iconic Tourist Attraction of Pink City in Pictures – Jaipur Thru My Lens !!

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out / Change )

Google+ photo

You are commenting using your Google+ account. ( Log Out / Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s