Entries by nitin

Fatehpur Sikri

Kush Khana in Fatehpur Sikri comprises an octagonal chamber roofed internally with ribbed dome, encased within a colonnaded veranda. The structure stands in the middle of a spacious octagonal court, surrounded by additional colonnades, now much overgrown. An excavation at this site has revealed five cultural periods which has pushed the antiquity of the place by at least four thousand years before present. The locality was occupied by communities who habited in the Ganga-Yamuna doab during the second millennium B.C. and belongs to Ochre Coloured Ware Culture of copper age.

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Patiala

Comprising several buildings on a four-hectare raised mound, Qila Mubarak Complex is the core around which the walled city of Patiala developed. Founded by the saint and soldier Ala Singh in 1764. Patiala is known for its religious tolerance, attributed to the legend that Sikh Ala Singh founded this town at its present site on the advice of a Muslim saint.

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Junagarh, Bikaner, Rajasthan, 16th-17th Century

Formerly known as Chintamani, the meticulously constructed Junagarh (literally, Old Fort) at Bikaner was built in 1588 to replace the mud fort that the founder Rao Bilka had built on the desert plains.

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Raj Bhawan, Nainital, Uttarakhand, 1899

Gazing in twilight’s glow one gets transported from Kumaon to the Scottish Highlands.

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Mandu, Madhya Pradesh, 14th-16th Century

The time to visit Mandu, they say, is after the rains, when the Jahaz Mahal seems to float in the waters of the ocean. This is d ue to flooding of the two lakes – the Kapur Talao and the Munja Talao – between which it is built. It is said to have housed Sultan Ghiyas-ud-din Khilji’s harem which included women from such far-flung places as Abyssinia and Turkey.

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Orchha, Madhya Pradesh, 16th Century onwards

An overall aspect of Orchha seen from the Sheesh Mahal. Meaning ‘a hidden place’, Orchha is a town in Tikamgarh district of Madhya Pradesh and is the former capital of the Bundela dynasty.

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