Mandu the city of joy, the jewel of Malwa has many a grand things to offer. Perched atop a rocky outcrop is the fascinating city of Mandu renowned for its fine architecture. The ruined city is third largest fort city in India. Now normally the fort cities have either hill based or water based protection, while Mandu has both hill and water protection.
From the moment I drove into Mandu with its numerous monuments, it was clear that a knowledgeable guide is a must. And lucky we were to come across Vishwanath Tiwari, the author of Mandu Darshan and winner of Best Guide award from the President of India. He just brought Mandu alive in a way that can’t be described.
Mandu is divided into primarily three clusters of monuments
- Royal Cluster comprising of Jahaz Mahal, Hindola Mahal, Jal Mahal, Dilawar Khan ki Masjid
- Village Cluster comprising of Jami Masjid, Hoshang Shah’s tomb, Asharfi Mahal and Madrasa
- Baz Bahadur Palace, Rani Roopmati pavilion and numerous others.
We started off with the Royal Cluster, stopping at Jahaz Mahal the piece de Resistance da Mandu. Mostly built as a pleasure palace it is surrounded by elaborate water bodies on most side. When the water bodies are carrying enough water the palace with its mast looks like a ship in water. Marvelous sight.
In the vicinity, there was a fort with its multiple basements, water storage tanks and underground water channels. It hid more than what it revealed. As the guide explained by controlling the water flow, the army could literally move in and out of the fort for purposes of attack or defence. The funny part was the other guides stopping their explanations to their visitors whenever they saw him approach. And we were let in on the secret that the visitors are normally told whatever seems right to the guides and they dare not do it in presence of Vishwanath Tiwari. Surprisingly the reasoning looked true.
Move over to Hindola Mahal (Swing Palace) more mysteries beckoned. The Palace has sloping walls giving it the looks of a Swing. The Afghans were the ones who built this palace. However what is hidden in the sloping walls is more interesting than what is on display. The walls do not seem organic and they hid in them the original walls of the monument which are adorned by Hindu idols. The original mystery seems to be fascinating.
The next monument is named Dilawar Khan’s Mosque. This is supposed to be the first mosque for females in the world. Yet again, the pillars and the architecture points to different set of architecture. Apparently the new rulers did what they have to do but the same time realized the enormity of the task of lugging huge stones and kinda conveniently decided in favor is reusing as much as possible from the original structures.
Mandu is such a fascinating place that this post is looking like to be a huge one. Breaking it up in 2 parts so as to do it full justice. The story continues in part-2.
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