Jaipur: City of tolerance and progress

While Jaipur is commonly envisioned as a bastion for Hindus, this paper argues that the city, founded in 1727 by the Kachhwaha ruler, Sawai Jai Singh II, was intended to serve multiple populations. In many ways, ideologies behind Jaipur's development continue the Mughal emperor Akbar's policy of sulh-i kul, which loosely can be translated as universal toleration. Through an examination of Jaipur's architecture, built between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries, and paintings held in the court's royal collections, the city's growth and its diverse population can be seen as a map of state policy, which promoted tolerance to ensure good governance and prosperity.