Urban planning skills aside, the Maharaja wanted to create a city where art and culture thrived. He invited artists and craftsmen from all over the country to make Jaipur their home and provided space for them to work and trade in 36 kharkanas (creative quarters) dedicated to different artistic genres. Artists, architects and craftsmen came together to mould India’s first planned city, a symphony of traditional Hindu and Mughal architecture where public areas combined form and function and new art schools nurtured talent.

In 1876, in anticipation of a visit by the Prince of Wales (heir apparent to the British throne and the future Emperor of India), the young Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II ordered that every building in the city should be freshly decorated. After a coat of paint made with pigment from the local sandstone, Jaipur took on a dusky rose blush and the Pink City nickname was coined.

Inhabitants of what is now a UNESCO World Heritage City still ply their wares in the labyrinthine bazaar where women haggle over jewellery and gemstones and hand-stitched jutti slippers, colourful textiles and embroidered clothing spill from doorways and market stalls. From the beautiful symmetry of Hawa Mahal, where ladies of the court peeked out from 953 intricately carved jharokha balconies, to the master craftsmanship of the City Palace with its elaborate chambers bejewelled in colourful cut glass and mirrors, the city remains an exhibition of Rajasthani arts.

Jaipur’s artistic heritage is also carefully preserved in the Albert Hall Museum, established in the same year as the Prince of Wales’s visit and named in his honour. Its collection of artworks, sculptures, wood engravings, musical instruments, block prints and weaponry chronicles the history of craftwork in the region and the building itself is a wondrous medley of Rajput and Mughal architecture, with domed chhatri roofs, hundreds of marble archways and colonnaded courtyards painted in cool mint green.

If life within the walled city was one of artistic nourishment, the landscape beyond took on a more martial tone. On the steep hills above Jaipur’s arrow-straight streets, Nahargarh Fort is a formidable presence, its steadfast ramparts commanding uninterrupted views over the entire city. The road from Nahargarh leads north along a ridge to Jaigarh Fort, once a vital supply route, now a popular spot for sunrise salutations like ours.

Carefully descending the steep steps of the wall towards the sanctity of Sagar Lake, we notice the heat of the day is beginning to take hold. Meanwhile, birdsong echoes between the hills, monkeys are running amok in the dusty car park and cows amble along the road to Amer town.