Introduction to city Mandu - In Madhya Pradesh
Mandu, or the ”City of Joy”, is a superb
hilltop fort, deserted, dramatic, and alive
with ghosts! It is a dream city steeped in
legends of the love of Baz Bahadur for his
beloved Rani Roopmati. Breathtakingly beautiful,
this former capital of the Sultanate of Malwa
is perched high on a hill in the central Indian
state of Madhya Pradesh, 283 km away from
the capital city Bhopal. A ghost city now,
Mandu was once the monsoon retreat of the
Mughal emperors. For one thing, Mandu is far
from the coast. It does not have the sort
of sluicing rain that inundates some of our
seaboard destinations. Moreover, Mandu is
on a plateau and regardless of how much it
rains, the water pours off in silver-threaded
waterfalls which gives it a sort of designer
magic that no designer but only nature can
replicate. And finally—and this is a big plus—many
of the monumental buildings of Mandu have
been fashioned to use this play of water and
rain-heavy thunder clouds to superb effect.
You’ll get an inkling of what you should expect
in Mandu when you drive through the sub-montane
lands that lead up to the plateau. Rising
out of the tangles of scrub vegetation are
no-nonsense, foursquare, staging posts for
horse-mounted messengers and guardhouses.
Some of them have domes which look rather
like the qullas, or foundation caps around
which some turbans are tied. Then the road
winds up and pierces the edge of the escarpment
through a succession of massive gates. It
is only then that one enters the hamlet of
Mandu flowing through the old monuments. The
living hamlet and the well-preserved ruins
now form a seamless whole and it is virtually
impossible to see where one ends and the other
begins.
SightSeeing : Places to visit in
destination - Mandu
Mandu has over 40 monuments to choose from.
For convenience, these are divided into three
broad groups: the Central Village Group, the
Royal Enclave Group, and the Rewa Kund Group.
You can easily spend all day in Mandu, wandering
in and out of palaces, pausing to admire the
beauty of the Champa Baoli, the former
baths, and the huge 15th-century Jami Masjid,
the finest example of Afghan architecture
in India. Then there are the beautiful Jahaz
Mahal (ship palace), where the architectural
illusion is completed by the two surrounding
lakes; the Hindola Mahal, or swing
palace; the romantic Baz Bahadur’s Palace
and Roopmati’s Pavilion; and Hoshang
Shah’s Tomb, the final resting place of
the founder of Ghuri Dynasty. Besides, there
are many palaces, pavilions, and reservoirs
where you can spend a leisurely day taking
in the city’s rather turbulent history, which
is not revealed by the monuments that speak
of luxurious royal lifestyles.
Excursions : Places nearby city -
Mandu
Mandu can be made the base for visiting several
important destination of south Madhya Pradesh.
The Bagh Caves (50 km) are Buddhist
viharas that were excavated on the perpendicular
rock face of a hill. Of particular interest
here are the mural paintings drawn by master
painters of ancient India. Another religious
place near Mandu is Omkareswar. The
site of the famous Omkareswar Mahadeo temple,
Omkareswar houses one of the 12 jyotirlingas
of India. Then there is Maheshwar,
a temple city that finds mention in the Mahabharata
and Ramayana. The Mahishmati of yore, Maheshwar
is also a household name for its unique Maheshwari
saris.
Mandu City Travel Guide |
Sight Seeing of Mandu |
Excursion in Mandu
Mandu Travel Tours |
Mandu Hotels |
Picture Gallery of Mandu
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