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
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Gwalior Fort, Part 4: Rock-Cut Jain Tirthankar Statues on the South-Eastern Escarpment
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
Gwalior Fort, Part 3: Saas-Bahu Temples
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
Gwalior Fort, Part 2: Teli ka Mandir
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, Part 1: Fort & Palaces
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
In and Around Gwalior’s Jami Masjid
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
Tombs of Muhammad Ghaus and Tansen in Gwalior
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 Fate of Rocky Hills/Outcrops All Over India
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
Temples in Morena District, near Gwalior, Part 4: Bateshwar
If the group of temples at nearby Nareshwar get their drama and spectacle from the ravine they are situated in, the temples at Bateshwar get it from the atmospherics created by their sheer number, and elements such as the two stepped tanks at the heart of the group. Continue reading
Temples in Morena District, near Gwalior, Part 3: Mitaoli
The unusual 14th c Chausath Yogini temple in Mitaoli (or Mitavali) is among only a handful of such circular temples in India dedicated (originally, in this case) to a cult goddess. Continue reading
Sarson ke Khet 