Place · Bundela capital town · India
Orchha
The former Bundela Rajput capital on the Betwa in Niwari district, Madhya Pradesh, founded in 1531 by Rudra Pratap Singh. Orchha was the Bundela capital until 1783 when the court moved to Tikamgarh. The Jahangir Mahal, built in 1606 by Vir Singh Deo for a two-day visit by Emperor Jahangir, is the architectural climax of Rajput-Mughal hybrid construction — Rajput chhatris and jharokhas over Mughal arcades and inlaid tilework. The Raj Mahal, Rai Praveen Mahal, Lakshminarayan temple with Bundela murals, and the Chaturbhuj Rama temple complete the ensemble. The Rama Raja temple is unique as the only shrine in India where Rama is worshipped as a king (not a god) and the daily rituals follow a royal durbar protocol.
- Periods
- Early Modern Age, British Colonial Age, Republic and Living Practice
- Function
- Authority & administration
- Patron dynasty
- Chandela
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 25.352, 78.640
Connections (2)
- Sacred transplantAyodhyā
Orchha in Madhya Pradesh houses the unique Ram Raja temple, where Rama is worshipped as a king rather than a deity. Tradition holds that Queen Ganesh Kunwari brought a Rama murti from Ayodhya in the 16th century. It was temporarily placed in her palace kitchen, which then became the permanent shrine.
- Architectural modelDatia Palace
Orchha and Datia are forty kilometres apart and largely the work of one ruler in one generation, and they divide the Bundela achievement between them: Orchha's Jahangir Mahal is a Rajput palace with Mughal detail built for an imperial visit, and Datia's is a structural experiment — seven storeys without a single timber beam, arched and vaulted throughout, and never occupied. Bundela architecture is a small state's answer to Mughal scale, and much of it was built to be looked at.
On these journeys
Sources
List of World Heritage Sites in India — Wikipedia
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