Gwalior is a city in Madhya Pradesh in India. It lies 76 miles (122 km) south of Agra and has a population of over 12 lakh (1,200,000). The Gwalior metropolitan area is the 46th most populated area in the country.
Gwalior occupies a strategic location in the Gird region of North India, and the city and its fortress have served as the center of several of North India's historic kingdoms. At present also its strategic location is marked by the presence of major air base at Maharajpura. Gwalior is the administrative headquarters of Gwalior district and Gwalior division.
Origin of name:
Gwalior's history is traced back to a legend in 8th century AD when a chief tain known as Suraj Sen was struck by a deadly disease and cured by a hermit-saint Galav. As a gratitude for that incidence, he founded this city by his name.
History:
At the heart of Gwalior is its fortress (Gwalior Fort), built by Raja Man Singh Tomar, of the Tomar dynasty. This formidable structure had the reputation of being one of the most invincible forts of India. It occupies an isolated rock outcrop. The hill is steepended to make it virtually unscalable and is surrounded by high walls which enclose buildings from several periods. The old town of Gwalior lies at the eastern base of the fortress. Lashkar, formerly a separate town that originated as a military camp, lies to the south, and Morar, also a formerly separate town, lies to the east . Gwalior, Lashkar and Morar are presently part of Gwalior Nagar Nigam.
Massive Gwalior Fort, popularly called Gibraltar of India overlooks the city. The great Mughal Emperor Babur reputedly described it as, "
The pearl in the necklace of the forts of Hind". This forts architecture is the only one in India , which shows Chinese influence , as Chinese dragons that have been crafted at the hilt of the pillars. This influence was due to trade between china and India.
In the east of the city are two magnificent examples of early Mughal architecture. One is mausoleum of, 16th century Sufi saint Ghous Mohammed, and another is tomb of Mian Tansen, a great singer and one of the 'Nine Jewels' of Emperor Akbar's court. Right next to them is the Gujari Mahal, which according to the local stories says that the maharaj made for his 9th queen, he was married to eight queens, but none were able to produce a heir for him, thus he finally married a milkman’s daughter called “naani”, later she was renamed “mrignani” (meaning beautiful eyes), since she wasn’t of royal heritage, the maharaj had to make a separate palace for her, which is now called “gujari mahal”.
Close to the heart of the city is splendid Jai Vilas Palace, patterned on the style of the 'Palais de Versailles' in France combines Tuscan, Italian and Corinthian styles of architecture.
Rich in cultural heritage and architectural marvels, Gwalior has the added advantage of it's proximity to Agra, the city of Taj Mahal, Khajuraho, the city of great temples and Delhi, the national capital.
Historically and architecturally, Gwalior is interesting first as a very ancient seat of Jain worship; secondly for its example of palace architecture of the best Hindu period (1486-1516); and thirdly as an historic fortress. Many historical places are found near the Dabra-Bhitarwar Road. Prior to the founding of Gwalior the region was also known by its ancient name of Gopasetra. The great Apabhramsha poet Pandit Raighu lived in Gwalior. Gwalior had an institutional seat of the Bhattarakas of Kashtha Sangh and later Mula Sangh.
View from the summit of the Gwalior Fort showing the palace of the Maharajah of Scindia. circa 1882.
According to local legend, the original fort of Gwalior was founded by the Kachwaha chief, Suraj Sen. His palace is the most interesting example of early Hindu work of its class in India. Another palace of even greater extent was added to this in 1516. The Mughal emperors Jahangir and Shah Jahan added palaces to these two, the whole making a group of edifices unequalled for picturesqueness and interest by anything of their class in central India. Among the apartments in the palace was the celebrated chamber, named the Baradari, supported on 12 columns, and 45 ft (15 m) square, with a stone roof, forming one of the most beautiful palace-halls in the world. It was, besides, singularly interesting from the expedients to which the Hindu architect was forced to resort to imitate the vaults of the Muslims. Of the buildings, however, which so excited the admiration of the first Mughal emperor Babur, probably little now remains.
Jai Vilas palace, in Lashkar is a marvellous palace museum, part of which is open to the public and gives a glimpse into the life of the royal family.
The Fort area is also home of the Scindia School, a well regarded institution founded by the late Maratha Maharaja Madho Rao Scindia of Gwalior in 1897.
A striking part of the Jain remains at Gwalior is a series caves or rock-cut sculptures, excavated in the rock on all sides, and numbering nearly a hundred, great and small. Most of them are mere niches to contain statues, though some are cells that may have been originally intended for residences. One curious fact regarding them is that, according to inscriptions, they were all excavated within the short period of about thirty-three years, between 1441 and 1474. One of the colossal figures is 57 ft (17 m) high, which is taller than any other in northern India.
Gwalior fort also has the Gurudwara Data Bandi built in the memory of the sixth Sikh Guru Har Gobind. This Gurudwara is particularly large and grand, built entirely of marble with coloured glass decorating the main building. Recital of the Guru Granth Sahib creates a peaceful and sacred atmosphere. Moghul kings used to visit gwalior usually.
Geography:
Gwalior is located at 26.22° N 78.18° E[1]. It has an average elevation of 197 metres (646 feet). Gwalior is a historical Indian city - is located on the periphery of Madhya Pradesh State, 321 km (199.5 Miles) from Delhi and 121 km (76 Miles) from Agra.
Climate:
Gwalior has a sub-tropical climate with hot summers from March to June, the humid monsoon season from July to October and a cool dry winter from November to December. The highest recorded temperature was 47oC and the lowest was
-1oC.
Transportation infrastructure:
The city is well connected via rail, road and air transport services.
Air:
Air Deccan fly daily to and from Delhi, Indore and Bhopal to Gwalior's airport. Indian Airlines' Delhi to Jabalpur line also stops at Gwalior.
Railways:
Gwalior's main station is one of the major commercial railway stations of the North Central Railway division of Indian Railways, which is centred in Allahabad. The station has won awards from Indian Railways for clean infrastructure in 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1992. Express trains such as the Rajdhani Express and Shatabdi Express stop in Gwalior.
Gwalior is, perhaps, one of the only few places where there are both narrow gauge and broad gauge railways tracks are still operational. A unique aspect about Gwalior narrow gauge is that the width of the track is smallest among all the narrow gauge tracks in India.
Gwalior is well connected via train services to all parts of the country including 4 metros. There are direct trains to Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata (Howrah), Chennai, Trivandrum, Ahmedabad, Pune, Jammu, Indore, Jaipur, Lucknow, Bhopal, Nagpur, Chandigarh and other major towns. Gwalior is the main station serving most of the important and long distance trains. There are two other stations within the city limits, named Birla nagar and Sithouli. These stations interconnect to other stations and also serve the short distance trains connecting Gwalior to nearby towns and villages.
There are other narrow gauge stations within the city, named Goshipura and Motijheel.
Gwalior lies on the longest functional broad gauge line in India between Delhi and Mumbai.
Gwalior also has direct connections to cities in India's "IT Hub" such as Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad.
Roads:
Gwalior is fairly well connected to other parts of Madhya Pradesh and India with national and state highways. The Agra-Bombay national highway (NH3) passes through Gwalior. The Agra-Bombay Road runs though the city connecting it to Shivpuri on one end and Agra on the other. The city is connected to the Jhansi by the National Highway 75, towards the south of the city. In the Northern, the city is connected to the holy city of Mathura via National Highway 3. There are bus services to and from all major and minor cities near Gwalior. The prominent one being Bhopal, Agra, Delhi, Jabalpur, Jhansi, Bhind, Morena, Datia, Jaipur and Indore.
Local transport:
Gwalior had lacked proper means of public transport for long. However, recently the municipal corporation has launched Gwalior City Bus covering most of the areas in Gwalior city.
The other means of public commuting are the mini-buses (Nagar sevas in local language) and Tempos, which are often overcrowded and uncomfortable. You can also hire an auto-rickshaw to get around places in the city which are not covered by bus routes.
The tempos and auto-rickshaws, are rather infamous for pollution, and the local government has plans to replace the tempos with vans that shall run on Liquefied Petroleum Gas.
Art and culture:
Gwalior is a well acknowledged place of art, associated with historic as well as contemporary evidence. In August 2005 a mural created by Aasutosh Panigrahi along with five other artist, was acknowledged as World's Largest Indoor Mural by Guinness Book of Records.
Gwalior holds an unparalleled reputation in Sangeet Greatest ever classical singer ( Dhrupadiya) was Baijnath Prasad alias Baiju Bawra livedin Gwalior for his whole life under the patronage of Man Singh. Baiju was born in Chanderi and was crimated there only, got the training of music in Brindaban Under great Swami Guru Haridas ji. He was Court Musician of Gwalior along with Nayak Charju, Bakshu, and others.
Tansen: Born in Behat, Got the training in music in Vrindavan, Served to Raja Ramchandra Waghela of Bandhawgarh, then went to Agra under the patronage of Akbar. After the death of Tansen in Fatehpur sikri and crimation in Agra the ashes were buried in Gwalior.This is the reason why Tansen Samaroh is held every year in gwalior.
Ustad Natthu Khan, Hassu ?Khan, Haddu Khan , Nissar Hussain, Rehmat Khan, Shankarrao Vishnu Pandit, RamkrishnaBuwa Vaze, Rajabhaiyya Poonchhwale, Krishnarao Pandit, lived here and spread the magic of music.
Sarod Maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan was also from the royal city of Gwalior. His grandfather Ghulam Ali Khan Bangash became a court musician in Gwalior.
Now, one of the great hindustani classical singer Dr. Ishwar Chandra Karkare who is fourth generation of artists poets and musician family lives here and his classical music is full of spiritual joyness.
Culturally Gwalior is the confluence of two rich cultures Bundeli and Braj. Bundelkhand covers Gwalior, Bhind, Morena, Sagar, Shivpuri, Guna, Sheopur and adjoining areas.
Main festivals:
All national festivals, Diwali, Holi, Makara Sankranti, Eid-ul-Fitr, Rakhi and other local ones like Nag-Panchmi, Ahilya Utsav, Ganesh Utsav, Garba (Navratri Utsav), Dussehara, Durga Puja are celebrated with equal enthusiam. Last decade has seen a rise in celebration of events like Valentine's Day, Rose Day and New Year's Eve.
Gwalior also celebrates Rang Panchami quite differently. This festival is celebrated five days after Dulendi or Holi. This is also celebrated like Dulendi, but colors are mixed with water and then either sprinkled or poured on others.
Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated in a unique way in Gwalior city. Gwalior's Peoples were arrange a carnival of floats (known as "Jhanki" in local Hindi language) in various places of city.
Makar Sankranit - is a 'Kite Festival' where people fly kites and competitions are held to cut each other's kites in sky on 14th January each year.
Education:
Gwalior is known for its large number of educational institutions. It has magor instituttions of all majors covering all the aspects of studies. also, it is a big centre for competitive studies such as IIT-JEE, AIEEE, MP-PET, MP-PMT, AIPMT, CAT, GRE etc..
Gwalior has world Famous Scindia school and Scindia kanya Vidyalaya, 5 Kendriya Vidyalaya, Carmel convent, St.pauls, Ram Krishna Vidya Mandir,DPS, Bhawans, Air Force Vidya Bharti School, Little Angels High school, and many more good school in city.
Higher education:
Some important institutions:
Atal Bihari Vajpayee Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management Gwalior (ABVIIITM); deemed university,
Madhav Institute of Technology and Science (MITS),
Jiwaji University, an affiliating university accrediting local institutes and colleges.
Gajara Raja Medical College
Laxmi Bai National Institute of Physical Education LNIPE
Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management
Madhav College (Art&Commerce)
SMS Govt Science College
Govt Girls College
Rustamji Institute of Technology, (Tekanpur, BSF Academy, Gwalior)
and around 20 private Engineering colleges, and same number of nursing and dental colleges
numerous private institutions for professional studies.
Sports:
Gwalior boasts the sports university, Lakshmibai National Institute of Physical Education (LNIPE). Gwalior is also home to the cricket stadium Roop Singh Stadium, named after the hockey player Roop Singh. The ground has witnessed many One Day International (ODI) Cricket matches including several Day-night encounters. It has an international swimming pool named Taran Puskar.
Areas of the city:
The Old Town:
The old town of Gwalior, commonly called Hazira, which is of considerable size, but irregularly built, lies at the eastern base of the rock. It contains the tomb of the Sufi saint Mahommed Ghaus, erected during the early part of Mughal emperor Akbar’s reign, and the tomb of Mian Tansen, a great singer and one of the 'Nine Jewels' of Akbar's court. A town called by his name Ghauspura situated near the tomb of Mohaommed Ghaus.
Close to the heart of the city is splendid Jai Vilas Palace, patterned on the French palace of Versailles. The town has a museum situated in the Gujari Mahal.
Lashkar:
Lashkar is derived from the Persian lashkar, meaning army, or camp, as it was originally the camp, and later the permanent capital, of the Scindia dynasty of Gwalior state. Jayaji Chowk is the central focus of Lashkar, with a large square, a former opera house, banks, tea, coffee and juice stands and a municipal market building. Thriving bazaars surround the chowk.
Many jewellery shops are situated near Jayaji Chowk aka Maharaj bada. A source of water for the city Tighra is 10 km north of here. The Gajra Raja Medical College, founded in 1946 by the Maharaja Jiwaji Rao Scindia and the Maharani Vijayaraje Scindia, is situated in Lashkar on Palace Road, near Katora Taal, together with a group of many hospitals.
Morar:
Morar, formerly a separate town, lies three miles (5 km) east of the old city. It was formerly a British military cantonment. Morar was the scene of the most serious uprising in Central India. By 1900 it had become a centre for local trade and had an important training industry, with a population of 19,179 in 1901.
The second Temple of the Sun in India is situated in Morar at Residency Road after The Konark Sun Temple. This Sun Temple was built by the Aditya Birla Trust.
The cantonment area makes up a large area of Morar which is official residences for the Indian Army. It has many canteens for Army personnel. Near it is located one of the best known schools in Gwalior: The St. Paul's School.
Morar is generally a rural farming town. There is a big Galla Mandi. There are some beautiful places in Morar also and the area is known as the green part of Gwalior because much of the area is still rural.
Places of Interest:The Fort
Standing on a steep mass of sandstone, Gwalior Fort dominates the city and is its most significant monument. It has been the scene of momentous events, imprisonment, battles and jauhars . A steep road winds upwards to the fort, flanked by statues of the Jain tirthankaras, carved into the rock face. The magnificent outer walls of the fort still stand, two miles (3 km) in length and 35 feet (11 m) high, bearing witness to its reputation for being one of the most invincible forts of India. This imposing structure inspired Emperor Babur to describe it as " the pearl amongst the fortresses of Hind ".the fort is called as johar tower.
Gujari Mahal
Within the fort are some marvels of medieval architecture. The 15th century Gujari Mahal is a monument to the love of Raja Mansingh Tomar for his intrepid Gujar Queen, Mrignayani. The outer structure of Gujari Mahal has survived in an almost total state of preservation; the interior has been converted into Archaeological Museum housing rare antiquities,some of them dating back to the 1st century A.D. Even though many of these have been defaced by the iconoclastic Mughals , their perfection of form has survived the ravages of time. Particularly worth seeing is the statue of Shalbhanjika from Gyraspur, the tree goddess, the epitome of perfection in miniature . The statue is kept in the custody of the museum's curator, and can be seen on request.
Man Mandir Palace
Built between 1486 and 1517 by Babur.The tiles that once adorned its exterior have not survived , but at the entrance , traces of these still remain. Within the palace rooms stand bare, stripped of their former glory, testifying to the passing of the centuries. Vast chambers with fine stone screens were once the music halls, and behind these screens, the royal ladies would learn music from the great masters of the day. Below, circular dungeons housed the state prisoners of the Mughals. Emperor Aurangzeb had his brother , Murad imprisoned , and later executed here. Close by is Jauhar Pond, where in the Rajput tradition, the Ranis committed mass sati after their consorts had been defeated in battle. At Man Mandir Palace, a poignant ambience of those days of chivalry and heroism still lingers in the silent chambers. A superbly mounted Son-et-Lumiere here brings it all alive every evening.
Gurudwara Data Bandhi Chhod
Built in the memory of Guru Hargobind Saheb , the 6th Sikh Guru who was imprisoned here by Emperor Jehangir for over two years. It is located on the Gwalior Fort.
Gopachal Parvat
Situated on the Mountain Area at slopes of Gwalior Fort carries unique statue of Jain Tirthankars. The largest Idol of Bhagwan Parshwanath on Lotus is the largest statue(in single stone piece) in the world, being 47 feet (14 m) high and 30 feet (9.1 m) in width. 26 Jain statues in a series give a beautiful and attractivce picturescue. Built between 1398 to 1536 by Tomar Kings - these Jain Tirthankars Statues are a species of Architecture and a treasure of Old Indian heritage and culture.
Sun Temple
Located near the Residency at Morar, the newly constructed Sun Temple takes its inspiration from the famous Konark Sun Temple in Orissa.
Sarod Ghar
This Museum of Music has been set up in the old ancestral house of the legendary Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan. It houses ancient instruments of the great Indian Masters of yesteryears.It also houses an impressive collection of photographs and documents. Sarod Ghar is a unique institution devoted to promoting Indian classical music, heritage and culture.Through this 'window' to the past , music lovers can gain a better understanding of the evolution and history of our classical music and a deeper perspective and insight into the context of the art as it exists today.
Jai Vilas Palace and Museum
A splendor of a different kind exists in the Jai Vilas Palace, current residence of the Scindia family. Some 25 rooms have been turned into the Jivaji Rao Scindia Museum, and in these rooms , so evocative of a regal lifestyle, the past comes alive. Jai Vilas is an Italianate structure which combines the Tuscan and Corinthian architectural modes. The imposing Darbar Hall has two central chandeliers weighing a couple of tonnes, and were hung only after ten elephants had tested the strength of the roof. Ceilings picked out in gilt, heavy draperies and tapestries , fine Persian carpets and antique furniture from France and Italy are the features of these spacious rooms. Eye catching treasures include : a silver train with cutglass wagons which served guests as it chugged around the table on miniature rails; a glass cradle from Italy used for the baby Krishna each Janmashtami, silver dinner services and swords that were once worn by Aurangzeb and Shah Jahan. Also on display are gifts from practically every country in the world. These are ,besides, personal mementoes of past members of the Scindia family : the jeweled slippers that belonged to Chinkoo Rani , four-poster beds, hunting trophies and portraits. The Scindia Museum offers an unparalled glimpse into the rich culture and lifestyle of princely India.
Sun City
SunCity an amusement, the newly built attraction of gwalior. It lies on the way to LNIPE. Almost the biggest amusement park in state. It includes a variety of rides, cafe, hotel nd a dhaaba(so called), worth enjoying.
Shopping Malls
City has shopping malls equipped with all modern facilities to make shopping a better experience. Including Multiplex cinema halls. also MP's biggest mall is ready to be launched at Phoolbagh - Deendayal maal.
Demographics:
As of 2001 India census, Gwalior had a population of 826,919. Males constitute 54% of the population and females 46%. Gwalior has an average literacy rate of 70%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 76%, and female literacy is 63%. In Gwalior, 13% of the population is under 6 years of age.
Healthcare:
Gwalior is prominent for its health care facilities with leading hospitals and pharmaceutical companies. The prominent hospitals of Gwalior include J.A. Hospital, Kamla Raja Hospital, Sahara Hospital, Cancer Hospital & Research Institute, Cancer Hospital & Research Institute is nationally acclaimed medical center in Oncology
