From My Eyes : Gwalior

This was a part of my trip to Bundelkhand region.

The next day we left for Bateshwar at 8:30 in the morning. Bateshwar is around 70 kms from Agra on Fatehabad road. The vehicles’ driver did not know the route so he asked his acquaintance to act as a guide. We reached Bateshwar at around 10:00, a drive of around 1 ½ hours. Bateshwar is a temple complex which is completely devoted to Lord Shiva. There are numerous temples small and big and each of them have a Shivling of various shapes. It is next to river Yamuna and it is said that Yamuna flows upstream here. Beware of the priests who tie sacred threads on your wrist and put a tikka on your forehead. They do this expecting some thing in return. After visiting the main temple when we came out, there were 3 people sitting. One

Bateshwar Temple Ghat

applied tikka, gave him 10 Rs/-, the second tied the sacred thread, gave him 10 Rs/- and the third did not do anything. The second guy said that he is the main priest so something should be given to him also. So he also earned Rs 10/- just by sitting there. It is quite serene place where you could spend around an hour looking at the different temples and enjoying the breeze. We did not spend much time there, around 20 minutes and left since we had to reach Gwalior and do some sight seeing. We left at 10:25 and crossed Agra at around 11:45, dropped the guide and continued our onward journey to Gwalior.

Visiting Bateshwar was a big mistake. Since I had already lost close to 3 and ½ hours and had to pass Agra to go to Gwalior. On the way we halted at a road side for having tea. There were a few birds in the dhaba. My son tried to go near a few of them but they flew away. The road to Gwalior from Agra passes through the famed Chambal Ravines, Dholpur and Morena. Dholpur and Morena are a good day trip option if you stay either at Agra or Bharatpur. We also saw an ancient bridge built during the time of the Mughals at Noorabad near Morena. The road conditions were bad near Morena. There was an over bridge being constructed due to which the existing road (was it a road) was badly damaged and traffic caused the vehicles to move at a snail’s pace. This bad stretch of the road is for around 10-15 kilometers. By the time we

Noorabad Bridge

reached Gwalior it was already 3:30. We were frantically searching for a place to stay. We passed by Gwalior station did not find a suitable place to stay. Before leaving I read that there are quite a few budget hotels near Lashkar area in Gwalior. At that time I remembered it as Lakkar Bazaar. I asked the driver to speak to some one and take me to Lakkar Bazaar. No one was able to recollect any place named Lakkar Bazaar. We spent around an hour searching for a place. I decided to move to Orchha that day itself. As a last ditch effort we again went near the station to see if I get a place to stay. When we stopped the car to look at a hotel, an auto fellow came and asked if we were looking for a room. We said yes and we followed him. Following him we reached Shinde Ki Chawani. We got the best hotel of our trip here, Gulmohar Residency. It is situated on the 3rd floor of a shopping complex. The rooms are clean, room service is good and in the near future the restaurant would also be open. We got a room for Rs 880/- inclusive of tax. We had lunch and relaxed in the hotel for the entire day.

Jain Statues On The Way

The next morning we checked out and started our Gwalior sight seeing at 8:00 in the morning. First stop was Gwalior fort. The ascent to the Gwalior fort is through a narrow road and is good enough for only one vehicle. So if some is descending then who want to ascend will have to wait and vice versa. The gate keeper’s communicate with each other via telephone and give a go ahead once the route is clear. Every vehicle has to pay an amount of 20 paise for using the road. Since 20 paise is not in circulation I had to pay
Re 1/-. Here at the base when our vehicle was waiting for the go ahead a person approached saying that he would act as our guide for Rs 200/-. We negotiated for Rs 100/- and started the climb towards the fort. There are numerous Jain statues of various sizes carved on the rocks in the hill on both the sides. Entry Fees: Rs 5/- per person (India), Rs 100/- per person (Foreign Nationals), free entry for children under 15 years. Photography fee, Video Filming Rs 25/-. The entry ticket here enables you to visit the Man Mandir Palace, Teli ka Mandir and the Saas Bahu Mandir.

Manmandir Palace

The Scindia School is still active in the fort complex. In the Man Mandir palace is India’s one and only underground tunnel which is open for tourists. Here is the place where Aurangazeb imprisoned his brother, Dara Shuko, and then later hanged him. Keep a torch handy while visiting the Man Mandir Palace. From here you have a good view of the city and you can also see the cricket stadium which has hosted a few international matches. There is also a small open air auditorium where the regular Light and Sound show takes place. After this we moved to Teli ka Mandir. There is no statue inside the temple. The surroundings are not well kept and is a mini mini forest. The temple is quite tall. You can see bats inside the temple. After this we went to the Saas Bahu temple. Original it was named the Sahastrabahu Temple which later got modified to Saas Bahu temple. This temple also does not have any statues inside. Remember to keep the ticket issued at the Man Mandir palace since the gate keepers at both the temples would check them and stamp them. This ended the tour of Gwalior fort.

Scindia Palace

From here we moved on to the Scindia Palace. Entry fee Rs 40/- per person (Indian including children), Rs 300/- per person (Foreign Nationals including children). Photography Rs 60/- (Still Camera / Mobile Camera), Video Rs 120/-. This palace has been now converted to a museum and some part is still used for special occasions. Here there are quite a few articles which were used by Madhavrao Scindia. After this we moved onto Gurjari Mahal which is a part of the fort now converted to a museum. Entry fee is Rs 10/- per person (Indian), Rs 100/- per person (Foreign National), Camera Rs 50/-, Video Rs 200/-. Children under 15 free entry. Closed on Monday’s and National Holidays. The museum is open from 10:00 to 17:00. I did not visit this and just had a view from outside. You can reach the Gwalior fort from here also. There is also a mosque outside the Mahal. Next stop was Muhammad Ghouse’s Tomb which also has the tomb of Tansen, one of the Navratan’s of Akbar’s court. This complex is not properly maintained and is located on a very busy part of the city.

Pitambhari Peeth

We had completed the tour by around 12:00 in the afternoon and started for Datia. In Datia I saw the Pithambari Peeth. Photography is not allowed inside the temple complex. Then we had lunch in a small lunch
home. The food was good but the service was slow. The chappatis were being freshly made and served. By the time we left Datia it was already 2:00. After this we directly moved towards Orchha.