India Guide
Madhya Pradesh
Mandu
Set against the rugged Vindhya hills, the medieval ghost-town of MANDU is one of central India's most atmospheric historical monuments. Come at the height of the monsoons, when the rocky plateau and its steeply shelving sides are carpeted with green vegetation, and you'll understand why the Malwa sultans christened their capital Shadiabad – "City of Joy". Even during the relentless heat of the dry season, the ruins make an exotic spectacle. Elegant Islamic palaces, mosques and onion-domed mausoleums crumble beside large medieval reservoirs and precipitous ravines, while below, an endless vista of scorched plains and tiny villages stretches off to the horizon.
Mandu can be visited as a day-trip from Indore, but you'll enjoy it more if you spend a couple of nights, giving you time not only to explore the ruins, but to witness the memorable sunsets over the Narmada Valley. Its monuments derive from a unique school of Islamic architecture that flourished here, and at Dhar, between 1400 and 1516. The elegantly simple buildings are believed to have exerted a considerable influence on the Mughal architects responsible for the Taj Mahal. Mandu's platform, a 23-kilometre-square plateau, is separated from the body of hills to the north by the Kakra Khoh, literally "deep ravine". A narrow causeway forms a natural bridge across the gorge, carrying the present road across and up via a series of subsidiary gates to the fort's modern entrance, beside the original, and very grand, Delhi Gate.
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