Page 249 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - India

M ADH Y A PR ADESH & CHHA T TISGARH  247

Festivals of
Madhya Pradesh &
Chhattisgarh
Shivratri (Feb/Mar),
Khajuraho. The celestial
wedding of Shiva and Parvati
is celebrated with colourful
processions and an elaborate
nightlong re-enactment of
the wedding ritual in the
Matangeshwar Temple.
Dance Festival (Feb/Mar),
Stupa 3, which originally contained the relics of the Buddha’s disciples
Khajuraho. During this week-
long festival, India’s leading
used as a sugarcane press by with its impressive sculpture classical dancers perform
a local landlord in the 19th of Varaha, the incarnation of in front of the Kandariya
century. Its four-headed lion Vishnu as a boar, rescuing Mahadeva Temple. The
capital, similar to the one at the earth goddess from the postures and grace of the
Sarnath (see p212) but not as churning ocean. dancers are echoed in the
fine, can now be seen in the Raisen Fort straddles a hill-top exquisite stone sculptures
Sanchi Archaeological Museum. 23 km (14 miles) southeast of of apsaras in the temple.
Some other notable exhibits Sanchi. Its 13th-century gates,
here include a pair of winged palaces, temples and pavilions
Mauryan lions, sculptural friezes have lain in ruins ever since a
from the gateways and statues devastating attack in the 16th
of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas. century by the Sultan of Gujarat,
but the site is still hauntingly
Environs atmospheric to visit.
Besnagar, situated 10 km Udayapur, 70 km (43 miles)
(6 miles) northeast of Sanchi, northeast of Sanchi, has the Classical dancer at Khajuraho
on the confluence of the Beas exquisite 11th-century red Dance Festival
and Betwa rivers, was once a sandstone Nilkanteshwar
prosperous centre of trade. Temple, dedicated to Shiva. Dussehra (Sep/Oct)
A unique relic of its past is the It is comparable in scale and Chhattisgarh. This ten-day
Heliodorus Column, with its sculptural beauty to the Kha- festival in honour of Rama is
fluted bell-shaped capital, dating juraho temples (see pp240–42). celebrated with great gaiety
to 113 BC. Dedicated to the god The symmetry of its graceful in the Bastar tribal heartland
Vasudeva, it was erected by shikhara, rising in a crescendo of Chhattisgarh. Along with
the envoy of the Greek king of delicately carved stone, lively dramatized episodes
of Taxila (now in Pakistan), to is broken by a curious figure from the Ramayana (see p31),
commemorate his conversion that seems to dangle in space. there are also colourful tribal
to Hinduism. According to local legend, this fairs with dancing, cock-
Udayagiri, 20 km (12 miles) figure represents the architect, fights and spirited bartering
north of Sanchi, has magnificent trying to climb to the heavens. of goods.
examples of 5th-century AD
rock-cut caves, carved into the Chaityagiri Vihara Festival
hillside. Most notable is Cave 5, w Gyaraspur (Nov), Sanchi. Buddhists from
all over the subcontinent
Vidisha district. 64 km (40 miles) NE of
Bhopal. @ n MP Tourism, Bhopal, gather at Sanchi to view the
(0755) 277 4340. relics of two of the Buddha’s
closest disciples.
The ornately carved 9th- century
Maladevi Temple at Gyaraspur Tansen Music Festival
is built on a hillside. Partly (Nov/Dec), Gwalior. Named
carved out of a rock, it is after the great musician
now in ruins, and much of Tansen, one of the “nine jewels”,
its superb sculpture has been at the court of Mughal
pillaged. The exquisite statue of emperor Akbar, this festival
the salabhanjika, which is now brings together the best
the pride of the Archaeological classical musicians and singers
Sculpture of Varaha, Vishnu’s boar incarnation, Museum at Gwalior Fort (see from all over the country.
from Cave 5, Udayagiri p233), was salvaged from here.

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