Glorious Gwalior - a peek into the regal past

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Madhya Pradesh beckons…the heart of incredible India! On a longish weekend, we set out from New Delhi to the hitherto unexplored Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh (MP). A 50-minute ATR flight from Delhi's swanky airport terminal, T-3 brought us to the dusty, dreary city of Gwalior leaving us breathless as we savoured the sights and stories of its royal past.

Thanks to the net, we had booked ourselves in the hotel, Tansen Residency, a mid-budget property owned by MP Tourism located on Mahatma Gandhi Road quite close to the railway station. The hotel offers 12 AC deluxe suites and 24 double-bed accommodations. The AC room with attached toilet allotted to us was quite spacious facing a well manicured garden of the hotel. MP Tourism scores much better than the average state-run tourist lodges especially for their eagerly helpful staff. We were promptly advised to avail ourselves of their comprehensive package tour of Gwalior by an open eight-seated coach next day.

In the evening, the hotel staff guided us to visit the central market at 'Baada', originally known as 'Maharaj Bada', for a real feel of Gwalior. We reached 'Jayaji Chowk' at the downtown Gwalior. The place was named after the scion of royal family, Maharaja Jayajirao Scindia (1835-1886), who has been immortalized by a marble statue placed on a high podium at the central park. The park is surrounded by heritage structures with ornate sandstone carvings and beautiful paintings on their facades…the buildings belong to State Bank, General Post Office, Town Hall, Victoria Market renamed as Rani Laxmibai Market and now abandoned after a devastating fire. I got busy with the camera trying to capture the scenes of a thriving city. Streets from the central park and myriads of by-lanes off from them lead one to the intricate innards of 'Baada' market…a narrow lane stacked with pigeon-hole shops specializing in specific wares…gold & silver, garments, shoes, electronic goods…merchandizing at its best!

The day-long Gwalior tour by MP Tourism had brought us first to the relatively new Sun temple, constructed only in 1988 and styled after the famous Sun temple of Konark, Orissa. On walking down a shaded path across a huge well maintained garden, we approached the temple. With the idol of Sun God in its sanctum sanctorum, the temple is structured as a chariot being drawn by seven horses representing seven constituent colours of white light. All around the sandstone walls of the temple, there are beautifully sculpted panels depicting various Hindu Gods.

Our next stop-over was the mausoleum of 16th. century Afghan Prince, Ghous Mohammed, who was also a famous sufi saint credited with scripting the tenets of Din-i-llahi, extracting the essence of all religious faiths as championed by the great Mughal emperor, Akbar. The mausoleum with distinct Islamic architecture has some intricately carved window screens made of delicately pierced marble panels. As the saint supposedly granted wishes of many childless couples for an issue, his grave is lined with several marriage invitation cards praying for a son, a typical obsession with many Indians! Next to the mausoleum of Ghous Mohammed, in a rather spartan surrounding lies buried one of the great sons of Gwalior, Tansen, who mesmerized the Mughal court with his rendition of Hindustani classical music and greatly endeared himself to Akbar. Adjoining his grave, stands a very old tamarind tree…aspiring singers from the past relished its leaves hoping for the miracle, mastering the musical abilities of Tansen!

We crisscrossed Gwalior enjoying all its fervour…narrow streets of daily markets, heaps of colours being vended as the city was busy preparing for the Indian festival of colours, 'Holi' on the next day…our coach maneuvered through the chaotic traffic, stray oxen & cows and brought us to 'Gujari Mahal', a palace constructed by mighty Rajput king Man Singh Tomar as a token of love for his Gujjar queen, Mrignayani. Gujari Mahal, now converted into an archaeological museum, is a host to ancient artifacts, some of them dating back to 1st. century AD. The carved out pillars, sculptures, bronze & brass statuettes, coins, paintings and even a large assortment of weaponry all recovered from the Bundelkhand region ported us into the annals of history. The collection was quite well displayed, thanks to the Archaeology department of MP Government.

As we were struggling hard to recover from the hangover of history, our next stop at Jaivilas Palace simply took our breath away…this time with its sheer opulence! The palace, constructed in 1874 by Jayaji Rao Scindia, was styled on the palace of Versailles and combined the Tuscan, Italian and Corinthian architectural styles. A large part of the palace is still the abode of Scindia family but 35 rooms of the palace have been converted into Scindia Museum. The museum proudly displays the royal possessions of Scindia family collected from all over the world…the sitting & dining rooms with the finest of British (Chippendale), French & Italian furniture, Persian carpets, heavy draperies & tapestries, guilt patterns on the ceilings, intricately carved heavy rosewood beds, cabinets and dining tables from South India, large vases with fine painting, screens & bamboo furniture from China, Italian marble sculptures, music room with a variety of pianos, sitars, sarods & violins, giant Belgian mirrors, the regalia & insignia used in the royal processions & marches, huge cache of firearms…the palace unfolded the royal living at its best! But more wonders still awaited us…150-seat dining hall with a mini railway track on the central table for a powered engine to slowly lug around silverware wagons carrying liquors in cut-glass bottles for the diners. The dining hall is still in use by Scindia family; the last dinner was hosted for Her Excellency, Pratibha Patil, President of India sometime in 2010. A short climb up the wide staircase with crystal balustrades brought us to the Banquet hall, known as Darbar Hall…its ceiling adorns two largest chandeliers in the world, each weighing 3-1/2 tons, specially ordered from Belgium. As skeptics doubted the roof strength for hanging the chandeliers, ten elephants were lifted onto the rooftop for a load bearing test! The kaleidoscope of royal lifestyle hit us hard like a heady cocktail…we desperately needed to get back to reality.

After the lunch break, our coach clambered up a narrow winding road and brought us to the famed Gwalior fort ensconced within a two-mile long & 35-foot high perimeter wall…the fort is truly huge, next only to Chittorgarh fort by size. The earliest recorded history of the fort traces its origin in 727 AD, when a local chieftain, Suraj Sen was cured of leprosy by drinking water from a pond as directed by Saint Gwalipa. Suraj Sen established Gwalior, named after the kind saint and christened the pond as Surajkund, which is well preserved today within the fort’s premises. Later the most powerful king of Tomar Rajput dynasty, Man Singh constructed the invincible fortress during 1486-1516 and named it as Man Mandir. The sandstone fort with its steep but majestic outer walls with exquisite patterns by ceramic tiles, circular towers with domed pavilions at regular intervals on the wall, large halls with stone screens ensuring privacy of royal ladies while learning music left us awestruck! We climbed down the deadly dungeons below where many royal prisoners were consigned to slow death by forcing them to eat food laced with opium by the Mughals in the later period. Mughal Prince, Murad was imprisoned, tried for treason and later hanged by his brother, Emperor Aurangzeb at Gwalior fort.

The fort within its precincts also houses two beautiful red sandstone temples constructed in 11th. century, ‘saas-bahu ki mandir’ dedicated to Vishnu…larger one presumably favoured for worship by the mother-in-law and smaller one by the daughter-in-law. The larger temple has patterns & motiffs carved on the doorway, ceilings, columns and sculptures of numerous idols of Hindu Gods & Goddesses on the wall panels. On order from Aurangzeb, the temple was badly damaged and the finest sculptures were destroyed. We also visited Teli ka mandir at a little distance from saas-bahu ki mandir. 100-ft. high Teli ka mandir, constructed in the 9th. century, is possibly the only temple in the north of India with its dome styled after the Dravidian architecture. The kingdom of Gwalior went through a change of fortunes and ruling hands till it landed at the hands of British. The British buttressed the fort by building a mini cantonment within its periphery. They constructed bungalows for the army officers, barracks for the soldiers but they decided to handover the fort to Scindias in 1886 swapping it for the control of Jhansi from them. The erstwhile cantonment buildings came into good use as the Scindia School was founded in 1897 using the British built facilities.

The sun had finally set on Gwalior and the city below started glittering with lights of various hues…view from the fort atop the Gopachal Hill was ethereal. As the surroundings turned dark, fort precincts came alive with the ‘light & sound show’ of MP Tourism. The history of Gwalior unfolded by sonorous narration by none other than Amitabh Bachchan. We were overwhelmed with the captivating account of bravery, chivalry and valour of royal dynasties, the ravaging wars among the Rajputs, Mughals & the British, endearing love story of Man Singh & Mrignayani and enchanted by authentic 'dhrupad' singing, a gift of Gwalior music style to the world…the rich historical legacy, spanning over 1000 years and deftly packaged into an hour-long programme, made our trip to Gwalior truly memorable!

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