Madhya Pradesh - Forts & Palaces

A winding drive up a hill takes you to the awesome Gwalior Fort, the 15^th-century bastion of the Rajputs, where many a battle against Muslim invaders was fought. It is one of the oldest examples of Rajput architecture and has many stories of bravery and heroism wrapped around it.

The Man Mandir Palace is the main building, built by Raja Man Singh between 1486 and 1516. Visitors are struck by a beautiful sight of the front facade of this palace with patterned tiles still retaining their gloss and colour rows of ducks, elephants, crocodiles and banana trees form unusual patterns on the tall and imposing stone walls. The inner courtyard has carved pillars and rooms around it, and two underground floors that were at first the living quarters of the ranis, and were later converted into dungeons by the Moghuls who overtook the fort.

The fort complex has many temples including the Teli ka mandir, the sas-bahu temple, as well as enormous carvings of Jain tirthankaras made on a rock face on the hill-side.

The scenic ruins of the capital of the Bundela kings can be seen at Orchha, scenically sprawled along the Betwa River. Three beautiful palaces are situated close to each other these are the Raj Mahal, Jahangiri Mahal, and Rai Praveen Mahal. The most elaborate palace is the Jahangiri Mahal which has a series of halls and chambers (many of them underground) around a central courtyard with minarets, chhatris and windows with intricate jaalis; the impressive facade is decorated with carvings and glazed tiles. 

 Along the river are scattered 14 elaborately carved chhatris or cenotaphs, in memory of kings and their queens, many of whom committed sati.  At the Orchha town you can visit the temples of Ram Raja, Chaturbhuj, and Lakshmi-Narayan.