rediff.com Travel: Safarnama: A travel feature on doing India by road

Log Nine

The Ram Raja Temple is the only temple in India where Ram is worshipped as a king instead of a God.
The legend goes that Madhukar Shah and his wife had a difference of opinion when it came to religious convictions.
Madhukar Shah was a devotee of Krishna while his wife was a devotee of Ram. When it came to deciding their pilgrimages, there was much quarrelling between the two. The pandit advised that they go their separate ways.
Madhukar told his wife that if she was able to bring back a statue of her lord then he would build a temple for Ram.
And so Kunwari set off to Ayodhya determined to bring a statue of Ram back with her.
After much prayer to her lord, she had a visitation from the him.
He said that he would come with her to Orchha on certain terms.
A jubilant Kunwari headed back to Orchha with her statue. Since there was no temple ready for the statue it was housed in the palace.
The Chaturbhuj temple was built to enshrine the statute of Rama. When it was ready, they found that they could not move the idol from its place in the palace.
The queen recalled, only too late one of the terms laid down by Ram, namely that the idol would remain in the place where it was first installed. And so the idol remains, to date, worshipped as a king instead of a god.

If you are visiting Orchha during the summer, you might want to get yourself out of bed nice and early to beat the summer sun. If not, take it easy -- especially if in Orchha -- those buildings are still going to be standing there an hour or two later. We thought we'd give the restaurant at the Sheesh Mahal a shot for breakfast and so headed out early. And what was the food like at the Sheesh Mahal? If you are not someone who is particular about the food you eat, I guess anywhere would do. The two of us on the other hand took a solemn oath to henceforth restrict all our meals to the Orchha Resort.

The palaces themselves are a little bare and 'unkept'. The walls can at the most echo a past that might have been and if you can let your imagination run wild, you might be able to capture the grandeur of these buildings. One can hire out handsets from Hotel Sheesh Mahal. We were told that these were available only during the season, when they were ordered for from Gwalior. Given that the palaces are pretty much empty, the handsets would do well in bringing the place to life.

There are guides who will take you around the Raj Mahal, Sheesh Mahal, Jehangir Mahal and the temples across the bridge. We had little choice given that there were no handsets, the place seemed so deserted and the sites were not well marked. We grabbed the first guide that was pointed out to us by the hotel receptionist.

The Jahangir Mahal was quite impressive. Bir Singh Deo went through great lengths to keep his benefactor Mughal emperor, Jehangir happy. The palace was built for Jehangir during his visit to Orchha. The mahal breathes revelry, royalty and riches.

The Raj Mahal in comparison was less impressive. It was less ornate, except for the paintings on the ceilings and the walls, and more functional than majestic. The Bundela chiefs borrowed the concept of a Diwan-I-Khas from Mughal architecture and created two halls -- a Hall of Public Audience and a Hall of Private Audience.

The chambers of the king and his many queens are decorated with rich paintings of the gods, court and village life and the flora and fauna of the region. These are inspiring monuments, steeped in history. One only wishes they were maintained better and promoted with a little more care to make the experience so much more memorable.

Having walked around the two palaces, we decided that we had had enough for the moment and bid our guide goodbye. Orchha is not meant to be run through... you should give the place time and let the Orchha experience seep in slowly.

After a good lunch and snooze at the hotel, we headed back into the village in the evening. We decided to drive around as the weather was a little wet. Weather permitting, a walk around Orchha is definitely recommended. We drove down to the market and the village centre, parked and walked to the Ram Raja Temple.

This temple although as old as the rest of the buildings has been whitewashed and therefore has a very new look to it. We climbed up to the Chatrabhuj temple to the left of the Ram Raja Temple. A couple of local boys aspiring to be guides or at the least aspiring for a little pocket money, took us through the temple. They took us through steep, narrow, dark winding stairs, that climbed three floors, to the roof. From the roof one has a great view of the village and its buildings. If you aren't one for heights, I suggest you steer clear from heading up there.

There are no railings and it is quite high!!!. Nevertheless the view from the top is quite good and gave a great perspective of the town.

After this we headed out to the Laxmi Narayan Temple. At the time of writing it was undergoing restoration work by the government and so was locked up. It is an interesting building -- built along the lines of a fort/castle but functionally meant to be a temple -- from certain angles it almost looks like a Spanish church!! The drive around the village and its outskirts was very relaxing, the weather being a big contributor to the pleasant surroundings.

We stopped at a local's house but were soon shooed away by the old man. Famished we headed back to the hotel for another good meal and a good night's rest.

All in all I found Orchha a great place to relax and unwind. There is a strong sense of history and a large number of buildings to walk and stumble around. While the buildings themselves can be a little bare from the inside, the lack of commercialisation leaves the visitor with a good idea of what the city might have looked like a few hundred years ago. Especially in the summer/monsoon there are not many tourists so you can get the place to yourself a bit.

Log 10 Orchha - Datia

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