When Jai Singh decided to move his capital south from the cramped hilly area of Amber, he drew up plans for the new city of Jaipur, named after himself, in accordance with the ancient Hindu treatise Vastu Sashtra , a formal exposition on architecture written soon after the compilation of the Vedas . With the aid of the superb Bengali architect Vidyadhar Chakravati, he had the city built in less than eight years. The City Palace was also designed by him, as was Jantar Mantar , the largest stone-built observatory in the world.

After Jai Singh's fruitful 43-year reign came an inevitable battle for succession between the offspring he had fathered with 28 wives and four concubines, and the state was thrown into turmoil. Much of its territory was lost to Marathas and Jats, and the British quickly moved in to take advantage of Rajput infighting, gaining power for themselves while forming alliances with the Rajputs to avoid inconvenient conflict. Unlike their neighbours in Delhi and Agra, the rulers of Jaipur remained loyal to the British during the bloody uprisings of 1857. Following Independence, Jaipur merged with the states of Bikaner, Jodhpur and Jaisalmer; it became capital of Rajasthan in 1956. Today, with a population bordering on two million, the state's most advanced commercial and business centre is as prosperous as ever.

The growing affluence, however, has brought with it mounting environmental problems . With 25 percent of Rajasthan's 1.22 million vehicles registered here, air pollution in the Pink City exceeds the World Health Organization's permissable limits by three times. Recently, the municipality took the radical step of banning three-wheelers, but this has had little impact on air quality, which is worsened by emissions from two large industrial areas on the outskirts. Water quality is also poor due to the lack of adequate sewage disposal systems, and the fact that around one third of the city's inhabitants live in slum dwellings without toilets. As a result, infectious diseases are rapidly increasing, notably hepatitis (a real problem here at the start of the hot season in March and April) and malaria (seventy percent of cases reported in one hospital in 1997 were of the deadly Falciparum strain). The civic authority's inability to respond effectively to Jaipur's public health problems was epitomized in June 1996 when an anti-malarial "fogging operation" in the walled old town led to hospitalization of 2700 people with breathing problems and bronchitis.