Page 255 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - India

M ADH Y A PR ADESH & CHHA T TISGARH  253

VISITORS’ CHECKLIST
Practical Information
Royal Enclave.
Tel (07292) 26 3235.
Open daily. & 0
n Malwa Resort, Mandu.

. Water Channels
The intricate spiral designs of the water channels
are characteristic of the simple elegance of
Mandu’s architecture.
. Bathing Pool
The beautiful
pool at the
northern end is
surrounded on
three sides
by colonnades.

of steps leads down a ravine
to Neelkanth Mahal. This
palace, with its many water Baz Bahadur and Rupmati
channels and cascades, was One day while out hunting, Sultan Baz Bahadur (r.1554–61)
built in 1574 on the site of spotted a Hindu girl, Rupmati, singing as she bathed in the
an ancient Shiva shrine, for Narmada river. Bewitched by her
the Mughal emperor Akbar’s beauty and her voice, Baz Bahadur
Hindu wife. The main room, persuaded her to live with him
overlooking the valley, is in Mandu. Thereafter, he spent
once again in use as a Shiva his time in the pursuit of love
temple, even though its and music, leaving his kingdom
walls are covered with fine vulnerable to attack. When
Arabic calligraphy. Emperor Akbar’s general, Adham
Khan, attacked Mandu in 1561,
Environs he won an easy victory. Baz
Bahadur fled the battlefield,
The Bagh Caves, lying 50 km deserting Rupmati, who was
(31 miles) west of Mandu, captured. The courtesan
date from AD 400–700. Built proved more courageous than
by Buddhist monks, they the king. Even as the Mughal
have murals similar in style to general waited outside her room
those at Ajanta (see p483), but An 18th-century miniature of to claim her, she committed
unfortunately these are in a Rupmati and Baz Bahadur suicide by swallowing poison.
very poor state of preservation.

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