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Palaces in Madhya Pradesh

• Chanderi

  • Badal Mahal - This is a tall, slim, rather elaborate arch that leads nowhere. There is no building either in front or behind it. There is also no local legend that might explain its purpose. The palace is called a 'cloud mansion', as it was meant to serve as the entrance to the summer resort cooled by flowing water simulating monsoon showers. This, however is just informed speculation based on 'Badal Mahals' in other parts of India.

  • Koshak Mahal - On the secular buildings in Chanderi, the majestic Koshak Mahal, 4 kms from the town centre, is the most significant. Set in landscaped gardens, only three and a half floors of the original seven-storey structure survive. The palace is said to have been built by Mahmud Shah for his wife, Koshak, who gave birth to their child here. He named the palace after her and it was originally named Koshak Hafta; hafta (Urdu for week) denoting its seven floors.

• Mandu

  • Baz Bahadur's Palace - Built by Baz Bahadur in the early 16th century, the palace's unique features are its courtyard surrounded by halls and high terraces which afford a superb view of the surrounding countryside.

  • Hindola Mahal - An audience hall also belonging to Ghiyas-ud-din's reign, it derives the name of 'Swinging Palace' from its sloping sidewalls. Superb and innovative techniques are also evident in its ornamental facade, delicate trellis work in sandstone and beautifully moulded columns. To the west of Hindola Mahal there are several unidentified buildings which still bear traces of their past grandeur. Amidst these is an elaborately constructed well called Champa Baoli which is connected with underground vaulted rooms where arrangements for cold and hot water were made. There is also a Hamam, or bath-house, in this living complex. It has apertures like stars cut into its ceiling.

  • Hathi Mahal - This palace is a massive building with enormously broad pillars that give it its name: the Elephant Palace. It is crowned by a huge dome. Judging from its design it seems to have been planned as a summer house, a place designed to catch the slightest breeze and cool its occupants in the heat of the summer. It was later converted into a mausoleum, because it holds a tomb, a detached caravanserai, and a mosque nearby.

  • Jal Mahal - This water palace has two halls with valued ceilings and seems to have been meant for the use of its rulers. Its marble walls, with medallions of blue and yellow with inscriptions, give it a certain regal air. But though it has not been dated it is likely that it was constructed after the Khalji era. It was probably built to offer a private escape for royal couples.

  • Moti Mahal, Jahaz Mahal - Moti Mahal is a massive building situated by the museum near Chhatri of Rani LaxamiBai. At present it houses the office of the Commissioner. MotiMahal was built by Srimant Maharaja JiwajiRaoScindia in 1827 A.D with its auditorium acting as an assembly hall of Madhya Bharat during the regime of the Scindias. The wall paintings in the Ragmala Hall are fascinating. Take a few minutes to marvel at the paintings depicting Dussehra festival (celebrated by the Scindial family) and Radha-Krishna.

  • Nilakantha Palace - This beautiful princely residence was built in the 16th century by the governor of the fort, Shah Budagh Khan. It is a most unusual building set against a cutaway section of the hillside. The three sides of the palace have high walls, with Islamic arches and alcoves and little lamp niches. There is a lofty platform which leads to a large room with an arched and open front. With its uninterrupted views of the valley, this grotto of a palace must have been a cool, green, serene escape all through the year. Today, it has been converted into a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva of the Blue Throat, Nilakantha.

• Orchha

  • Dinman Hardol's Palace - Hardaul was a saintly prince who was a worshipped as god, and even today, the villages of Bundelkhad have shrines worshipping him. Born as son of Bir Singh JuDeo, Hardaul died to prove his innocence to his elder brother (Jhujhar Singh) who cast doubts on the latter's consort.

  • Jehangir Mahal - This massive palace was, apparently, built by Bir Singh Deo for the Mughal Emperor Jehangir though it is not certain if he ever stayed in it. It is, in every way, more powerful, more richly endowed with architectural embellishments, and far more beautiful than the Raj Mahal Palace. Some architects believe that this is the epitome of Indo-Islamic architecture though it veers, in many ways, from the Islamic style. Its domes, for instance, have external ribs whereas the Islamic domes have internal ribs. Large open courts let in light and air and, at one time, virtually all the rooms had murals: only a few remain now. Many of the brackets show the wavy style of Jain architecture. Interestingly, however, the main door is on the east-facing side of the palace. It is high, wide and impressive and is decorated with bright ceramic tiles.

  • Rai Praveen Mahal - Rai Praveen was the favourite mistress of Raja Indramani (1672 – 75) when the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb was on the throne. This elegant, double-storeyed, brick building looks more like Mughal than Bundela. It has a main hall, terraces overlooking its formal gardens, little chambers, and is filled with light and air. Rai Praveen was a skilled dancer, singer, musician and a poetess who was associated with the great Hindi poet Keshav Dass.

  • Raj Mahal Palace - This palace was Bir Singh Deo's main palace and is sometimes referred to as the Raja Mahal. It is a solid, square structure and, since it is built on a hillock, two wings have five storeys on three sides and fourstoreys on one side. The Halls of Private Audience and of Public Audience are imposing. The palace has a King's chamber as the sanctum of the Chatturbhuj temple, opposing, offering a private view of the idol enshrined within it. The ceilings of this and the other chambers have been delicately painted. There are other paintings on the walls, some illustrating scenes from the epic Ramayana, others capturing the pomp and glory of the Bundela court. There is also a system through which natural lighting falls down the angled shafts. These ensure privacy while allowing sunlight to illuminate the rooms. So, too, do the beautifully cut stone-work grilles.

  • Sheesh Mahal - The palace was built by the ruler Udait Singh in the 18th century as his personal rest house. It is a double-storeyed building, virtually an annex of the Jehangir Mahal, full of stairways winding through the thick walls accessing curious little rooms, a couple of courts and a few large rooms. One of them had mirror chips in the ceiling and a strategically-placed, full-length, cheval mirror which, from the enormous double bed, gave uninterrupted views of the huge stone tub in the bathroom. The Palace is now taken over by the MP Tourism Development Corporation and is rub as a hotel and restaurant.

  • Sunder Mahal - Almost in ruins this small palace is flocked by Muslim pilgrims. The palace was built by Prince Dhurbhajan, the son of King Jhujhar Singh. Surprisingly Dhurbhajan married a Muslim girl and after converting himself and later devoting his life to prayer and meditation. Just like HardaulSamadhhi, Dhurbhajan is revered as a saint.

• Bhopal

  • Gauhar Mahal - This Palace is interesting from both an architectural and a shopping point of view. there is hall of public audience, or Diwan-i-Aam, from where the rulers appeared before the subject. To the left of the court, a passage leads to another court which was, in all likelihood, the hall of private audience, the Diwan-i-Khas

• Gwalior

  • Gujari Mahal - The Gujari Mahal lies within the Gwalior fort. It is considered to be a marvel of medieval architecture. The 15th century Gujari Mahal is a monument to the love of Raja Mansingh Tomar for his intrepid Gujar queen, Mrignani. The outer structure of the Gujari Mahal has survived in ana almost total state of preservation; the interior has been converted into an Archeological Museum housing are antiquities, some of them dating back to the 1st century AD. Even though many of these have been defaced by the iconoclastic Mughals, their perfection of form has survived the ravages of time. Particularly worth seeing is the statue of Shalbhanjika from Gyaraspur, the tree goddess, epitome of perfection in miniature. The statue is kept in the custody of the museum's curator, and can be seen on request.

  • Jai Vilas Palace - This elegant white sprawling building, completed in 1874 when Britian's Queen Victoria was at the height of her power as the Empress of India, took nine years to build. It was designed by a remarkable polymath and genius, named Sir Micheal Filose. He had been born in Gwalior, had been a playmate of the prince who became the ruler of the state, and was a man of remarkably eclectic tastes able to encompass the best of the pomp and grandeur of both Indian and European palaces. He chose his inspiration the architectural idiom of Tuscany: possibly because there. Too, the warmth of the east had blended with the precision of the west. An appreciable part of the Jai Vilas Palace has become the H.H. Maharaja Sir Jiwaji Rao Scindia Museum.

• Dhar

  • Kharbuja Mahal - A 'kharbuja' is a melon and the palace got its name from its domes which looked like large melons. Apart from their aesthetic appeal and conforming to a typical Islamic architectural mode, they also kept their buildings cool, allowing hot air from the rooms to rise inside the dome and away from the living spaces. There it would be radiated away from the surface of the dome. This is a double-storeyed building with seven rooms on the lower floor, presumably used for the more formal encounters, and four private rooms on the upper floor. Mughal royalty stayed here and it was probably built in the 16th century, the Mughal period. On the Marathas succeeding the Mughals, this place was plastered and decorated with murals. When the Maratha general, Raghoba Dadoo, escaped from Pune, in 1778, he hid here. He was an uncle of the Peshwa ruler Mahadev Rao I. His wife, Anandi Bai gave birth to a boy who, later on, became Peshwa Baji RaoII. Though constructed in Mughal style, the Kharbuja Mahal contains Rajput influences which are seen in the niches and windows. From the battlements of the Fort there are superb views of the town spreading at the feet of its forbidding walls. One gets the distinct impression that the town clustered around the fort like chickens gathered around a mother hen!

• Indore

  • Lalbagh Palace - The Lalbagh Palace has an architecture influenced by the Europeans. It almost seems as if every extravagant style, every new whim of European architects, was incorporated in the palace and its furnishings. Thus, a walk around the Lalbagh could become a lesson, for students of Design, in the variations of decor and form that Europeans evolved for their homes over many decades. If technical terms are of interest to the visitor, then the architecture is a blend of Renaissance, Palladian and Baroque. The pillars in the palace rise in the three classic styles: Doric, Ionian and Corinthian. Also there are Greek and Latin mythological sculptures and paintings of Poseiden and Demeter, Helios and Hephaistos long with naiads, griffins and cherubs floating across the painted ceilings. And naturally, there are chandeliers, expensive drapes, and huge mirrors to replicate all this exuberance over and over again. To the visitor who is not interested in the technicalities of art and architecture, it will all seem rather grand and dazzling. The palace also has an Indian dining room made for more traditional banquets. There is also the grave of a Muslim saint just off a long verandah and the statue of Queen Victoria, standing, in all her buxom majesty, alone and not very revered the grounds of Lalbagh Palace.

  • Rajwada Palace - Unlike the Lalbagh that stands aloof in the midst of extensive grounds the Rajwada stands in the heart of the busiest part of the town. It has a garden with a statue of the great queen Ahilyabai. The facade which encloses the gateway of the Rajwada Palace gives the impression rather forbidding wizard's castel. The three lower storeys have been painted a dark brown. The three floors rising above them have their windows outlined in white giving the impression of multiple eyes gazing down at one from a well-defined fortress.

• Datia

  • Vir Mahal or Bir Singh's Palace - It is an impressive structure crowning a scrub-covered hill. When seen from below, its reflection in an ancient reservoir at its feet makes it seem as if wavering illusion is emerging into reality. Massive encircling walls, heavy terraces rising to pavilions and squat cupolas, and the upward thrusting central floor growing like the bud of an ominous mushroom, give the impression of implacable and menacing authority. The main gateway rises through arches and galleries which have a certain unexpected delicacy. Bundela architecture is full of such seemingly inconsistent touches. Bir Singh's overlords, the Mughals, had a strong Persian orientation in their culture and mores. In fact many of the ceilings inside in the palace have borders and medallions which seem to have been drawn from the rare carpets of Persia.