About Art, Culture, History and Modernity: Indore, Mandu, Bhopal and Sanchi

So we went to Jami Masjid, started by Hoshang Shah and completed by Mahmud Khalji in A.D.1454 when you enter through the gate there's the courtyard enclosed from huge colonnaded arrangement of arches and pillars with small domes above the arches.

Opposite to the Jami Masjid is the Asharfi Mahal, which was a madrasa earlier and later they made the tomb of Mahmud Shah, now this structure is in ruins. Only few parts remain.

Next to the masjid is the tomb of Hoshang Shah, well proportionate and arched openings on 3 sides, built of white marble. The dome is flat and heavy, adorned with small domed turrets.

After the sun goes down we went back to rest after the long journey.

Day 7:

Winter in more beautiful in this valley, and we were ready for yet another day to enjoy the architectural wonders from history book.

We started with Jahaj Mahal, most famous amongst all of the structures in Mandu. Well known as 'Ship that never sailed'.

Comprises of halls. corridors, terrace to enjoy the scenic beauty, pavilions and interesting was to conserve and store rain water.It stands between artificial lakes and gardens it's an exquisite piece of architecture.

It looks like a huge ship and is a fusion of Afgan, Mughal and Hindu architectural style. The arched openings, recessed arch entrances, overhanging cornice, stone brackets are the significant features of this palace. Having 3 large halls connected with corridors in the ground floor and is believed that the king has 15,000 ladies in his harem this place was for them.

The most unique feature of this palace is the rain water harvesting system and the acoustical water supply system. There are wells within this structure which helped to keep the temperature at the lower side even in harsh summer.

In this complex are other structures as well:

Hindola Mahal: It's meeting place or darbar. It is a hall with very significant inclined and massive buttress and between these are the huge arches. The interior of the hall has huge arched between these buttresses which gives a sense of shelter even when it is open to the sky. These buttress support the whole structure as it is interesting to know that this structure does not have a foundation so it's the inclined buttress that supports the whole structure.

Then there is Nahar Jharokha, Hammam, Champa Baodi and many more.

Our next stoppage was Baz Bahadur’s Palace, built by Nasirud-din in AD 1508. Baz Bahadur and is close to Rani Roopmati Palace. There are many stories told about them. The gardens, colonnaded corridors, octagonal plans supporting the domes, chataris and the acoustical design of the palace is attractive.

It's said that Rani Roopmati had a beautiful voice and when seh would sing Raja Baz Bahadur could hear her from hi palace.

Rani Roopmati Palace, on the hill top is this palace and it's said that Rani Roopmati wished to have the view of river Narmada and on a clear sky day the river is still visible.It's said that the pavilion is acoustically well built from where the queen would sing and the king could hear her from his palace.

For now even that plain land on one side and hilly on the other full of lush green land gives a spectacular view. It is definitely a place to enjoy the sunrise and sunset.

Then by evening we left for Indore and reached at around 08:00 pm and checked in and we wanted to check some good place at Indore as well so visited Nakhrali Dhani. All about authentic food, style, dance, music and the entire setting is very traditional.

Day 8:

Not a very fruitful day , we went around in the city and instead of going to more forts we decided to visit The Aranya Housing, an example of low cost community housing, architect is B.V.Doshi. It was completed in the year 1989 and has won Agha Khan Award for Architecture in 1995. It was built to improve the existing slum area and to provide a good living environment.

But what is read in now in books and it's not exactly the same, lot of things have changed and we were a little disappointed with the scenario.

We then decided to experience the famous food street of Indore,Sarafa Bazar. A must visit place to go in the evening and enjoy the food.

our dinner and moved to the station.Our next destination was Bhopal and our train was Indore-Bhopal Exr at 11:45 pm.

Day 9:

Morning 5:30 am we reached hotel and checked in, after breakfast we had a lost list of places to cover. Now Bhopal is city with a beautiful mix to history , traditional and modernity; we had a lot of places to cover.

We started with Tribal museum, one of it's kind and the entire museum in itself is a complete whole world with all the details of the tribal lifestyle.

Next stop was Bharat Bhawan, an institution to promote art, culture and creativity. A unique design at the lake side by Charles Correa having courtyards , terrace gardens and exhibition spaces at varied levels, auditorium and open air theater at the lake side.

Sun was down by then and we moved to the hotel for the night.

Day 10:

We had Sanchi Stupa in our itenary for the day, it was built by King Ashoka and is one of the most important Buddhist monument rich in art and architecture. It's a 2 hours journey from Bhopal.

The ornamental gateways and ornamented balusters around the stupa is very intricately done. Go around the entire site and there are other structures as well apart from the Sanchi Stupa there is anther Stupa 2 & 3, Chetiyagiri Vihara, Archaeological Museum, Buddhist monasteries, temples and viharas, Gupta Temple and others.

We were back to Bhopal after and lunch and the rest of the evening left we decided to visit Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS) or National Museum of Humankind.

It is spread over 200 acres on the Shyamla Hills in the city and has varied exhibition spaces. There are traditional houses made by the tribes of different states in their own indigenous style and material that they use in different eco climatic zones of the country. It shows their lifestyles and culture.

Then there's a permanent museum with exhibition spaces and galleries where on the display one can see the traditional costumes, jeweler, art and craft.

There are many more places to see and enjoy and we visited some market places, malls and haat.

Day 11:

Next morning we had our flight to Delhi and then from Delhi to Ranchi.