Day 1 Bye Bangalore
Bags packed and I was all set to leave. The plan was to meet at AK house and take a taxi from there to the airport. Flight was at 8 and we were confident of making it well before time. Got into the Omni and the driver would not drive faster than 30 KM/ hour. And to top it the CM decided to travel on the same day and as we neared the airport we had to make way for him losing quite a lot of time. I had dreamt the whole night that I missed my flight to Indore; the dream was so close to becoming true.
The counter was closed but the flight of good times (Kingfisher) accommodated us but in different seats. Got to sit right in the front (need the leg space) with 2 people who were from Indore. I had taken a book to read on the flight, didn’t manage to complete even one page and I was busy chatting with co passengers. They told me about the sweet shops, the food street and the famous poha. They also advised about how to get taxi. That turned out to be a very good tip. They had asked me to go to Jadavji at the airport and ask for taxi. They had describe the man so the job was made every easy.
Our plan was to land in Indore and then take a taxi to Mandu. Sharan managed to strike a deal at 4 Rs per km. Min of 250 Kms per day. So we loaded our bags on to the Indica with driver Nitin we were on our way. We never expected the journey to be so long. Excited initially soon we were all dozing off. As we neared Mandu we saw a lot of ruins. Thought we will stop at them on our way back, never happened.
We reached at about 4:30 checked into our rooms in Malwa Retreat (http://www.mptourism.com/accomm/fo3.html#MANDU).
We chose this as the website said it was in the banks of a lake. Thankfully what the website said was true. The hotel had decent rooms, though I would advise one to cary their own towels. We decided to explore the lake in the morning. For now the plan was to freshen up and catch the sunset.
Advised by the local we went to the popular sunset point near Lumbini Caves. That was my first
sight of the plateau. The hills looked like they didn’t have peaks. The sunset was pretty. After spending some time there we went to enquire about guides in the MP Tourism Office. Though they don’t have their own guides they can suggest some good one. We were referred to Vishnu Tiwari. A quick call with him we decided to meet him and fix things up for the next day. By this time it was about 7:30 and it looked like Mandu was fast a sleep. There is nothing to do after sunset in Mandu.
Luckily for us Sharan had a treasure hunt planned. The treasure being a local drink called Mahuwa. It was illegal to sell it and the only Booze Shop called English Wines didn’t have it. We had to request our drive to source it for us. But for all the trouble that we went through to get it, it was awful.
The day ended with dinner at Malwa Resort. Nothing to rave about.
Day 2- Day out in Mandu
The Bridge across the lake looked beautiful so early in the morning I decided to explore it. I was warned not to walk alone before day break. Decided to take the advice and explore with in the resort.
The walk by the lake was short, and since the sun was already out and we were to meet the guide only at 8:30 am I decided to walk over to a ruin near the hotel. The ruin I got to know later was a communication tower. There are quite a few of these at short distances and in olden days they were used to send messages across the region ruled by the king. I managed to sight lots of birds (names not known to me yet) during the short walk as well.
Our Guide was on time and we were late. Still no harm done. We reached most places before the crowd did, benefit of starting early. We started with palace for the mid-wife. This place is also called Echo point. The guide demonstrated how message was communicated across the region. He also gave us history about the place.
From there we headed to Baz-Bahadur Palace. As you enter there is a small pond called Rewa Kund. It’s believed that the source of the spring is from River Narmada (Rewa the Sanskrit name for Narmada), and if someone was to do a pilgrimage along the banks Narmada this place is a must visit. The surprising fact is that the actual River is about 350 Kms. away from this place. The water level is said to rise if there is rainfall in any place Narmada flows even if there is not rain in Mandu.
Water from this pond was also used for internal cooling system in Baz Bahadur Palace. Baz Bahadur Palace is a structure though named as palace by ASI, its more like an auditorium where competitions were held between musicians. Each room has the roof shaped like a dome so that sound can be carried across in the same quality. The place is a fantastic example of acoustic. The guide hummed a song from the movie Guide to show us how things worked. Jahangir is said to have attended a programme here and made a note of it on his books.
The Palace is also a fine example for the Hindi saying ‘Walls have ears’. This place is designed in such a way that one can hear conversations happening at outside.
From here we headed towards Roopmathi Pavilion, another wonder structure. This was built in 48 hours for Roopmathi , a special courtesan of Baz Bahadur. She was engaged to a rajput, the king saw her during a hunt and fell in love with her and her voice. He asked her to come with him to the palace. Her only condition was that she had to see River Narmada and worship it everyday. So to fulfil this wish he built this place in 2 days. Early in the morning when the sunrays fall on the river the one can see it glittering at a distance. The same wish is believed to have caused the fall of Baz Bahadur. When Akbar heard about Roopmati’s singing he summoned to his court, but she refused to go as she would not be able to see the river. War was declared; just when the kingdom was almost captured by the Mughals she took poison killing herself. Baz Bahadur who was capture when asked about his last wish said that he wanted to die at the place where Roopmathi was buried.
The place also has inbuilt rain harvesting system and can store about 750 gallons of water. The base is built in such a way that it acts as a stable for horses to be tied.
Another thing that will remain a memory from here the local tamarind, this is a fruit that’s brought here from Afghanistan. Just a small piece of it is supposed to quench thirst. We also bought a lot of local herbs from here.
From here we went to Caravan Sari a place built for pilgrims to stay and Malik Mughid Mosque built by Khilji’s father.
After the next stop was Dharya Khan’s tomb. Dharya Khan was a governor of Khilji. It is believed that even to this day no one can enter this place in the night. Our guide narrated his experience with the ghost. After that I was in no mood to go near the place even in the day.
Now we were headed to the 3rd largest mosque in India Jami Masdi. This is based on the mosque in Syria. Though this is identified as a mosque, the place has some traces like a place decorated with shapes like the trunk of elephants for the king to sit, place holders for the legal advisors and the jewels of courts etc indicate that this might be a Palace.
Behind this is the Taj Mahal of Mandu. The Husung Shah’s Tomb. Taj is believe to be a copy of this. Here we found a dummy tomb. The body is actual taken away from here and buried else where.
By now we were tired and it was time for lunch. We decided to take a break and meet back at 3. Just as we split the guide told us about Asrafi Mahal. This place has a interesting reason for the name. The old people in the kingdom (identified as anyone with white hair) have to climb wide steps one foot in one step and reach the top. Only then would they get a gold coin their pension
Lunch was not so great but a welcome break. Couple of beer and it was time to go.
Our next destination was Jahaz Mahal, the pleasure palace. This is a structure built between 3
ponds to make it look like ship. The structure is built from the sand from that came from the digging undertaken to construct the pond. One of the pond is called Karpur Talab because this had herbs put into it which would make ones hair black. This was used by the mistresses to hide their grey. (I wonder what they used) The structure houses fountains shaped like a lotus and another shapes like a tortoise. From here one can also see ‘Water Palace’ we couldn’t go there as it was under renovation. But this place they say was built for Jahangir for his visit to Mandu
Hindola Palace was our nest stop. This place is built with no foundation and has some awesome architectural marvel. There is a spot in the place where water begins to drop 15 days before monsoon starts in Mandu and one can also tell if the rains will be heavy or not. This palace is significant for another reason. Jahangir signed and handed over permission to set up the East India Company here.
Next is the most amusing block in this set of ruins. The 7 storied palace built for 1500 courtesans of Baz Bahadur. Each one is supposed to be the best in some or the other art form. This place had sauna system built in; shower systems, theatre with green rooms. I could only think ‘What a life to lead’
This also has a well situated close by that is a secret way to the underground level where the army stayed. There are huge underground caves where the army stayed. They had some known entrances and lots of secret ones. The enemy would only know about the army that they saw. The large army underground would take them by surprise. It would be interesting to explore these caves
Next stop was the olden day super market. Gada Shah’s shop. Here traders from all over would some to see their wares and distribute it across India. A merchant from Kashmiri once tried to sell saffron here and no one knew its value. Disappointed he emptied all of it into the foundation and walls of Gada Shah’s Shop. The aroma of Saffron can still be smelt though I couldn’t smell it. Hence is its called Kesar Kasturi Mahal as well.
After this we wanted to catch sunset, but we had 2 more places to go. One was the Ujjali Bouri (Open Step Well) and the Anderi Bouri (Closed Well). From here we headed to Delhi Gate. This is the mail entrance to Mandu. The sunset was beautiful. We also go a glimpse of the water source for Mandu. Due to the height, water has to be transported to 3 reservoir one after and other before if reaches Mandu. A tough life but there is no other way to this.
We also learnt as we watched the sunset that there is a place called Budi Mandu. This is on the hills and its one day trek to reach there and that not too many people explore it. I plan to do it someday.
This brought us to the end of our sight seeing for the day. By then we were so tired that we were ready to hit our bed, Delicious Local food called Dal Phaniya waited for us in a Dabha outside our hotel. After inception of the place Sharan thought it was better that to eat in our room. The dish was like idlies made of corn and then roasted slightly. And along with this we were given dal curry, jeera rice, papad and rava laddo. One of the best meals I had eaten in Mandu.
With stomach all filled we went to bed early and rise early and start another exciting day.
Bags packed and I was all set to leave. The plan was to meet at AK house and take a taxi from there to the airport. Flight was at 8 and we were confident of making it well before time. Got into the Omni and the driver would not drive faster than 30 KM/ hour. And to top it the CM decided to travel on the same day and as we neared the airport we had to make way for him losing quite a lot of time. I had dreamt the whole night that I missed my flight to Indore; the dream was so close to becoming true.
The counter was closed but the flight of good times (Kingfisher) accommodated us but in different seats. Got to sit right in the front (need the leg space) with 2 people who were from Indore. I had taken a book to read on the flight, didn’t manage to complete even one page and I was busy chatting with co passengers. They told me about the sweet shops, the food street and the famous poha. They also advised about how to get taxi. That turned out to be a very good tip. They had asked me to go to Jadavji at the airport and ask for taxi. They had describe the man so the job was made every easy.
Our plan was to land in Indore and then take a taxi to Mandu. Sharan managed to strike a deal at 4 Rs per km. Min of 250 Kms per day. So we loaded our bags on to the Indica with driver Nitin we were on our way. We never expected the journey to be so long. Excited initially soon we were all dozing off. As we neared Mandu we saw a lot of ruins. Thought we will stop at them on our way back, never happened.
We reached at about 4:30 checked into our rooms in Malwa Retreat (http://www.mptourism.com/accomm/fo3.html#MANDU).
We chose this as the website said it was in the banks of a lake. Thankfully what the website said was true. The hotel had decent rooms, though I would advise one to cary their own towels. We decided to explore the lake in the morning. For now the plan was to freshen up and catch the sunset.Advised by the local we went to the popular sunset point near Lumbini Caves. That was my first
sight of the plateau. The hills looked like they didn’t have peaks. The sunset was pretty. After spending some time there we went to enquire about guides in the MP Tourism Office. Though they don’t have their own guides they can suggest some good one. We were referred to Vishnu Tiwari. A quick call with him we decided to meet him and fix things up for the next day. By this time it was about 7:30 and it looked like Mandu was fast a sleep. There is nothing to do after sunset in Mandu.Luckily for us Sharan had a treasure hunt planned. The treasure being a local drink called Mahuwa. It was illegal to sell it and the only Booze Shop called English Wines didn’t have it. We had to request our drive to source it for us. But for all the trouble that we went through to get it, it was awful.
The day ended with dinner at Malwa Resort. Nothing to rave about.
Day 2- Day out in Mandu
The Bridge across the lake looked beautiful so early in the morning I decided to explore it. I was warned not to walk alone before day break. Decided to take the advice and explore with in the resort.
The walk by the lake was short, and since the sun was already out and we were to meet the guide only at 8:30 am I decided to walk over to a ruin near the hotel. The ruin I got to know later was a communication tower. There are quite a few of these at short distances and in olden days they were used to send messages across the region ruled by the king. I managed to sight lots of birds (names not known to me yet) during the short walk as well.Our Guide was on time and we were late. Still no harm done. We reached most places before the crowd did, benefit of starting early. We started with palace for the mid-wife. This place is also called Echo point. The guide demonstrated how message was communicated across the region. He also gave us history about the place.
From there we headed to Baz-Bahadur Palace. As you enter there is a small pond called Rewa Kund. It’s believed that the source of the spring is from River Narmada (Rewa the Sanskrit name for Narmada), and if someone was to do a pilgrimage along the banks Narmada this place is a must visit. The surprising fact is that the actual River is about 350 Kms. away from this place. The water level is said to rise if there is rainfall in any place Narmada flows even if there is not rain in Mandu.
Water from this pond was also used for internal cooling system in Baz Bahadur Palace. Baz Bahadur Palace is a structure though named as palace by ASI, its more like an auditorium where competitions were held between musicians. Each room has the roof shaped like a dome so that sound can be carried across in the same quality. The place is a fantastic example of acoustic. The guide hummed a song from the movie Guide to show us how things worked. Jahangir is said to have attended a programme here and made a note of it on his books.
The Palace is also a fine example for the Hindi saying ‘Walls have ears’. This place is designed in such a way that one can hear conversations happening at outside.From here we headed towards Roopmathi Pavilion, another wonder structure. This was built in 48 hours for Roopmathi , a special courtesan of Baz Bahadur. She was engaged to a rajput, the king saw her during a hunt and fell in love with her and her voice. He asked her to come with him to the palace. Her only condition was that she had to see River Narmada and worship it everyday. So to fulfil this wish he built this place in 2 days. Early in the morning when the sunrays fall on the river the one can see it glittering at a distance. The same wish is believed to have caused the fall of Baz Bahadur. When Akbar heard about Roopmati’s singing he summoned to his court, but she refused to go as she would not be able to see the river. War was declared; just when the kingdom was almost captured by the Mughals she took poison killing herself. Baz Bahadur who was capture when asked about his last wish said that he wanted to die at the place where Roopmathi was buried.
The place also has inbuilt rain harvesting system and can store about 750 gallons of water. The base is built in such a way that it acts as a stable for horses to be tied.Another thing that will remain a memory from here the local tamarind, this is a fruit that’s brought here from Afghanistan. Just a small piece of it is supposed to quench thirst. We also bought a lot of local herbs from here.
From here we went to Caravan Sari a place built for pilgrims to stay and Malik Mughid Mosque built by Khilji’s father.
After the next stop was Dharya Khan’s tomb. Dharya Khan was a governor of Khilji. It is believed that even to this day no one can enter this place in the night. Our guide narrated his experience with the ghost. After that I was in no mood to go near the place even in the day.
Now we were headed to the 3rd largest mosque in India Jami Masdi. This is based on the mosque in Syria. Though this is identified as a mosque, the place has some traces like a place decorated with shapes like the trunk of elephants for the king to sit, place holders for the legal advisors and the jewels of courts etc indicate that this might be a Palace.
Behind this is the Taj Mahal of Mandu. The Husung Shah’s Tomb. Taj is believe to be a copy of this. Here we found a dummy tomb. The body is actual taken away from here and buried else where.By now we were tired and it was time for lunch. We decided to take a break and meet back at 3. Just as we split the guide told us about Asrafi Mahal. This place has a interesting reason for the name. The old people in the kingdom (identified as anyone with white hair) have to climb wide steps one foot in one step and reach the top. Only then would they get a gold coin their pension
Lunch was not so great but a welcome break. Couple of beer and it was time to go.
Our next destination was Jahaz Mahal, the pleasure palace. This is a structure built between 3
ponds to make it look like ship. The structure is built from the sand from that came from the digging undertaken to construct the pond. One of the pond is called Karpur Talab because this had herbs put into it which would make ones hair black. This was used by the mistresses to hide their grey. (I wonder what they used) The structure houses fountains shaped like a lotus and another shapes like a tortoise. From here one can also see ‘Water Palace’ we couldn’t go there as it was under renovation. But this place they say was built for Jahangir for his visit to ManduHindola Palace was our nest stop. This place is built with no foundation and has some awesome architectural marvel. There is a spot in the place where water begins to drop 15 days before monsoon starts in Mandu and one can also tell if the rains will be heavy or not. This palace is significant for another reason. Jahangir signed and handed over permission to set up the East India Company here.
Next is the most amusing block in this set of ruins. The 7 storied palace built for 1500 courtesans of Baz Bahadur. Each one is supposed to be the best in some or the other art form. This place had sauna system built in; shower systems, theatre with green rooms. I could only think ‘What a life to lead’
This also has a well situated close by that is a secret way to the underground level where the army stayed. There are huge underground caves where the army stayed. They had some known entrances and lots of secret ones. The enemy would only know about the army that they saw. The large army underground would take them by surprise. It would be interesting to explore these caves
Next stop was the olden day super market. Gada Shah’s shop. Here traders from all over would some to see their wares and distribute it across India. A merchant from Kashmiri once tried to sell saffron here and no one knew its value. Disappointed he emptied all of it into the foundation and walls of Gada Shah’s Shop. The aroma of Saffron can still be smelt though I couldn’t smell it. Hence is its called Kesar Kasturi Mahal as well.
After this we wanted to catch sunset, but we had 2 more places to go. One was the Ujjali Bouri (Open Step Well) and the Anderi Bouri (Closed Well). From here we headed to Delhi Gate. This is the mail entrance to Mandu. The sunset was beautiful. We also go a glimpse of the water source for Mandu. Due to the height, water has to be transported to 3 reservoir one after and other before if reaches Mandu. A tough life but there is no other way to this.
We also learnt as we watched the sunset that there is a place called Budi Mandu. This is on the hills and its one day trek to reach there and that not too many people explore it. I plan to do it someday.
This brought us to the end of our sight seeing for the day. By then we were so tired that we were ready to hit our bed, Delicious Local food called Dal Phaniya waited for us in a Dabha outside our hotel. After inception of the place Sharan thought it was better that to eat in our room. The dish was like idlies made of corn and then roasted slightly. And along with this we were given dal curry, jeera rice, papad and rava laddo. One of the best meals I had eaten in Mandu.
With stomach all filled we went to bed early and rise early and start another exciting day.
to be continue......
