Amber Fort - part 3a

Third courtyard - the private quarters of the Maharaja, his family and attendants.
Given how ornate this section is, I'll further divide it into two parts - the Diwan-i-khas and Char-bagh on this page, and the Sukh-Niwas, interior of the Suhaag Mandir and adjoining areas, and other stuff from this courtyard in a second (part 3b)

A great elevated view of the Diwan-i-Khas (aka Jai Mandir = hall of victory).
Source: this site

Diwan-i-khas - Hall of Private Audiences
The sign probably explains it at least as well as I can:

This the the hall from two different parts of the courtyard

Exterior, diwan-i-khas

Behind the woman in the white cardie/jacket and dark pants in the picture above is this bas relief/inlay work

with this rather gorgeous beetle (?ladybird) at the centre top

Walls and ceiling of the colonnade of the diwan-i-khas. Yes, those are little tiny mirrors everywhere

Ceiling of colonnade

Wall of colonnade

Detail from wall of colonnade - you could buy paper-mounted variants of the central design in the markets, to frame or paste directly onto your wall.

Interior of the diwan-i-khas. As entry is prohibited, I took these by squatting down, putting my camera near the ground through the barrier, and shooting upwards. The three pics show successively greater detail of the same corner (although the first is from a different vantage point).

You can see the marble lace screen which would allow breezes into the upper part of the room

Yup, squillions of inlaid convex mirrors

Imagine this in candlelight, glittering and twinkling and utterly enchanting


Mughal Gardens, Char-bagh (also Chahar Bagh)
Formerly planted with flowers and other scented plants, now with more drought-tolerant hedges, the garden is laid out in four quadrants in a very typical mughal style.

You might know these people, squinting into the mid-morning sun

L to R: Ab, Jos, JD and Ky

The low wall that surrounds the sunken garden is made up of a series of carved marble lattice screens, each a different geometric pattern.

Char-bagh in front of the Sukh-Niwas (pleasure palace; the raja's private apartments)

I really liked these lattices, so I took a bunch of photos. I'll put them after the jump, in case they don't delight and entrance you as much as they do me.

Like I said: each one is different, intricate, and gorgeous.