It went with the crumbling of modern Jaipur which, under the maharajahs, had been a glorious desert city of wide avenues, palaces, peacocks and pink walls.

They are lined with pleasure domes, octagonal kiosks, maharajahs' palaces and Ottoman minarets, their lattice and lacework done in iron instead of shining marble.

Economists are outdoing each other with ever more curious instruments, ranging from lethal mosquitoes to heirless maharajahs, or, most recently, wind speeds and sea currents.