The moment I saw Gwalior Fort’s photograph in a travel
magazine, I wanted to visit it. Though I got the chance to visit this city recently only. Located at 122 km south of agra and 423 km north of the
state capital Bhopal, the small city of Gwalior holds a strategic importance in
history..
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| The Gwalior Fort |
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| Aerial View of Gwalior Fort |
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| The frontal View of the Fort |
The motive of visit has been simply to explore the fort, but
I ended up captivated by the interesting details of the city. Lets start with
the iconic Gwalior Fort first. Rising 300 feet up, the fort
is the second largest of such a style, first being the Chittorgarh fort in
Rajasthan. The Mughal emperor Babar has termed it as "the pearl amongst
the fortresses of Hind." Within the fort you will witness marvelous examples
of medieval architecture. As we ascended the steep road going upwards towards
the fort, we saw an array of amazing statues of Jain Tirthankaras, carved into
the rock.
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| Statues of Jain Tirthankaras |
The fort has been basically divided
into two parts - one is well-maintained, while the other being untouched. It has
been constructed during the 15th century by Raja Man Singh, who belonged to the
Tomar dynasty. There are a number of historic buildings inside it, such as -
Man Mandir, Gujari Mahal cum museum, Teli-ka-Mandir Temple and many others.
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| The Bahu Temple (Of Saas-Bahu Temple) |
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| The Saas Temple (Of Saas-Bahu Temple) |
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| The Teli-Mandir |
The
Man Mandir Palace is considered the most beautiful of all. It is elaborately
constructed with an amazing structure that seems to hang on at the edge of the
fort. Blue ceramic tiles form the façade of its walls. The Gujari Mahal is another
magnificent palace, built as a dedication to the queen Mrignayani by Raja Man
Singh Tomar.
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| The Man Mandir Palace |
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| The Man Mandir Palace |
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| The Man Mandir Palace |
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| The Man Mandir Palace |
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| The Man Mandir Palace |
There are two levels down the fort that has been well
preserved and allowed to visit, but it’s better to hire a guide for it. On the
first level, you will find the Queen’s chamber with an ancient telephone.
According the guide, this telephone has a hollow pipe that connected it to the
other part of the palace, acting as a medium of communication between the queen
and the king. I have no idea how true this story is but indeed, there exists a
hole with a hollow pipe where the sound echoes. Apart from this, we also saw an
ancient cooler in the room. On minus two level there is a place called Jauhar
Kund where supposedly ‘sati-pratha’ was performed by the womenfolk of the royal
family. This pratha was initiated when the king of Gwalior was defeated in the
year 1232 AD. Legend has it that when kings used to die during a battle, their
queens used to commit suicide in Jauhar Kund.
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| Jauhar Kund (Now covered) |
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| The ancient telephone |
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| The way to basement |
The sound and light show at the Man Mandir Palace should not
be missed. The eloquent narration of the story is done by Amitabh Bachchan –
the Gopachal, sutradhar (narrator). But unfortunately we missed it because of
heavy rain in the evening.
In the vicinity you will find Saas-Bahu temple and Teli-ka
Mandir, which are simply beautiful. The detailing and the splendid interior are
spell bounding. The plus point is that you can see a bird’s eye view of the
whole city from these Temples. A large part of this fort is under Scindia
School premises. Established in 1897, this school one of the prominent boarding
schools of India. It was originally started for nobles and princes and housed
in the erstwhile barracks of the British soldiers.
Another attraction of this city is the Jai Vilas Palace - a
museum which houses the royal artifacts. It is famous for its rich collection,
ranging from manuscripts, miniature paintings, weapons, sculptures to coins and
other various items. I say, definitely worth visiting !
It is believed that Gwalior was among the five princely
states which enjoyed 21 gun salutes during British rule. Along with Hyderabad,
Mysore, Jammu and Kashmir and Baroda, Gwalior held important stature within
British India.
Gwalior is the headquarters of Chambal region and a major
industrial and commercial region. Often referred to as the tourist capital of
Madhya Pradesh, Gwalior is the fourth largest city of Madhya Pradesh and an
educational hub.
Gwalior is famous for music - one of the oldest gharanas or
schools of Hindustani classical music. Sarod Ghar, the first ever museum is dedicated
to Indian musical instruments is located in this city.
Gwalior is famous for its handicrafts and leather products
all over India.
LOCATION
Situated 197 meters above sea level, Gwalior is 121 km from
Agra and 321 km from the national capital of New Delhi. Several trains are available from Delhi to Gwalior and the
city is well-connected through road ways as well.
