Orchcha Fort Complex - 1/2

Orchcha is a small historical town in Tikamgarh district of Madhya Pradesh and was capital of Bundela kings. From Jhansi it is 15 km, from Khajuraho 175 km & from Gwalior 124 km. First Bundela King Rudra Pratap Singh who ruled from 1501 to 1531, made Orchcha his capital & got the fort construction started. There were several additions & modifications subsequently by later kings Bharati Chandra, Madhukar Shah and Veer Singh Dev.  

2. About the origin of Suryavanshi Rajput Bundelas a poet named Lal Kavi has in 1700, given a mythical & poetical account. His poems inter-alia state that Bundelas are descendents from gods ( with gaps of several generations between some of them ) as under: 
Vishnu > Brahma > Vihagaraja > Kiratdeva > Virbhadra > Jagdas > Arjunpal > Sohanpal > Rudra Pratap Singh. 

3. Jagdas was son of Virbhadra from a junior queen and was denied share in Kashi kingdom by sons from chief queen. He came to the shrine of Vindhyavasini and sat down in Tapasya. After a long while nothing happened & out of desperation he decided to sacrifice his head to Vindhyavasini. As soon as a drop of his blood fell on ground Vindhyavasini appeared and said that his son shall be born from this drop - 'बूँद of his blood to become future ruler. Future rulers were thus called Bundelas - बुन्देला. Bundelas worship Vindhyavasini as their family deity or Kuldevi. 

 4. Bundelas ruled the area named Bundelkhand with Orchcha as capital for over 250 years. Some of the famous Bundela kings are Rudra Pratap Singh, Bharati Chandra, Madhukar Shah who ruled during 1594-1591 & built Raja Mahal and Chatrasal. King Veer Singh Dev who ruled during 1605-1627 built Jahangir Mahal. Within Bundelkhand area there were several smaller states such as Orchcha, Datia, Panna, Ajaigarh, Bijawar, Charkhari. They fought with Mughals & at times there were fights within these smaller states which were taken advantage of by Mughals.   

5. Forts, palaces, memorials & temples in & around Orchcha have beautiful and distinct style. River Betwa passing through the rocks adds to the beauty of the place. Boating & rafting can be enjoyed in Betwa. Noons are hot here with bare rocks getting roasted in the sun, take care. With a little better tourist infra and maintanance of monuments tourism can improve. All the monuments are within walking distance otherewise conveyance is also easily available. Some snaps:

1. Raja Mahal 

2. Pillars and arches 

3. Arches & balcony of Raja Mahal

4. Plumbline perfect. From top of dome to the corner of the platform a straight line can be drawn

5. Cool pool in courtyard to beat the heat

6. Observation post

7. Top floor of Jahangir Mahal

8. Beautiful arches

9. High ceilings on pillars kept the place cool & also let the air & light in 

10. Painted walls & ceilings with women horse riders. No purdah system here for the ladies 

11. Jungle, war & shikar scenes. Polo style games are also seen 

12. Bedroom of the Raja has this latticed window through which he could see the Ram Raja Temple as he got up in the morning

13. This is what Raja saw from his window. High rise building is Chaturbhuj Temple built for installing statue of Lord Ram to be brought from Ayodhya. However it remains empty. The queen who brought the statue from Ayodhya inadvertantly placed the statue in a kitchen. It could not be lifted from there and white building became Ram Raja Temple. Lord Rama is reverred here as a Raja

14. A small balcony used by Raja to address Darbar. Over this balcony are small 108 elephants

15. Mahal as seen from outside the enclosure wall

16. Sheesh Mahal which now is a hotel / restaurant 

17. Jahangir Mahal constructed in 17th century in honour of Mughal Emperor Jahangir by king Vir Singh Deo. Jahangir stayed here for a night