Padhavali is a small 18th c AD fort or garhi built around a 10th c AD temple, close to the Bateshwar (or Batesar) group of temples. All that is left of the temple is the plinth and a portion of the entrance structure. It looks like the fort was built to take advantage of the high plinth that the temple was built on. Continue reading
On a previous visit to Gwalior I had visited a host of temples in Morena district, but had missed out on a couple of them, including the Kakanmath temple in Sihoniya village a little to the north of the other monument sites. Continue reading
The best known group of Jain Tirthankar statues on the Gwalior Fort hill are along the western approach route to the hill, in what is known as the Urwahi Valley. Continue reading
At various places along the high escarpment of Gwalior Fort’s hill are rock-cut statues of the Jain pantheon of Tirthankar saints. Continue reading
Saas-Bahu (mother-in-law, daughter-in-law) are two adjacent temples, one larger (saas) and one smaller (bahu), built in the late-11th c by the Kachchhapagatha kings who took over Gwalior from the Pratiharas in the 10th c. Continue reading
Teli ka Mandir is an 8th c Pratihara-era temple, 25m high with a rectangular sanctum and “khakhara deul” spire with a vaulted top. Continue reading
Gwalior Fort is one of the many sites in India that has a wonderfully layered history, which is manifest in architecture from various different periods from that history. Continue reading
Gwalior’s Jami Masjid is a Mughal-era structure built in the 1660s, soon after Shah Jahan was deposed by Aurangzeb, making it an early late-Mughal structure. Continue reading
Muhammad Ghaus (or Ghawth) was a 16th c Sufi saint and teacher of the Mughal emperor Humayun as well as Tansen, the famous musician in Akbar’s court. Continue reading
The hill of the Chausath Yogini temple at Mitaoli overlooks an adjacent rocky hill, or what’s left of it. This adjacent hill has been almost entirely excavated and quarried for its stone, to be used in India’s booming construction industry. Continue reading
