May 25, 2008

The Tiger and the Flame


This is a small post following my two previous on Jhansi and the Queen of Jhansi titled:

Other notable sights in the Jhansi Fort are the Panch Mahal, Rani Amod garden area, the Shiva temple, the Ganesh temple etc.

Ganesh Mandir

Of particular interest are the popular cannons: Kadak Bijli and Bhawani Shanker Cannon, and then there are a couple of mini-cannons too. It is written that Kadak Bijli was operated by Ghulam Ghaus Khan, the revolutionary leader, while Bhawani Shanker was handled by Moti Bai. Moti Bai was apparently a dance performer at the times of Jhansi’s King but she is known to have handled the cannon better than her dances.



Inside the Fort Complex are the tombs of Ghulam Ghaus Khan, whose last words are said to be: “For our queen we shall lay down our life…” Buried nearby are Motibai and the famous horse, Khuda Bux (or Baksh), who died on 4 June 1858.


Other places of interest around the Fort are the Rani Mahal (Queen's Palace) built in the latter half of the 18th century which is converted into an archaeological museum now.

Rani Mahal

A good collection of sculptures belonging to the period between 9th and 12th centuries A.D. has been housed in the Rani Mahal. Photography was not allowed there.

Entrance to Rani Mahal

Raja Gangadhar Rao's cenotaph

There is also the cenotaph of the Queen’s husband, Raja Gangadhar Rao Newelkar and the temples around it.

Raja Gangadhar Rao was considered as a good man and a good administrator of Jhansi and a great promoter of arts.


A section of the temple nearby

Cenotaph

Then there is the Lakshmibai Talab nearby which is a lake in a sadly dried up and shabby state with stagnant water. I hastily left the place to move on to Orchha.


Jhansi is very well connected to major cities across India by direct train links. Situated at a strategic location where the NS and EW National Highways intersect with each other, I took the NH 75 connecting Jhansi from Gwalior, 98 kms away. Datia is about 30 kms, Orchha 20 kms and Khajuraho is 175 kms away. There is regular bus service to Jhansi from Jaipur, Agra and Gwalior.

The nearest operational airport to Jhansi is Gwalior, 98 kms away. Jhansi has an airport, but is not operational for civil flights as it is a base of Army Aviation. A new airport is in the pipeline which would enable excellent connectivity with major metros and other important cities.

14 comments:

GMG said...

Loved to read the posts with the story of the young Queen! It seems that Jhansi is another place to include in my still too long must see list... ;) Beautiful pictures, and amazing story of the horse buried next to the dance performer...
Nice poem on Wednesday and a beautiful picture on Tuesday...
Hope you have a great week!
Gil

Lakshmi said...

fantastic as always..and what imaginative names..
Rani Lakshmi!

Anonymous said...

Ok I have to share this with you.....last night while coming back from Nanital we were talking about various places....etc etc...and my new found friend mentioned Orcha and the Jehangir Palace ( he actually mentioned Aurangzeb's name) and since I had read the story how it came to be named such...I set out to narrate ( hmmmm bits of the story).So thanks to your post....am better informed :) and yeah this year I will see bits of MP ( that atleast is on my TO DO !!

AJEYA RAO said...

Thanks for more info...

indicaspecies said...

Gil,

Don't forget to add the Himalayas in that list. Thank you for reading my posts regularly and attentively and your nice comments.:)

indicaspecies said...

backpakker:

Welcome Queen Lakshmi :D
Thank you for passing by here.
Whoa, great to know that you like this post on yourself.;)

indicaspecies said...

Rulz Bender:

Datia and Orchha are twin cities, and Orchha and its Jehangir Palace will be the topic of my next post.

I'm glad to hear I was able to contribute my little bit to your quest for knowledge. That's a good compliment. Thanks.

When are you posting some pics of Nainital? All the best with your MP trip. May I suggest pass by Bedaghat, it's so worth it. :)

indicaspecies said...

Ajeya,

Welcome, as always.:)

Lakshmi said...

We queens are very vain, Celine :)

Anonymous said...

The tiger and the flame :) Thanks for the additional insights. Lakshmibai's stories are so thrilling!

Sameera Ansari said...

Wonderful pics,a beautiful ode to that brave woman who went down fighting.This post made me remember the lines :

"Khoob ladi mardani woh to Jhansi wali Rani thi..."

indicaspecies said...

Lakshmi,

Hail brave Queen..haha!!

indicaspecies said...

Priyank,

You are welcome. The Malwa and the Maratha boy had to read this.:)

indicaspecies said...

Sameera,

Thank you very much.

Those were the very lines that I began with, in my previous post.:)