Kota, Rajasthan

	Kota, Rajasthan
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Kota, 230km south of Jaipur on a fertile plain fed by Rajasthan's largest river, the Chambal, is one of the state's dirtier and less stimulating cities, and foreign visitors are sufficiently unusual to attract stares in the streets. But it does have some beautiful gardens, and its old palaces house one of the best museums in Rajasthan.

In the seventeenth century, when Kota was declared capital of a newly independent princely state by the Moghul emperor Jahangir, it was ruled by Rao Madho Singh of the Hadachauhan Rajputs.

Today, with a population nudging 650,000, it is one of Rajasthan's major commercial and industrial cities, with hydro, atomic and thermal power stations lining the banks of the Chambal, alongside Asia's largest fertilizer plant. The nuclear plant of Rawat Bhata, protected by stringent security 60km southwest, is notorious for its impact on local villagers.

Greatly prized saris from the village of Kaithoon , 20km southeast of Kota, are sold in all the bazaars. Made of tightly woven cotton or silk, and often highlighted with golden thread, they are known here as masooria and elsewhere as Kota doria saris.