Indore is Madhya Pradesh’s business powerhouse – nearby Pithampur is known as the Detroit of India for its car factories. Check your emails, and perhaps imagine the days when the city reached its cultural peak under the Holkar dynasty, before fleeing the traffic, flyovers and crooked smiles.
Category: Madhya Pradesh And Chhattisgarh
Gwalior is famous for its medieval hilltop fort, described by the Mughal emperor Babur as ‘the pearl amongst fortresses in India’. For travellers making a detour from the Golden Triangle, the slow-paced town sprawling around the hill is a good introduction to an un-touristy part of central India. Jai Vilas Palace, home of the Scindia Museum, is the historic seat of the Scindias, one of the country’s most revered families.
In Eastern Madhya Pradesh you will find the military and industrial centre of Jabalpur. It is also home to the Pench Tiger Reserve and the Kanha and Bandhavgarh National Parks which are both excellent places to get a glimpse of a tiger.
Chhattisgarh split from Madhya Pradesh in 2000 and is coming out of the bigger state’s shadow. It’s one of the eastern states associated with the Naxalite guerrillas (an ultra-leftist political movement that began in Naxal Village, West Bengal), but they rarely stray from their remote hideouts on Chhattisgarh’s borders. It also suffers from dire roads and scant buses outside the Raipur–Jagdalpur stretch of Hwy 43, but for intrepid travellers, the state is a forested Adivasi kingdom. The tribes’ pointillist paintings and spindly sculptures are as vivid as the colourful haats (markets) that take place across the Bastar region. The forests also hide waterfalls and unspoilt nature reserves.
Central Madhya Pradesh centres on the state capital of Bhopal with its mosques, lakes, museums and bright lights. The area also includes the historic hill station of Pachmarhi and Sanchi known for its oldest Buddhist structures.
South of the two lakes, the state capital lives up to its role in life – shopping complexes and bright lights compete for space in New Market; hotels, museums and restaurants nestle in the Arera and Shamla Hills. On Upper Lake, nicknamed ‘the Bhopal beauty’, the wealthy race around in speedboats or fill the night with ringtones on the Lake Princess cruise boat.
Secreted in a forest of teak and sal in craggy cliffs, 46km south of Bhopal, are more than 600 rock shelters (Indian/foreigner Rs 2/10, vehicle Rs 10; dawn-dusk); almost half contain prehistoric paintings.
Bandhavgarh may be smaller than Kanha but it claims to have the world’s highest-density tiger population – offering day-trippers a 99.99% chance of spotting a big cat. In addition to its tigers (27 in the 105-sq-km core area), the 448-sq-km park is inhabited by some 40 leopards, 250 species of bird and some 35 species of mammal, including nilgais, wild boars, jackals, gaurs, sambars and porcupines.