Monday, October 10, 2011

Our World- the Mystique of Mandu

The Malwa plateau is in the heart of India, where the historic ruins of Mandu are situated. Although the ruins of ancient palaces and fortresses are replete with the stories of conquests and battles, it is the love story of the 16th century Muslim king Baz Bahadur and the beautiful Hindu girl Rupmati, which is the stuff of ballads.
King Baz Bahadur saw Rupmati dancing, and fell in love with her. Rupmati agreed to marry him on the condition that he would ensure that she would see her beloved Narmada river every day.
The pavilion below is reputed to have been built by Baz Bahadur in one night so that his beloved could gaze on the river Narmada, flowing a hundred kilometres away.
You can still see a glimmer of water of the Narmada, in the horizon on a clear day.
Besides being an accomplishe dancer, Rupmati was a singer too. It was here that she is believed to have sung the raga Megh Malhar , and also danced to bring rain to the region.
Rain water was collected in this pond for the queen's bath.
Rupmati's beauty and accomplishments were so well known that many people fell in love with her, even without seeing her. One such man was Adham Khan, a general in the army of the Mughal emperor Akbar. Adham Khan invaded Mandu and defeated Baz Bahadur. But befor he could capture Rupmati, she had committed suicide by consuming poison.
My thanks to the team of Our World Tuesday, where you can see and read about many places on earth.

15 comments:

  1. Marvelous captures as always and a sad, but beautiful love story to match! What a wonderful post for the day! Hope you have a lovely evening and a great week!

    Sylvia

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  2. Romantic interesting story . Thanks for sharing.

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  3. Beautiful photographs, such a wonderful culture.

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  4. Padma, we learnt all these in our history class but to see the actual images...wow! What a lovely story and wonderful photos!

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  5. I am reminded here of the ponds in Cambodia and Indonesia, which also depicts some stories with beautiful ladies during their time. However, in Cambodia, these 'barays' are also used as reservoir for irrigation water.

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  6. Beautiful love story! What a sad ending though.... The place look so amazing!

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  7. This perfect real-life romance beats anything anyone could make up!! It's easy to imagine the events of the past in the ruins of the present.

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  8. It is a wonderful story and your photos are just beautiful. Thanks for sharing this lovely part of your world.

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  9. Beautiful place. This is there in my wish list.

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  10. One should not covet another man's wife, only heartache will follow. A sweet but sad story, so beautifully illustrated.

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  11. what a beautiful love story! And the ruins and landscape are marvelous! Sounds we are fast living a fairy tale! Thanks for sharing!

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  12. what a tragic end to a beautiful love story. i love the gazebo. marvelous post.

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  13. you have many interesting historical places in India. :)

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  14. What great shots of this lovely place. And what a romantic story.

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