Madhya Pradesh Tourism Guide

The old city of Gwalior centres on a walled fortress, one of the most famous in India, that is situated atop a cliffed plateau nearly 2 miles (3 km) long that rises a sheer 300 feet (90 m) from the plain.The fortress contains eight tanks (reservoirs), six palaces, six temples, a mosque, and several other buildings. The Teli-ka-Mandir (11th century), the Gujari Mahal (c. 1500), and the surviving atrium of the Great Sas-Bahu Temple (1093) are outstanding examples of Hindu architecture within the fort. Just below the fort's walls are 15th-century rock-cut Jaina statues that are nearly 60 feet (18 m) high. Other places of interest in Gwalior include a zoological garden, several museums, a central technical institute, and an industrial-research laboratory.

An Insight :
The city of Mysore offers a visitor an insight into the lifestyles, cultures and traditions of its erstwhile rulers. The palaces and temples around the city speak volumes about heritage and architecture of the medieval times and the kind of patronage the city received from its rulers.
Mysore is a dream city that never lets down the visitors with its clean, light and easygoing environment. Even with the growth of the city in response to modernization, Mysore has acquired only a mild change of pace. Located in the Indian state of Karnataka, Mysore was the former capital of this region. A city of palaces, people and smells, the princely city of Mysore is worth a visit whatever the month or season.

Attractions :
Mysore is a very important city in terms of tourism for Karnataka. It has many places one can visit while taking a South Indian holiday, such as the Maharajah's Palace, the Chamundeshwari temple, the Zoological gardens and the Brindavan Gardens.

» Srirangapatnam - 15 km from Mysore, Srirangapatnam has many interesting places including the summer palace of Tipu Sultan, which was built in 1784 in the Indo-Saracenic style. It also houses a small museum exhibiting Tipu's trivia such as a gold-embroidered tunic, old paintings and a coin collection. Then, there is Gumbaz, the mausoleum of Tipu Sultan and his father, Hyder Ali. Another famous place to visit is Jami Masjid. The slender minarets of this mosque are visible from several kilometers.

» Mysore Palace - Built in around 897 AD in Saracenic style, the Mysore palace is a fusion of Hindu and Muslim architectural styles. Designed by an English architect, it was built in place of an earlier palace burnt down in 1897 and was completed in 1912. The main palace building is made of massive gray granite with a tower covered by a gilded dome. The huge rooms and the floor tiles are covered with colors like turquoise blue, magenta, golden yellow and leaf green. The tastefully beautified central hall was once used for marriages and other major gatherings. There is a temple within the royal courtyard, from where the Dussehra procession starts in the month of October. The museum of the palace houses a collection of musical instruments, children's toys, many paintings, costumes and weapons belonging to the Maharajah's family.

» Chamundi Hills - Chamundi Hills, about 13 Kms from Mysore. It can be approached by stairs and midway on the climb you would notice a huge statue of Nandi (bull) carved out of a single stone. At the top, is the temple to Goddess Chamundeswari, the same one who annihilated the demon "mahishasura" It is one of the places that tourists like to visit in Karnataka since it is unique and has a story of its own.

» Brindavan Gardens - 30-minutes drive away from the city, Brindavan Gardens has watercourses bordering the well-manicured steps of these world famous terrace gardens. Musical fountains with soft colored lights are a tourist attraction here and the view of the gardens during the nights is not worth missing.

Shopping
Mysore is famous for its sandalwood products, oil, and fine silk fabrics, especially the hand-woven silk sarees and garments, at competitive prices. The main shopping area is on Sayaji Rao Road in the main city. During the festival season, one can purchase wares from all over the country from exhibitions. Other traditional handicrafts of Mysore available in Mysore are rosewood, sandalwood, copper ware, stone and brass, wooden furniture, sandalwood powder and perfumes and lacquer ware.

How To Get There??
» By Air - The nearest airport is in Bangalore, 140 km from Mysore, which has daily flights to most of the important cities in India.

» By Train - Mysore is well connected with regular trains to most of the metros like Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai. The railway station is almost 2 km from the city center.

» By Road - Mysore has a good network of roads connecting it to the other important cities of the region.

An Introduction :
Orchha is a town near Jhansi in Madhya Pradesh state. It shows a long flag with 11 black and yellow diagonal stripes. Orchha is a 17-gun state. Ed Haynes' site, Indian Princely States, states that it had a population of 314,000 in 1931, and an area of 2,080 square miles.
Orchha, meaning a "hidden place", certainly lives up to its name. Languishing amid a tangle of scrubby dhak forest, 18km southeast of Jhansi, the former capital of the Bundela dynasty gets only a small portion of the Khajuraho bound traffic. Architectural gems, however, abound in this town. Clustered around the foot of the exotic ruins, a sleepy village of neatly painted houses, market stalls, and a couple of attractive government hotels provide most of the basic amenities.
Orchha was never really a very affluent place, that did not deter the fiercely proud Bundelas from undertaking ambitious projects. Orchhas legacy has been captured in stone and frozen in time, a rich legacy to all ages. The hands of time rest gently on this medieval city, and the palaces and temples built by the Bundelas retain much of their pristine perfection. The remarkable proportions of the exteriors are matched by the grandeur of the interior-rich repositories of Bundela art. The richness of its palaces, temples and cenotaphs is reflected in the gently flowing water of the Betwa River.

Art & Architecture :
Orchha is known for its elegant architecture and its unique sequential development of domes, brackets, pillars, arches and ledges. The domes that crown the monuments of Orchha are primarily hemispherical, but in some buildings, one comes across palanquin-shaped domes. The brackets are found mainly in two varieties: elephant-shaped ones that you can see in the Jahangir and Raja Mahals, and serpentine brackets with floral designs that are influenced by Islamic architecture. The arches that decorate the monuments of Orchha are magnificent and greatly enhance the quality of the structures. The earlier ones have horizontal lintels placed atop solidly constructed jambs, while the later fabrications have cylindrical-shaped trabeated openings united at the top to form a complex unit. The pillars are fairly plain with not much of ornamental work, but the Raja Mahal houses massive 12-faced pillars with inverted bases that are definitely worth a look.
Complementing the noble proportions of the exteriors are the interiors that represent the finest flowering of the Bundela School of painting. For instance, in the Laxminarayan Temple, vibrant murals covering a wide variety of religious and secular themes bring the walls and ceilings alive.

In the medieval ages, Orchha also enjoyed a rich tradition in the fields of literature and poetry. Its most famous bard was Keshav Das who visited the courts of Birbal and the Mughal Emperor, Jehangir, in the 17th century a.d. His most famous disciple, Rai Parveen, was equally well known for her ravishing looks as well as her lyrical voice. Her enchanting beauty and her sharp repartees dazzled even Emperor Akbar.