Orchha : A hidden Gem

Orchha MP

Orchha View

Place - Orchha, M.P.
Closest airport - Bhopal or Gwalior
Closest train station - Orchha, Jhansi
Place we stayed - Orchha Palace - https://orchhapalace.com/

Panoramic View of Orchha from Raja Mahal

 Motivation- I had been enjoying my "work from home" from my hometown for almost 15 days now. We would be going back to Bangalore in another 15 days. This was probably the first time, my parents, siblings with respective spouses were together in Kareli. So, I decided to plan one family trip where my parents had not been yet. Since my parents also love to travel, it was little tough to find such a place. 

After some research and help from my sister in law, Richa, I found a perfect place, Orchha!! Orchha is 330 km from Kareli. Our initial plan was to stay for 3 days but due to last min conflict in my Dad's schedule, we had to reduce the duration to 2 days - which I later realised was not good decision. If you want to really discover Orchha, I suggest you to plan minimum 3 days or even more. Jhansi is just 15 km from Orchha, so one should plan to cover Jhansi as well. According to my dad, Jhansi can be covered in 4 hours, there is nothing else except the Palace. 

About Orchha -Orchha was founded in 1531 AD by the Bundela Rajput chief, Rudra Pratap Singh, who became the first King of Orchha, (reigned 1501-1531 AD) and also built the Fort of Orchha. His son Bharti Chand shifted the capital from Garh Kundar to Orchha to fortify against the growing power of Mughals. The town's glory in itself speaks, in high volume, of the Bundela history and is famous for its palaces and temples built in the 16th and 17th centuries. The architectural genius of the monuments in Orchha reflects the glory of its rulers.

Day 1 - We (8 adults and 2 kids) started in 2 cars around 10 AM. Most of the way (approx 310km) is awesome NH-44 highway. There are few tolls but very good road throughout till Orchha. With a couple of breaks, we reached our hotel in Orchha around 3 PM. While we decided to have tea in the resort; Amber decided to trek around the palace. 

Orchha palace resort

Trek around the Hotel

In the evening we went to Chaturbhuj temple, Ram Raja temple and attended light and sound show.

 

Chaturbhuj temple -  This is lord Vishnu temple. Earlier this temple was built for lord Rama, but later Rama temple was built inside the Rani mahal(which is now called as Rama raja temple). This temple now have lord Vishnu's idol. According to old tale, This temple was built by king Madhukar Shah for her wife Rani Ganeshkuwari . Since King was follower of Krishna and queen was devoted to Ram, King asked queen to leave Orchha town and come back only when lord Ram accompany her. So when Queen went to Ayodhya and was crying next to river Saryu. A small boy(Ram) came to him and said "Mother!, I will come with you to Orchha but I will not change my location once you place me, I will stay in the same place where ever you keep me first" When queen reached to Orchha, the Charturbhuj temple was not ready, So queen kept that Idol in her room, after completion of the Temple people tried to move Ram's idol from Queen's room but no one could move that Idol. So, the queen's palace was finally converted in the temple called Ram Raja temple and Chaturbhuj temple remained without an Idol for a long time. Chaturbhuj Temple at Orchha, is noted for having one of the tallest Vimana/Shikhar (top) among Hindu temples standing at 344 feet.

Chaturbhuj mandir in the back

Chaturbhuj mandir, Orchha

Light and Sound show - In the light and sound holds in Orchha fort/Fort/Palace Complex, behind Chaturbhuj Temple. This show provides lot of information about the Orchha and Orchha history. But, to be honest it is very long and monotonous show, I was bored after 30 mins, they could have improved a lot on implementation and usage of latest technologies. Taking pictures and videos were not allowed. 
There are a lot of places for eating, since this was highly crowded area, so we preferred to eat first then take out the cars from parking. After coming back to resort we played some card games, dumb charades.

Ram Raja temple - Its very crowded Temple, It will take around 1-2 hour to get the darshan. We tried two times to get darshan, first time in when we attended light and sound show, Since we were getting late for the show, we came out without darshan. My sister and my parents went again in the morning for Darshan in Ram raja Mandir.

Ram Raja Mandir

Day 2 - Agenda for the day was to do Water rafting in river Betwa. We started day leisurely and around 10 o'clock after finishing breakfast we started off for Rafting. One has to reach Betwa Retreat Hotel, and make the payment, after that we waited for around 30 mins. Betwa Retreat is a beautiful Hotel with view of Betwa river. It is run by MP Tourism. We clicked few pictures while we were waiting for rafting. 

Hotel Betwa retreat

Hotel Betwa retreat : While waiting for rafting vehicle 

Water Rafting - Water rafting in River Betwa cost around Rs 2500. After paying the amount we received life jackets and helmets.  We started from Betwa retreat hotel on their vehicle, reached place called Royal chhatri (Cenotaphs) - at Kanchana Ghat of the river Betwa. Actual meaning of Chhatri is umbrella. Chhatris are tombs/Cenotaphs of Royal family members. Water rafting was amazing as usual. In the start of rafting you have to go down under the road bridge where there was hardly 2-3 feet space between water surface and road bridge. I have done raftings in past but this rafting was really different. In all the previous raftings it was all river and forest, but in this rafting you will get wonderful view of whole Orchha, Palaces, Ruins and more tales and interesting stories of the city narrated by rafting instructors. There are many rapids during entire course and we were fully drenched even before the half way. Even though it was winter, we were fortunate that it was bright sunny day which helped us with the cold.

Chhatri in be back - Start point of the rafting.

The raft passed under this bridge

View from rafting : Royal Chhatri

After the rafting we went back to hotel, changed clothes and had lunch(late lunch), Mom and dad relaxed for some time. It must be tiring for them. Evening we spent with family, played cricket and had chitchat etc. 

Day 3 - This was the day of return. I wanted to do so many things, I also wanted to go to Jhasi. We did not cover so many things like - Jahangir mahal, Raja mahal, Orchha wildlife park, Rani Mahal, Sheesh mahal etc etc. But we could not finish all the remaining things in one day. So we decided to go to Jahangir Mahal, from there we would cover Raja Mahal and Sheesh Mahal as well. Sheesh Mahal has been converted into Hotel. You should plan your stay in this Palace if you are planning to visit and stay in Orchha. In my opinion this could have been a better place to stay.

Jahangir Mahal - This is situated in the main central location of Orchha. There are various tourist attractions here. The place and palace is just awesome. It is a mix of Hindu and Mughal architecture. The entrance is from the east with three platforms. Jahangir Mahal is three story structure, with hanging balconies, porches. There is beautiful carving work on windows, and view from 2nd and 3rd floor is mesmerising, View of River betwa, Raja mahal, Chaturbhuj Temple, Ram Raja Temple and overall Orchha. It provides perfect blend view of nature and man-made structure.

We spent around 2-3 hours at this place, clicked pictures, my son was enjoying climbing up and down the stairs. Whatever I say about this palace, will not do justice to its beauty, so kindly refer to pictures. 😀     

View from Jahangir Mahal

Jahangir Mahal

Jahangir Mahal

Jahangir Mahal

Sheesh Mahal - As I mentioned earlier this place is converted into hotel and it has restaurant in the ground floor. We decide to have lunch here. Lunch was good and cost of the food was also moderate. Only a small portion of Sheesh Mahal was open for visitors. 

Sheesh mahal

Sheesh Mahal

Sheesh Mahal

Raja Mahal - Raja Mahal is just opposite to Jahangir mahal. It has almost similar architecture as Jahangir mahal. According to me one should visit Jahangir mahal first, so that you can finish Raja Mahal faster. 😁The construction of Raja Mahal began in the 16th century, by Rudra Pratap Singh. However, it was completed in the 17th century, during the reign of Madhukar Shah. Took sixty years to build
It still has paintings made of vegetable dyes. There is a junta darbaar or deewane aam where the king used to sit. 

Raja Mahal

Raja Mahal

Raja mahal

Though I did not want to come back, I wanted to stay for few more days in Orchha but we started back around 4.30/5.00 PM. On the way back It was very cold weather and myself and my son  Tatva both got sick. Next day, it was my Sister-in-law's birthday, We had planned to cut the cake at mid-night but since we were not well we postponed the cake cutting to next day morning. 

💕💕Finally the birthday Celebration. 💕💕