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| Gwalior |
| Jai
Vilas Palace
Jai Vilas is unmatched in scale and splendour The
durbar hall for formal audience measures 15 meters by
85 meters with the roof over 12 meters high. The
ceiling is painted in pale green and gold and the
floor is covered with perhaps the largest one-piece
carpet woven in situ by the carpet makers in the
world. This is the room about which |
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lady
Dufferin the Vicereine exclaimed in 1884, "
The magnificent room in which we lost ourselves last
night". The
two crystal chandeliers are reputed to be the largest
in the world with the possible exception of one on
display in the Tsar’s winter palace outside Moscow.
When the huge chandeliers were about to be installed,
doubts were expressed whether the ceiling would bear
the combined weight of about six tons. The ruler of
Gwalior could indulge in such expensive fancies
because he was one of the richest men of his tome.
Griffith, a British author, has provided a glimpse of
the treasure he had amassed. |
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The
splendor of this royal city is living since sixth
century. Once upon a time the patron saint of the
shepherds and cowherds, Gwallipa, cured a king a of
leprosy and thus the city got its name Gwalior on the
saint.With the decline of Muslim power in Delhi,
Gwalior fell under the sway the Marathas- Scindias
assumed sovereign power. The Scindias, counted among
the most glamorous of Indian princes, became famous of
their wealth and were popular with successive viceroys
because of their generous hospitality and capacity to
organize thrilling tiger shoots for visiting
dignitaries.
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| Amarkantak |
| Spreading
over a flattish green valley in the Vindhya ranges,at
a pleasantly cool elevation of 1065 meters, it is
still more a hamlet than
a town. This, in spite of the fact that two sacred
rivers are born here: the Sone and the
Narmada.Curiously, Amarkantak has none of the teeming
grottiness often associated with popular pilgrim
towns. It really is more like a green sub- mountain
resort with wide-open, |
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well
watered, meadows and sunlit sal forests alive with
springs and brooks.The
stream of Sone is fed few hundred meters from its
birth, by a number of tributary rills. The Sone
becomes the main southern tributary of the Ganges, joining
that great river near Patna. Amarkantak, in the green
bowl in the old Vindhyas, is the serene epitome of
that titanic power.
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| Orchha |
| Orchha’s
grandeur has been captured in stone, frozen in time a
rich legacy to the ages. It was founded in the 16th
century by the Bundela Rajput chief captain Rudra
Pratap who choose this stretch land along the Betwa
river as an ideal site for his |
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caption
of the succeeding rulers. From here the view of
soaring temples spires and cenotaphs is spectacular.
Orchha’s fort complex approached by a multi-arched
bridge, has three palaces opened quadrangle. |
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A
huge, imperial structure with balconies, domes and a
forbidding door. Built by Raja Bir Sing Ju Deo in the
17th Century to commemorate the visit of
emperor Jahangir to Orchha. Its strong lines are
counter balance by delicate chattries and trellis
work. |
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| Khajuraho |
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| Khajuraho,
the exuberance
of Indian spirit represents a paean to life,
love, to joy-perfect in execution and sublime in
expression. The Khajuraho temples are
internationally famous for the erotic sculptures
that adorn the walls. Life in every form and
mood, has been captured in
stone, testifying not only to the craftsman’s
artistry but also to the |
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extraordinary
breadth of vision of the
constructed.
Chandela Rajputs under whose rule the temples
were conceived and The
most prominent structure at Khajuraho is the
Kandariya Mahadeo temple, which is the largest
soars 31 km high, dedicated to Lord Shiva, the
sanctum enshrines a lingam( a phallic symbol, a
symbol of energy, fertility and potency).
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