Patangbaazi from the royal corridors of Jaipur

Kite flying is one of the most celebrated festivals of Jaipur. As the harvest festival of Makar Sankranti approaches, the blue skies of Jaipur are dotted with millions of colourful kites.

On the morning of Makar Sankranti, the loud cheer of “Woh Kata” which starts from the rooftops continues till late evening.

It’s a very common sight on the roofs of every house where the taste of gajak, sesame sweets and pakodas is on one side and on the other side people are seen flying kites in the sky.

Not only domestic but foreign tourists also come to Jaipur to see the kite flying on Makar Sankranti.

The history of kite flying of Jaipur is about 200 years old. According to historians, the connection of the pink city of kite flying is related to the city of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh.

The credit for the introduction of kite flying goes to Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II (1835–1880 AD), the son and successor of Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh III of the Jaipur royal family. Sawai Ram Singh ll started the journey of kite flying from Tukkal, which was brought to him from Lucknow.

The kites were made of muslin cloth (tukkals) with bells attached to them which would make a tinkling sound as they flew in the sky.

Even today the kites and charkhis of Maharaja Ram Singh II are kept safe in the City Palace Museum in Jaipur, which remains the centre of attraction for tourists visiting here on Makar Sankranti.

According to historians, Sawai Ram Singh II liked kite flying so much that he added a kite factory to the 36 factories in the princely state of Jaipur, where huge butterflyshaped kites were manufactured. Some kite makers from Lucknow used to come here regularly.

Maharaja Ram Singh II used to fly tukkals which would travel far off but when his kites in the sky would get cut, horsemen would be ready to ride out and retrieve them, and the one who rode back with the kite first was highly rewarded. Maharaja Ram Singh ll gave shelter to kite-flyers and kitecarvers in his rule.

Before independence, there used to be kite flying on the grounds of Jalmahal and Laldungri on Amer Road in Jaipur. Mahakavi Bihari and Sawai Jai Singh’s poet Bakhtram have also written in their works about flying kites in Amer.

Even today, members of the ernstwhile Jaipur royal family like Diya Kumari, Sawai Padmanabh Singh carry forward their tradition and fly kites on Sankranti in the nearly 300-year-old City Palace complex