ORCHHA – THE HIDDEN CITY - CAPITAL OF BUNDELKHAND EMPIRE

Orchha was the capital of Bundelkhand Kingdom.  The word ‘Orchha’ means ‘hidden’.  Due to the fact that the place was covered by forests, it was not known to the external world for a long time.

The kingdom was established by Rudra Pratap Singh in the year 1524. The king started construction of his palace. Unfortunately, the king died in the same year. When the king went for hunting, he saw a tiger attacking a cow. When he tried to save the cow from the tiger, the tiger attacked him from behind and killed him.

Rudra Pratap Singh was succeeded by his son, Bharti Chand. During his period, Sher Shah Suri, the Mughal Emperor, invaded against the kingdom and had captured Kalinjar Fort. Taking instructions from the king, Madhukar Shah, his younger brother, led the Bundela forces against Sher Shah Suri.  During the battle, Sher Shah Suri was killed and the victory was of the Bundelas. Kalinjar Fort was saved.

As Bharti Chand died without any children, Madhukar Shah ascended the throne after him. Madhukar Shah was a devotee of Lord Krishna and he wanted to visit Brindavan which is a holy place for the Vaishnavites.  His Queen, Ganesh Kunwari was a devotee of Lord Rama and she wanted to visit Ayodhya on pilgrimage.  The King was angry with her and ordered that she could come back to the country only if she could bring Rama with her.

The Queen, although upset by her husband’s order, had full faith on Rama and was in tapas on the banks of the river Sarayu for darshan of Rama. Days passed and as Rama did not appear before her, out of despair, she decided to commit suicide and jumped into the river. Immediately Lord Rama appeared before her in his child form.

When the Queen requested the Lord to come to Orchha, he set three conditions:
1. The Queen should carry him to Orchha and should cover the entire distance on foot.
2. The place where he would first be placed down would be his abode and he would not move from that place.
3. He would be called Ramaraja and the temple built for him would be known as Ramaraja Mandir.

The Queen agreed to this and went to Orchha on foot carrying the Lord.  When the King learnt that his wife was arriving at Orchha with the Lord, he realized the depth of her devotion to the Lord and received her warmly. He wanted to meet Lord Rama.  When he met the Lord, the Lord reiterated his conditions.  The King agreed and made arrangements for construction of the proposed Ramaraja Mandir. In the meantime, he requested the Lord to stay in the Queen’s Palace.

Rama Raja Mandir

One day the Queen, who was overseeing the work in the kitchen left Rama down to see the work.  Lord Rama made that place as his abode and did not move from there.  All efforts by the King move from there by performing Pujas with various priests did not yield any result.  Therefore the Queen’s Palace became Ramaraja Mandir. The new temple constructed for the Lord became Chaturpuj Mandir where Lord Krishna is consecrated.

Chaturbhuj Mandir

Madhukar Shah had six wives through whom he had eight children.  After his death, the eldest son, Ram Shah succeeded him. But eventually, another son, Bir Singh Judev, through his political efforts and support from his friend, Champat Rai, ascended the throne.  During his regime, he strengthened the Bundelkhand forces and they were able to withstand any invasion.  Bir Singh Judev’s son went for hunting with his soldiers. They missed a deer they were chasing and were in search of the same when they came across a sage who was in tapas.  When they enquired him about the whereabouts of the deer, he did not reply as he was observing Mouna Vrat on that day. Enraged by the silence of the sage, the prince thought that the sage was disregarding him and ordered his soldiers to let the hunting dogs on the sage. The sage was killed by the dogs. The King became angry over his son’s action. The prince was brought to the Court like any other criminal. The King ordered the execution of the prince the same way the sage was killed and rendered justice.

During the regime of Bir Singh Judev, Emperor Akbar invaded Orchha thrice, but faced defeat all the three times.  Bir Singh came to know that Salim, Akbar’s son, who had strained relationship with his father, was camping at Prayag and decided to have friendship with him, as he was aware that after Akbar, Salim would be ruling Hindustan. When Akbar came to know of their friendship, he wanted to teach them a lesson and sent his forces under the leadership of Abul Fazal. Seeing Salim worried, Bir Singh assured him that having defeated Akbar thrice, it would not be difficult to defeat him once more and that Abul Fazal would not be alive to tell Akbar the result of the war. True to his words, he defeated Akbar's forces and Abul Fazal was killed. He sent Abul Fazal’s head as a souvenir to Salim. Recognising his valour, Salim (Jahangir) made him the Governor General of the province.

Later,  when Jahangir succeeded Akbar as the Moghul Emperor, he paid a visit to Orchha to meet his friend, Bir Singh Dev, who constructed an exclusive palace for the former, who stayed there only once.  The palace is known as ‘Jahangir Mahal’.

Lakshmi Mandir

Bir Singh Judev's Cenotaph

After Bir Singh Dev, Indrajit Singh ruled Orchha. During his period, music and dance gained popularity. There was a dancer by name, Rai Parveen, who was very beautiful and talented. Having heard about her, Jahangir wanted her in his court. The King ordered that Rai Parveen go to Delhi.  Rai Parveen did not want to go to Delhi. So were the citizens of Orchha. But the King’s order has to be obeyed.  Reluctantly, Rai Parveen left for Jehangir’s court.

When she was called to the King’s Court, she sang a song, which meant that only three beings would take the left over food. They are dogs, rats and beggars. Oh King, which category do you belong?

The courtiers were angry at hearing her words.  But the Emperor, who loved arts and respected the talented people, did not get angry. On the contrary, he was happy with her courage and ordered that she be sent back to Orchha with due honours. The King accepted her back in his court.  He built Rai Parveen Mahal in her honour.

After Indrajeet Singh, Jujhar Singh came to power.  He was ably supported by his brother, Hardoul Singh, who kept the Moghuls at bay. Emperor Shah Jahan was convinced that so long as Hardoul Singh was alive he would not be able to defeat the Bundelas. So he wanted to finish him off by cunning means.

Jujhar Singh’s wife was very affectionate to her brother-in-law, Hardoul, treating him like her own son. Hardoul also, being younger to her by many years, was looking at her like his own mother.  Shah Jahan invited Jujhar Singh for a party, after which he talked to him, slowly sowing the seeds of poison in the latter’s mind. He told Jujhar that his wife and brother were having illicit relationship. First, Jujhar refused to believe this. But Shah Jahan suggested that he test the purity of their relationship by asking his wife to offer poisoned food to her brother-in-law, and if she followed her husband’s instructions, her relationship was unblemished; otherwise, it would be illicit.

Jujhar Singh, whose mind was poisoned by Shah Jahan, instructed his wife to offer poisoned food to his brother. She was shocked to hear this and pleaded her husband not to believe other’s words as she was treating Hardoul, who was far younger to her, as her son. But Jujhar was firm in his stand and she had no alternative than to follow his instructions.

She mixed poison in kheer and took it to Hardoul. Hardoul had already known about this through his friends.  Nevertheless, he snatched the utensil containing the poisoned kheer from his sister-in-law and drank the entire contents at one go.  Shocked at his action, the Queen said that the kheer was poisoned, to which he said that he was aware of that. Then, why did he drink that, she asked. He said that there was no other way to prove her chastity to his brother. The King, who was watching this from behind the screen, repented his act and was crying over his dying brother. Hardoul told his brother that the Queen, who was like his mother, was innocent and requested him not to suspect her.  He also requested the king to save Bundela Kingdom from the Moghuls and left this abode.

It is said that when his sister’s marriage was performed, Hardoul visited in inanimate form and sprinkled flower petals on her. The people saw flower petals falling on her from the sky. Even now, people of the locality have the custom of extending the first invitation to Hardoul for the marriages in their families and believe that Hardoul blesses the newly married from Heaven.

Prince Indramani was in love with Emperor Aurangazeb’s daughter, Badrunnisa. Enraged on hearing this, Aurangazeb sent his forces to destroy Chaturpuj Mandir and construct a mosque in its place. Hearing this, the citizens were worried. The day before Aurangazeb’s forces reached, a young warrior came and told them not to worry and he would take care of the Moghul forces. The next day, when the Moghul forces arrived, the young warrior appeared and prevented them from entering Chaturpuj Mandir. When the Moghul General asked who he was, he removed his disguise and it was none other than Princess Badrunnisa. She stands as a great example for Hindu-Muslim unity. Indramani succeeded his brother King Sujhan Singh, who died without child in 1672.  When he died in 1975, his son, Jaswant Singh succeeded him.

Indramani's Cenotaph 

The golden period of Bundela Kingdom was during the reign of King Chhatrasal. Chhatrasal ascended the throne when the kingdom was in all sorts of trouble. Although there were many ups and downs during his regime, he overcame all the obstacles and ruled the kingdom efficiently. He ruled the state for 50 years. He himself being a poet, encouraged all fine arts. Like any other human being, Raja Chhatrasal was getting older and when he was sick in bed, the Moghuls invaded the kingdom. His Minister advised him that there was little they could do and advised him to take rest. But the King did not want his country to fall into the hands of the Moghuls. His son told him that the Maratha warrior, Rana Pratap Singh’s assistance would help the country. He agreed and with the help of Rana Pratap Singh, they could defeat the Moghuls.  As a token of gratitude, the King ceded a portion of his territory to the Marathas and closed his eyes peacefully.

The Marathas instigated the Bundela princes against each other and gradually took over the entire kingdom and thus came the end of Bundela rule, but for whom, the Moghuls could have crossed the Vindhya and Satpura Hills and captured the South India.

Location of Orchha:

Orchha is situated in Tikamgarh District (presently Niwari District) of Madhya Pradesh and is accessible by very good road from Jhansi, U.P. (distance - 15 kms).  Jhansi fort also originally belonged to the Bundelas and was known as Baldevpur during that time.  It can be reached throughout the year by road.  Nearest airports are Khajuraho and Gwalior

Places of Interest in Orchha:

Cenotaphs of Bundela kings

Oont Khana - the place where the king's camels were kept.

Lakshmi Mandir - Although the temple seems to be in a triangular shape when viewed from the front, it is actually rectangular in shape inside.

Paintings inside Lakshmi Mandir:

Dear Viewers,

I have compiled the contents of the blog partly from the Light and Sound show at Orchha and from what I have gathered from my friends.  If there is any mistake, I shall be glad to get information on the same, so that it can be corrected.

Rajasekaran Ramakrishnan