Orchha, is a charming village on the banks of river Betwa, a prominent river system in the Bundelkhand region. For those who are not familiar with Bundelkhand, this is the region which lies in the central most part of India, occupying southern region of UP and northern region of MP. Prominent cities include, Jhansi, Hamirpur, Chitrakoot, Banda, Chattarpur, Khajuraho, Panna, Tikamgarh, Sagar to name a few. The economy is mostly farming and little bit of tourism, mostly due to world renowned Khajuraho temples and Orchha, which is fast picking up as a major tourism attraction and is en-route to Khajuraho. I primarily belong to Bundelkhand region, and as a child growing up here, I have been to most of these places, but among all, Orcha is my favorite. It’s located on the banks of a beautiful river, famous Ram temple, Forts (with Bundeli and Mughal influence), national park and nice resorts.
Sunset at banks of river Betwa
Orchha Landscape
This time during my trip to Jhansi, like everytime, we drove to Orchha, around 25 kms from Jhansi, a quick and easy drive and a perfect getaway place. We stopped at the Azad memorial, a small cave, where Shaheed Chandra Shekhar Azad was in hiding from Britishers during freedom struggle, this place is very quite with a Hanuman temple and it is said that Azad disguised himself as priest of this temple and ran his freedom mission from here. There is a small creek as well, A must stop if you want to get a feel of freedom struggle.
Next stop was the Orchha fort, which is pretty huge with amazing architecture and views. Orchha use to be main center and capitol of the mighty Bundela dynasty during 15-16th century. Orchha fort primarily contains, Jahangir Mahal, Bundela king of Orchha built to welcome and honor his friend, Jahangir (Salim), the Mughal prince after he became the emperor, following Akbar. Jahangir Mahal, is a fine example of perfect symmetry, It provides a breath taking view of the river side and the chattris. There are various fine paintings on walls and ceilings using vegetable colors. Next to Jahangir Mahal, is the Raj Mahal (King and Queen’s Palaces). These have some fine paintings of Hindu Gods, including Lord Vishnu and His 9 avatars, exquisitely done on the ceilings of the halls inside the palace.
Lord Ram painting on the ceilings.
It is said that the Queen of Orchha was a big devotee of lord Ram, and she insisted her Husband to invite Lord Ram from Ayodhya to Orchha. She built a huge Chaturbhuj Temple in His honor. the temple was built in such a manner that the queen could see Lord from her Palace’s window. But before agreeing to move to Orchha, there was a condition that Lord Ram had, that he would remain in the place where he would be first brought. When Queen reached Orchha, the Chaturbhuj temple was still under finishing touches…so she requested Lord Ram to be placed in the Palace next to the temple, later when they tried to move the idols, it was impossible to move, and then they remembered lords wordings. As a result the palace became the residence of lord Rama and is currently known as famous Ram Raja Temple, local guide tells us. Also, this is the only temple(in a shape of a palace) in India where lord Ram is worshipped as a King.
Jahangir Mahal
Jahangir Mahal
It was almost time for Sunset, so our next stop was banks of Betwa river. The river is very scenic and is surrounded by small Chattris and some well hidden resorts on one side and national forest on the other side. The flow in the river was pretty heavy with bunch of rapids which makes it a perfect place for white water rafting, however this sport is not well developed here. It’s all natural beauty. The view during sunset were amazing…
Betwa River
From here we started to visit the Ram Raja mandir, as it was time for the evening ‘Aarti’. We bought some parshaad…my favorite here is brown milk cake…very tasty. Outside of the Ram Raja temple, you can visit Sawan Bhadon palace and Phool Bagh, showcasing the story of Hardaul, the prince of Orchha. There is a story about him as well…his brother Jujhar suspected his queen’s relationship with Hardaul and ordered her to poison him, however Queen could not do this but as proof of his innocence Hardaul took poison himself and died, giving birth to a legend of noble sacrifice, people of Bundelkhand still worship Hardaul.
Moniye dancing.
Note: Ram Raja temple gets very crowded during Ramnaumi celebration, which is the busiest time of the year in Orchha. I remember one time we litrally came back from the highway because there was no room to even put your feet on the ground. Also during this time, you can see tribal people (Moniye) wearing and holding peacock feathers in their hands and doing traditional dance performances etc.
After darshan and aarti, our next stop was the light and sound program, which happens daily in the fort area. The show was simply great and the lighting etc were amazing, it feels like the entire area has come to life. During the show they narrate the entire history of Orchha and Bundela rulers and their dynasty. To read more about it, you can visit the wiki at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchha. The show happens twice daily, first at 7 pm in English and last at 8 pm in Hindi. Seems like MPT and ASI have invested a lot of money in setting up the light and sound programs around the famous places and have become a big hit not only among tourists but among the locals as well. Similarly, they have a light and sound show in Jhansi fort, which is awesome, depicting the life of Rani Laxmi Bai, the famous queen warrior of Jhansi and her fight for freedom during the great revolt of 1857. Famous bollywood star Sushmita Sen and Om Puri have landed their voices as Rani Laxmi Bai and the Great Fort of Jhansi. I would highly recommend these two shows if you are in this part of the country. The shows are great for all ages, my 6 yr old really liked it as well.
Light And Sound at Orchha
Jhansi Fort entrance gate
After the show we headed back to Jhansi, however in the past, We have stayed here in one of the river side resort. Bundelkhand Riverside resort and Betwa Cottages(run by MPT) are pretty good and have very nice location, I would certainly recommend spending one night here, if you have time. Also due to Orchha’s
close proximity to Jhansi, which is one of the biggest railways junction, you can visit here anytime you are passing from Jhansi. Very conveninent and does not require any advance planning. I think the resorts have lot of accomodation and finding a room would not be very difficult, but the stay would be worth it, I can certainly promise that. :)
Happy journey!!!
http://www.ghumakkar.com/2010/01/16/orchha-a-precious-%E2%80%98gem%E2%80%99-of-bundelkhand/
http://www.bundelkhanddarshan.com
गांवो से शहर की दूरियां नापने वाले तमाम परिवारों, गरीबी से हार मानकर टूटने वाली जीवन प्रत्याशा में जान फूकती कला देवी आज किसी मायने में पर निर्भर नहीं है, मुफलिसी के शिकार चार और परिवारों का सहारा बनी ये जुनूनी महिला।
कला देवी (45) की सास कमला कहती है कि दो वर्ष पहले शुरू किया गया चालीस हजार रूपये का छोटा सा कारोबार ही हमारी जीविका का एक मात्र साधन है बनिस्बत हमें किसी के आगे हाथ नहीं फैलाना पड़ता। रामगोपाल कानपुर से थोक में कच्चे पोंगे लाता है और इन्हे घर में तलकर पैकिंग करने के बाद छोटी दुकानों में बिक्री के लिए भेजता है। कला देवी ने वार्ता करने के दौरान बताया कि एक बोरे में 800 पैकेट बनकर तैयार होते हैं। इन्हे फुटकर दुकानदारों से 230 रूपये सैकड़ा (पैकेट) के हिसाब से बेंचा जाता है। इस लघु कारोबार के लिए उसे किसी से कर्ज नहीं लेना पड़ा इसके साथ ही चार और परिवार अपने पैरों पर आत्मनिर्भर हैं। एक दिन में एक हजार पोंगे लगभग तैयार हो जाते हैं और अन्य महिलाओं को दस रूपये सैकड़ा पैकिंग खर्च मिलता है। अच्छा माल तैयार करने के लिए पामोलिन आयल उपयोग करने के बाद भी प्रति परिवार दो सौ रूपये आराम से बचता है। कला देवी इन दो वर्षों में अपनी दो बेटियों के हाथ भी इसी धन्धे के सहारे पीले कर चुकी है और पुत्री सोनू बी0ए0 प्रथम वर्ष, पुत्र रोहित इण्टरमीडिएट की पढ़ाई के साथ परिवार की अन्य दैनिक जरूरतें भी आराम से पूरी हो जाती हैं।
