Mandu — one for folklore
Once upon a time, there lived a king who fell madly in love with a shepherdess with a magical voice and beauty to match whom he saw by the riverside. He beseeched her to marry him, but she loved the river so much that she promised to marry him only if she could see the river waters every morning. So he built a lovely palace and….
Now, wait. That sounds like so many other stories we’ve heard earlier.
Let’s try again
Once upon a time, in a kingdom in the heartland of India, there was a tree. Like the rulers of the place, it was of foreign origin. And like the rulers, it assimilated with local life well. Blessed with and extraordinary lifespan, the tree was witness to the growth and collapse of the kingdom around it. And like the ruins around it, it serves as a reminder of the composite past that this land has.
The tree we speak of is the baobab — native of Madagascar that was brought to the kingdom of Mandu through trade routes running through Persia. While they usually live for thousands of years, the ones in Mandu have been around for a few hundred years dating from the time the region was conquered by the Ghuri dynasty and declared itself an independent kingdom.
As you drive around Mandu, you wonder what the Baobab trees would have seen.
Mandu was the capital of the Malwa region in Madhya Pradesh. Most monuments (and the Baobab trees) date between the 15th and 16th century, though the city has been around longer. The fortress of Mandu was built by Raja Bhoj in the 10th century. In the first few centuries, it was ruled by a dynasty of Parmars. Later, it became part of the Delhi Sultanate till the governor of Malwa sensed an opportunity when Timur invaded Delhi in 1401. He declared the region independent, and his son Hoshang Shah declared himself king. Post Hoshang Shah, their dynasty was short-lived, as a general deposed his son and setup the Khalji dynasty, which ruled till they were conquered by the Peshwas.
Most of the monuments that Mandu is famous for were built in the 15th and 16th century.
The most famous of all is the Jahaz Mahal.
The Jahaz Mahal, called because it resembles a ship when the surrounding lakes are full during the monsoons, is a marvel when it comes to water conservation. Everywhere in the Mahal and surrounding buildings, one sees the care taken to conserve water, and use this to beautify the austere structures.
The grounds near the Mahal house a small reservoir. All through the buildings, one can spot channels carved into the stone towers to collect and direct water into various storage tanks. Each of these was interconnected, so overflow water would be connected to other tanks, the reservoir, or finally channeled to the nearby lake.
The baobab tree is famous for its water conservation and storage ability, and this seems to have rubbed off on the monuments constructed here.
Near the Jahaz Mahal, one can also spot the Hindola Mahal, so called because its sloping walls give it an appearance of a swing.
All the buildings feature interesting arches — staples of Islamic architecture style.
The Jahaz Mahal overlooks a lake. To the other side of the lake are the Sultan’s palace, and a harem that reputedly had 15000 concubines at a point of time.
The collection of structures also houses a hamam (a Turkish style bathroom).
The love story of yore
A short distance from the palace complex is the land where tales are still told of a tragic love story — that of Rupmati and Baz Bahadur.
Baz Bahadur was the last independent ruler of Mandu. A great lover of music, he came across a maiden singing by the Narmada riverside when on a hunt. Struck by her voice and her beauty, he immediately asked for her hand. She too was smitten by the king, but had a condition — she needed to see the waters of the Narmada every morning for her music.
Baz Bahadur left for his capital, and built a water tank where he brought in waters of the Narmada (called Rewa Kund after another name of the Narmada). He then built a palace for Rupmati, and another for himself near the kund, and then married Rupmati and brought her to Mandu.
However, unlike eternal love stories, this one ended poorly. Akbar, the mighty Mughal emperor sent his trusted commander Azam Khan to conquer the Malwa region. Baz Bahadur gave some fight, but finally fled the battlefield to save his life, leaving Rupmati in Mandu. Uncertain about her fate, she consumed poison and ended her life.
After a day listening to stories, we drove out to see another baobab, this one near a ruin of a structure that was a signalling tower during the age of Mandu’s empire, truly a witness to Mandu’s rich history.
