Madhya Pradesh - Forts and Kings

When the Kings beckon, you obey! And when your kids desire for a short break befor exam prep, you provide!

Hence starts our short three day journey to discover the unexplored heart of India...Madhya Pradesh...a land of kings, palaces, rivers, forts and temples...marvelous temple architectures.

With a quick online check of all options, we decided on a train journey starting from New Delhi to Jhansi, and a short taxi ride (25km) to Orchha, our first stop. We just loved the idea of a village home stay in Orchha, and it turned out to be a great way to introduce ourselves to the simple, rustic charms of redolent village life with very few distractions and loads of warmth of real human interaction, and of course sumptuous meals prepared fresh by our host family. The stay can be booked online from Delhi.(http://www.orchha.org) (friendsoforchha@gmail.com   for bookings)

A day's stay in Orchha is not enough to assimilate all that it has to offer....wonderful skyline of distant fort, Laxmi temple, Jehangir Mahal, Sheesh Mahal, RamRaja Mahal, Chhatri by the riverside and rafting in the Betwa river. The storytelling in the form of light and sound show at the Jehangir Mahal gardens was enough to transport us to the 17th century.

With a secret promise to return, and stay in the hotel inside the fort, we moved on to the next stop, the city of temples, erotica, marvelous architecture, KamaSutra in stone....Khajuraho. It is a 180 km taxi ride away, and the same taxi driver took us to our journey to the town of temples....famous all over the world.

This small town is bustling with life, mostly groups of foreign tourists on their quest to delve into the eternal mystery that India seems to be, from the outside. It boasts of a railway station with direct link to Delhi, an airport, 5 star and all star hotels, budget accommodation, metaled road, multi cuisine restaurants with the choicest meals, hippie shopping, all mingling with potholed roads, dhaba, local mela, a functional well in the centre of the village...oh the intoxicating combination of modern and rustic with ancient architecture of long departed kings. 

We spent half a day in the larger group of temples...Western group, which is approached through a ticketed entry. We started our exploration with the help of a guide (govt rates are mentioned at the entrance, you could also opt for audio guide available there.) The place holds a sound and light show in the evening, worth a visit, in the legendary voice of Big B, which we did. There are about 10 temples in this group, including one in active worship, and the basic layout plan of each was described by our guide. He made sure we did not miss out any of the fine sculptures on the panels, walls, vestibule or sanctum of the temples, which they are famous for. The area is open only till sunset, and it was remarkable that all temples were structured to receive sunlight throughout the daytime. His use of a piece of glass to reflect sunlight all the way inside the sanctum to explain some points, made it obvious that the kings worshipped the Sun god in all his glory during that time.

We spent the rest of the day in enjoying the hustle bustle of the place in one of its restaurants, to complete the tour next day, of remaining two groups of temples...the Easter and the Southern. A local auto offered to double as our guide, too, and we armed ourselves with an informative guidebook of ASI we had picked up on the earlier evening. The smaller Eastern group is deep inside the village, scattered within the fields , a well and a pond. It has 3 similar temples as the Western group, though less ornate, and 3 Jain temples further south. The Southern group has 2 temples of similar features , design and ornamentation. 

With so much of verbal description, your patience has to be rewarded with more visual descriptions!! Well worth the wait! There simply isn't enough space to capture so much glory here.....just go see it for yourself!