India's golden triangle is a tourist circuit which connects the national capital Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. The Golden Triangle is so called because of the triangular shape formed by the locations of New Delhi, Agra and Rajasthan on a map. The trips usually start in Delhi moving south to the site of Taj Mahal at Agra, then west, to the desert landscapes of Rajasthan. It is normally possible to do the trip by coach or private journey through most tour operators. The Golden Triangle is now a well traveled route providing a good spectrum of the country's different landscapes.[1] The circuit is about 720 km by road. Each leg is about 4 to 6 hours of drive. The Shatabdi express train also connects Delhi with Agra and Jaipur.
THREE CITIES COMES IN GOLDEN TRIANGLE:
1. DELHI
2. AGRA
3. JAIPUR
TOP ATTRACTION OF DELHI
1. RED FORT =
The Red sandstone walls of the massive Red Fort (Lal Qila) rise 33-m above the clamour of Old Delhi as a reminder of the magnificent power and pomp of the Mughal emperors. The walls, built in 1638, were designed to keep out invaders, now they mainly keep out the noise and confusion of the city.
2. QUTUB MINAR= T
he Qutb Minar, also spelled as Qutab Minar or Qutub Minar, is a minaret that forms part of the Qutb complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Mehrauli area of Delhi, India.[2][3] Qutb Minar is a 73-metre (239.5 feet) tall tapering tower of five storeys, with a 14.3 metres (47 feet) base diameter, reducing to 2.7 metres (9 feet) at the top of the peak.[4] It contains a spiral staircase of 379 steps.
3. INDIA GATE=
The India Gate (originally the All India War Memorial) is a war memorial located astride the Rajpath, on the eastern edge of the "ceremonial axis" of New Delhi,[1] formerly called Kingsway. It stands as a memorial to 70,000 soldiers of the British Indian Army who died in between 1914–1921 in the First World War, in France, Flanders, Mesopotamia, Persia, East Africa, Gallipoli and elsewhere in the Near and the Far East, and the Second Anglo-Afghan War. 13,300 servicemen's names, including some soldiers and officers from the United Kingdom, are inscribed on the gate.[2] Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, the gate evokes the architectural style of the triumphal arch such as the Arch of Constantine, in Rome, and is often compared to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, and the Gateway of India in Mumbai.
TOP ATTRACTION OF AGRA
1. TAJ MAHAL=
The Taj Mahal 'Place or Position of the Crown', Hindi: ताज महल, lit. 'Crown of the Palaces' is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the south bank of the Yamuna river in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (reigned from 1628 to 1658) to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal; it also houses the tomb of Shah Jahan himself. The tomb is the centrepiece of a 17-hectare (42-acre) complex, which includes a mosque and a guest house, and is set in formal gardens bounded on three sides by a crenellated wall.
Construction of the mausoleum was essentially completed in 1643, but work continued on other phases of the project for another 10 years. The Taj Mahal complex is believed to have been completed in its entirety in 1653 at a cost estimated at the time to be around 32 million
rupees, which in 2015 would be approximately 52.8 billion rupees (
U.S. $827 million). The construction project employed some 20,000 artisans under the guidance of a board of architects led by the court architect to the emperor,
Ustad Ahmad Lahauri.
2. AGRA FORT=
Agra Fort is a historical fort in the city of Agra in India. It was the main residence of the emperors of the Mughal Dynasty until 1638, when the capital was shifted from Agra to Delhi. Before capture by the British, the last Indian rulers to have occupied it were the Marathas. In 1983, the Agra fort has been inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage site.[1] It is about 2.5 km northwest of its more famous sister monument, the Taj Mahal. The fort can be more accurately described as a walled city.
Agra Fort is the only fort in India where all early Mughal emperors lived. The Fort stands on an ancient site and was traditionally known as
Badalgarh. It was captured by Ghaznavi for some time but in 15th century A.D. the
Chauhan Rajputs occupied it. Soon after Agra assumed the status of capital when
Sikandar Lodi (A.D. 1487-1517) shifted his capital from Delhi and constructed few buildings in the pre-existing Fort at Agra. After the first battle of Panipat (A.D. 1526) Mughals captured the fort and ruled from here. In A.D. 1530,
Humayun was crowned here. The Fort got its present look during the reign of Akbar (A.D. 1556-1605).
3.TOMB OF AKBAR THE GREAT=
Akbar's tomb is the tomb of the Mughal emperor, Akbar and an important Mughal architectural masterpiece. It was built in 1605–1613 and is situated in 119 acres of grounds in Sikandra, a sub of Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India.
TOP ATTRACTION OF JAIPUR
1. AMBER PALACE=
Amer Fort is a fort located in Amer, Rajasthan, India. Amer is a town with an area of 4 square kilometres (1.5 sq mi)[1] located 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) from Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan. Located high on a hill, it is the principal tourist attraction in Jaipur.[2][3] The town of Amer was originally built by Meenas,[4] and later it was ruled by Raja Man Singh I. Amer Fort is known for its artistic style elements. With its large ramparts and series of gates and cobbled paths, the fort overlooks Maota Lake,[3][5][6][7] which is the main source of water for the Amer Palace.
Mughal architecture greatly influenced the architectural style of several buildings of the fort.
[8][9][10] Constructed of red
sandstone and
marble, the attractive, opulent palace is laid out on four levels, each with a courtyard. It consists of the Diwan-e-Aam, or "Hall of Public Audience", the Diwan-e-Khas, or "Hall of Private Audience", the Sheesh Mahal (mirror palace), or Jai Mandir, and the Sukh Niwas where a cool climate is artificially created by winds that blow over a water cascade within the palace. Hence, the Amer Fort is also popularly known as the
Amer Palace.
[5] The palace was the residence of the
Rajput Maharajas and their families. At the entrance to the palace near the fort's Ganesh Gate, there is a temple dedicated to
Shila Devi, a goddess of the Chaitanya cult, which was given to Raj
2. HAWA MAHAL =
Hawa Mahal (English translation: "The Palace of Winds" or "The Palace of Breeze") is a palace in Jaipur, India. Made with the red and pink sandstone, the palace sits on the edge of the City Palace, Jaipur, and extends to the Zenana, or women's chambers.
The structure was built in 1799 by Maharaja
Sawai Pratap Singh, the grandson of
Sawai Jai Singh, who was the founder of
Jaipur[1]. He was so inspired by the unique structure of
Khetri Mahal that he built this grand and historical palace. It was designed by Lal Chand Ustad. Its unique five floors exterior is akin to the honeycomb of a beehive with its 953 small windows called
Jharokhas decorated with intricate
latticework.
[2] The original intent of the lattice design was to allow royal ladies to observe everyday life and festivals celebrated in the street below without being seen, since they had to obey the strict rules of "purdah", which forbade them from appearing in public without face coverings. This architectural feature also allowed cool air from the
Venturi effect to pass through, thus making the whole area more pleasant during the high temperatures in summer.
[2][3][4] Many people see the Hawa Mahal from the street view and think it is the front of the palace, but in reality it is the back of that structure.
[5]
3. JANTAR MANTAR=
The Jantar Mantar is an equinoctial sundial, consisting of a gigantic triangular gnomon with the hypotenuse parallel to the Earth's axis. On either side of the gnomon is a quadrant of a circle, parallel to the plane of the equator. The instrument is intended to measure the time of day, correct to half a second and declination of the Sun and the other heavenly bodies.
There are five Jantar Mantars in
India, of which
the largest is in
Jaipur which features many instruments along with the world's largest stone sundial.
[1] The Vrihat Samrat yantra is a sundial that can give the local time to an accuracy of 2 seconds.
[2] It is a UNESCO
World Heritage Site.
