Mesmerizing Mandu Part-1
Mandu the city of love!!!
Travelers from India and also from abroad generally look for a place with natural scenic beauty, lovely weather and good facilities. If these are your main priorities come to Mandavgarh also mentioned as Mandu from the locals. It’s a place full of architectural marvels in between the hills. This place was once the kingdom of many Islamic emperors. But the most important story which goes with the place is of Baz Bahadur and Rani Roopmati. It is in the best interest of the travelers to hire a guide once you reach there. It is some 100kms away from Indore.
Jamia Masjid
Once you are in the heart of the city the place would be surrounded by guides and two big monuments on the either side of the road are Jamia Masjid and Ashrafi Mahal. Jamia Masjid is an excellent example of architectural brilliance, it is somewhat of octagonal shape and in whichever corner you stand you can see the center of the tomb right on your head. Going further down into the jamia masjid which was once the fort is a huge structure with numerous small to big tombs. The guide will mention 140 tombs and the tombs are there to resonate the sound and make it reach the last person in the croud without shouting (isn’t that brilliant??).
Beautiful View During Walk Down
This place has got nice lawn spread around with colorful flowers planted on the periphery. This place can give the best experience to be like a king to walk down the aisle with imaginary clergymen who are ready to take your orders. Once you are at the kings place no one forgets to test the 140 tombs and its resonance of sound on high pitch. On the either side you can see the elevated plinths which was once used for the queens to be present in the room behind the curtains (it is not accessible now!!). Behind this huge structure are the servant quarters which is accessible from the side of the tombs. This place looks like a long hall with narrow but elongated windows as if a rectangle shaped brick has been taken out of the arrangement, so that the sunlight comes in.
Hosang Shah’s Grave
Behind all this is a structure which looks relatively familiar and is generally mentioned by the locals as a lookalike of Taj Mahal. It is known as Hosang shah’s grave. This place is almost similar to the Taj apart from the four minarets on the outer side. On the entrance of this place there is a big note in Urdu as translated by the guide that Taj Mahal has been copied from this structure. Just like the Taj it is made white marbles but is relatively smaller in size then the original Taj. Inside the place there are three graves of Hosang shah and his relatives. Because the ministry of tourism India has made this a heritage place you’d need to pay the entry fees in both the above mentioned places.
Ashrafi Mahal/Palace
On the other side of the road and opposite to Jamia Masjid is the Ashrafi Mahal. The story goes with the name of the place that king used to offer a golden coin on every step the fat queen(s) took. When the king offers such reward it is expected that I might be difficult, try it1 it indeed is difficult to go up the stairs. Consumes a lot of energy and strong thigh muscle to climb. On the top there is nothing special but gives you a better view of the valley.
Mesmerizing Mandu Part-2
So finally after a couple of days gap I am ready to take you the further locations of Mandu. Each location I add would be better than the previous one and I can bet my top dollar on that. After admiring the beauty, ambiance and the architecture of jamia Masjid, Hosang Shah’s tomb and the Ashrafi Mahal we are now set to see more architectural brilliance and scenic beauty of the place.
Mandu Fort/ Rani Roopmati’s Pavillion:
While driving towards the hill top to see the dwelling of the beauty sensation at that time you’ll see a small board on the left of the road saying ego point, not to forget you’ll also be able to see few people just trying to check the authentication of that place and speaking out all sorts of things. It is said that from this place the messages were passed on due to resonance as the facility of communication were not available. (the guy over there will mention that certain messages were passes on in the similar manner through thousands of acres. Isn’t that cool??).
You can try testing that place out later because the best is yet to come. Mandu fort is a small place on the hill top, probably at the highest altitude in Mandu. Rightly positioned to keep a watch in case someone attacks you. On the way to the pavilion you’ll also see the fort of the then ruler Baz Bahadur.
When you arrive at the pavilion you can see another architectural brilliance constructed with stones. It is a multi-storey building. The lower part of which was used to keep the horses and the upper part the soldiers. To get a 360 degree view of the place you need to go to the top of the place. While you are going to the top you’ll pass through a small outlet where only one person can pass at a time, so whenever they are attacked in groups they have to go singly through this path and can be easily conquered. (great thinking isn’t it?
There all the chance that you can kill all of them like this). The guide will give you some details on the rive which flows between the hills and the beauty of the place. On the bottom of the construction there is a big structure can’t be described as a well nor a tank because its so huge. All the rain water is stored in there.
While falling back you will come across a wracked fort. (looks withered from outside but its an architectural brilliance on the inside. As soon as you enter the fort (obviously is not the original entrance as you can see) you can see all sorts of two channels passing throughout the fort, these channels are the open channels to supply water (they didn’t have plastic or steel pipes at that time). Follow the guide at every single moment. Inside the nicely constructed part of the fort (which is still as it is) which once belonged to Baz Bahadur you can see two chambers referred to as the music chambers.
Baz Bahadur and Roopmati used to rehearse their singing in these chambers. Singing at average volume will make the person in the other chamber some 100 feet away has crystal clear voice. This is due to the construction of the side joints of the ceiling. They are hollow to pass the sound clearly. (brilliant isn’t it?).
- Also Read: Famous Fort & Palaces of Madhya Pradesh
The Love Story of Mandu or a Myth??
The story line about this place is that Baz Bahadur and Roopmati fell in love with each other and got married with both Hindu and Muslim rituals. When Mandu was conquered by Adam Khan who was also attracted by the beauty of Roopmati Baz Bahadur was defeated and Roopmati didn’t want to accept Adam Khan and poisoned herself. However people are not sure if this storyline has significance and is correct. It is up to the reader/listener or viewer to make a judgment for themselves.
Other Small Places:
There are certain other places around this fort of Mandu obviously less significant but worth visiting. Your guide will take you through a small ally way which looks as if you are passing through a jungle. There is this small lord Shiva temple and it is said that King Akbar once visited this place and he mentioned to be one of the most beautiful place he has ever visited. He also used to come there for hunting.
The best part of Mandu to follow in the forthcoming blogs under the name of Jahaj Mahal (Palace in similar shape of a ship!!).
Mesmerizing Mandu Part-3
Further continuing the journey in this place where beauty is enchanted at every step. When you are taking a back route, I am sure by now you have tested the eco point by saying one or the other thing. So just near that place I am sure you might have seen three wracked constructions as mentioned by the guide are the dwellings of the nanny’s. Further down the road is the dining hall of the soldiers, this place looks a bit haunted though.
Jahaz Mahal (Ship Palace):
So now we are ready to enter into the even better part of Mandu compared to whatever we’ve seen till now. Entry to this place is chargeable and trust me its worth paying it. As soon as you enter the gate for Jahaz Mahal on your right is a small museum you can have a quick look if you want. Right in front of you is a big structure attractive and looks fully intact. The pedestrian path is also attractive and green, as you go closer to the fort it goes bigger and bigger. Now on your right is a big pond sufficient to provide one years water supply to the fort then there is this ship palace and to the left of the palace is another big pond called Munj talab.
This gives the palace a look as if a ship is floating in the water and so it is called Jahaz Mahal. The Kapoor Talab (pond of Camphor)has a story. The name goes by the story that who so ever takes bath in that pond will have black hairs. The king used to ask her queens to bathe in this pond, however it is not the best option to bathe in now.
On the jahaz mahal there are long staircases for access to the terrace. From the terrace you can see that the whole structure is divided into three different forts and all are accessible through different stairs. The ruler of that time was really fond of fountains hence between the three structures you can see a lotus shaped and a tortoise shaped fountains, however water don’t flow in them now. Inside the fort are big rooms for different purposes. On the last structure out of the three there is this big elevate balcony which is for the queens to come to the kings court on an elephant. Looking up you’d say were the elephants really that tall? Yes they were!! Further down the palace were described as the dwellings of the then king who had some 15000 women for his entertainment.
Female Dwellings:
So again we’d be talking about the architectural brilliance at this place where the so called queens used to stay. Again you’d be able to see the water channels. Now in the middle of the place as described by the guide is the place where all the arms and ammo were once used to be stored. The construction of these dwellings are such that during the summer their chambers are filled with cool air courtesy Munj Talab. The dwellings are constructed that way and the guide will demonstrate that. In the further part of this place suddenly the ceiling size is reduced. This gives sometime for the dwellers to rush towards a safer place. As referred by the guide the ceiling length is some 5 and a half to 6 feet and humans at that time used to be as tall as 8-9 feet.
Hence they had to droop and lower their speed of running with swords lingering and getting stuck in the ceiling. There are some structures referred to as the bathing place of the queens inside are elevated channels where hot and cold water used to flow and on the top as an arrangement wherein you can stand underneath on a rainy day and it will give you feel of having a shower. (brilliant again isn’t it?).
Unique Rama Temple:
There is a unique temple of lord Rama where idol of goddess Sita (wife of lord Rama) is positioned on the right hand side who is generally on the left hand side of lord Rama. This can only be seen at Mandu.
I hope you enjoyed the description of the place. Worth visiting not once but twice thrice and many more times. I had been to this place thrice and plan to go again in the coming summer.
- Must Read: Things to Do in Madhya Pradesh