The whole state abounds the places of archaeological and architectural, interest. Besides there are places like Marble Rocks and Panchmarhi which offer breath taking scenes of natural beauty

If you are planning to visit Madhya Pradesh the following places should find a place on your itinerary –

BHIMBETKA  (near BHOPAL) 12,000 year old cave painting.

SANCHI  Famous for its magnificent stupas, ancient monasteries, and Ashokan pillars same of them dating back to the 3^rd century BC.

ORCHHA  Fortified Palaces on a river island and magnificent temples.

UJJAIN  on the banks of the holy Shipra river, venue of the sacred KUMBHA MELA.

KHAJURAHO exquisite temples build by the Chandellas, depicting love and daily life a millenium ago.

MANDU Fortified city atop an isolated plateau offering breathtaking view of the countryside below.

KANHA AND BANDHAVGARH NATIONAL PARK   Home to the white tiger and the Barasingha.

MARBLE ROCKS
LOCATION Twenty-two km from Jabalpur there is a gorge on the Narmada River locally known as BHEDAGHAT. Here one can witness a breathtaking almost magical scene.
These white rocks (there are volcanic seams on these rocks of different hues – black, green, brown and sometimes pink) rising to a height of nearly 30m on either side of the Narmada river. The effect that moonlight has on these rocks can best be described as sheer magic.
Capt. J Forsythe wrote of them "The eye never wearies of the effect produced by the broken and reflected sunlight, glancing from a pinnacle of snow white marble reared against the deep blue of the sky and again losing itself is the soft bluish grays of their recesses.

ACCESSBILITY  From Jabalpur you can hire a tempo or taxi. Buses are available upto Bhedaghat from where you can take a tempo or taxi.

ACCOMODATION Motel Marble rocks, managed by the M.P Tourism offers is a good place to stay. It is advisable to book accommodation in advance. There is also a good restaurant at the motel.

RECOMMENDED PERIOD FOR VISIT (NOV-MAY)

RECOMMENDED TIME – (NIGHTTIME as the rocks glimmer and shine in the moonlight).

Boats are available on hire and you can travels the 2km long range on them. Besides you can buy sand stone carvings which are sold there.

DHUANDHAR FALLS

LOCATION: Located nearly 23km from Jabalpur and 1km from Marble rocks are the Dhuandhar falls (smoke cascade) where the Narmada river plunges through a narrow chaam , Hathi-ka-paon ( elephant foot) rock and Monkey’s leap ledge.

ACCESSIBILITY  You can hire a tempo or taxi from Jabalpur.

GYARASPUR

LOCATION Gyaraspur is located 64km NE of Bhopal and 51km north east of Sanchi, on the Bhopal Jabalpur route.

HISTORY This town’s name is derived from the big fair that used to be held here in the 11^th month. Hence the name GYARAS PUR (11).

PLACES OF INTEREST The centre of attraction is the striking MAHADEVI temple located on a hill above the village, this 10^th century temple has served as a Hindu and Jain shrine at different periods.

Next to the temple are the ruins of a Stupa. Besides there are the ruins of an eight pillared temple (ATHAKAMBE) and a four-pillared temple (CHAUMAKBE) dating to the 9^th and 10^th century.

Accessibility

It is on the Bhopal – Jabalpur road and can be reached both from Bhopal and Jabalpur. However if you take a bus for Sanchi you will have to change buses at Vidisha for the trip to GYARASPUR.

BHOJPUR

Bhojpur is 28km south east of Bhopal. It was the site of a 700sq.km lake built by the legendary Parmar ruler, Raja Bhoj. However the lake no longer exists as the ruler of Mandu destroyed it in 1430.

CLIMATE AND SEASON

The monsoon season extends from June to Sept. The summers are hot with the mercury rising to nearly 40⁰C They extend form March to May. The best period to visit Bhojpur is from Oct to Feb as the days during these winter months are very pleasant However the night temperatures can dip to 10 ⁰C.

CLOTHING

SUMMER: light clothing preferably cottons.

WINTERS: light woolens for the day and heavy woolens for the night.

PLACE CHART

Bhojpur is in the south east of Bhopal. It is located in the western part of M.P with Jabalpur to its east and Ujjain to its west.

ACCESSIBILITY
The nearest major town railhead and airport is Bhopal. From Bhopal you can come to Bhojpur by bus, taxi or you can hire a car (with driver) from M.P tourism. From Bhopal you can take the Hoshangabad bus, from the local bus stand and then hire a tempo from the main road to Bhojpur, a distance of only 2-km.

PLACES OF INTEREST

DAM: The first place of interest here is the cyclopean dams built by the Ruler of Dhar, Raja Bhoj in the 11^th century. He understood the importance of building this water reservoir for drinking purposes and to sustain agriculture during the long dry periods. However this is one place of interest that neither one has to use one’s imagination to see, for neither the dam nor the lake exists today. They say that the lake covered an area of 700sqkm and when Hoshang Shah of Malwa demolished the dam in 1430 it took 3years to drain! . It was built by building 2 huge earthen dams covered on both the sides by sandstone. These dams were nearly 100m wide at the base. On the other two sides were hills.

BHOJESHWAR TEMPLE

Bhojpur is famous for this magnificent (incomplete) temple. The magnificence of this temple has earned it the epithet of ‘SOMNATH OF THE NORTH’.The Temple is square in design. Each side measures about 20m. Two ornamental figures guard the entrance of the temple. The lower droopiest are devoid of any carving while the columns at upper sections are highly carved. An incomplete dome surrounds the temple. The most striking feature of the temple is a polished stone lingam, 2.35m high and nearly 6m in circumference. It is the largest ‘ Lingam’ in India and is mounted on a three tiered sandstone platform.

Still visible near the temple, is a ramp, which was used as a lever to raise large stones. There are numerous carved blocks of stone found near the temple. Besides you can also see engravings on stones which  most probably represent the drawing plans of the incomplete temple.

JAIN SHRINE

Near the temple is an incomplete Jain Shrine. There is a 6m high black statue of a TIRTHANKARA flanked by two smaller ones.

Bhimbetka has nearly 1000 caves dating back to pre-historic times. There are paintings in the caves, the oldest of which are believed to be 12000 years old. Set among forests of teak and sal these archaeological discoveries were made by VS WAKANER of the Vikram University, Ujjain in 1957. The site in where digging has continued since 1971 stretches for nearly 10km from the village of KHARITALAK in the east to JONDRA in the west. The area is thickly forested and there are nearly 30 species of trees Tendu leaves which are used to make bidis also grow around the site, Besides there is a rich fauna of bird population in the area e.g. DEER, GAUR, SLOTH BEAR, ANTELOPE, JACKAL etc.

LOCATION

Bhimbetka is situated 45km south of Bhopal and to the north of HOSHANGABAD.

ACCESSIBILITY

You can take the bus for Hoshangabad (in OBAIDULLAGANJY) from Bhopal, which is the nearest town and railhead. At nearly a distance of 6km from OBAIDULLAGANJ, you can either walk to the caves or take a cycle rickshaw. The best option is to hire a car from M.P Tourism for the day and explores the caves at your own pace.

HISTORY: These rock shelters date back to pre-historic times. They seem to have been abandoned by the end of the 1^st millenium B.C. However there are remains of some buildings supposed to have been stupas, which belong to a later period. An Ashoka inscription found nearly 20km west of Bhimbetka seems to support this view.

CAVES

Nearly 500 of their 1000 rock shelters have paintings on their walls. The painters used material like manganese, hematite, soft red stone, charcoal, animal fat and leaf extract to make colors. Red and white are the dominant colors used. Green and yellow was also used.(it is advisable to employ the services of a travel guide if you wish to explore the caves properly. The major shelters have been enclosed by the ASI and are linked together by a well-made path). The paintings belong to 3 periods. The color dominant in the paintings belonging to the upper PALEOLITHIC period, are white, dark red and green. They depict animals like the bison, rhinoceros and tiger. The paintings, which can be ascribed to the Mesolithic period, depict figures and animals, which are comparatively smaller in proportion and not so natural. The dominant color is red. Then there are some paintings that can be dated to early 2000 years. Here the  green and yellow colors are also used.

And the scenes depicted are also quite different. While in the paintings before this period, animals, stick figures, grazing and riding have been depicted. On the other hand in the painting of the later period battle scenes with men riding elephants and horses, armed with various weapons, religious symbols, Lord Ganesha and Shiva and scenes from nature are depicted.

The ‘ZOO ROCK SHELTER’ is especially spectacular and is so called because it has a number of animal paintings.

ACCOMODATION: No accommodation is available here . In fact there are no tourist and other infrastructural facilities . A visitor to the caves is advised to bring his own food and water.

(BESNAGAR)

Vidisha (known as Besnagar) was an important trading centre of the Sunga dynasty in the 5^th and 6^th century B.C. From the 6^th century A.D. the city was deserted for 3 centuries and came into prominence in the 9^th century. This time it was known as BHILSI. It was in Vidsha that ‘lime mortar was to used for the first times in India for construction.

LOCATION: Vidisha is located at the junction of the Betwa and Beas rivers. It is to the north east of Bhopal and to the south of Jhansi. Sanchi is at a distance of 10km from Vidisha.

ACCESSIBILITY: From the Sanchi bus stand you can get a bus for Vidsha ( every half hour)Sanchi is on the main Delhi-Mumbai railway line and from Sanchi you can get a taxi or hire a car or better you can rent a bicycle .Visdisha is also the main line from Bhopal and you can come here by train .

HISTORY

The history of this town dates back to the 6^th century B.C. when it was an important trading center of the Sunga dynasty. It was then known as BESNAGAR. ASHOKA, who was a governor (in the third century B.C.) of the Sunga dynasty, is said to have married a local princess. It was governed by Ashoka, before he became Emperor. However due to some reason it was deserted for 3 centuries from the 6th century A.D. and was resurrected only in the 9th century. Now it came to be known as Bhilsa. It was under the Malwa Sultans, then the Mughals and finally the Scindias.

PLACES OF INTEREST

HELIDODORUS PILLAR

Between Vidsha and Udaygiri 1km north of the Udaygiri caves time off as this free standing monolithic column, locally known as the "KHAMBHA BABA". It dates back to 140B.C. and was built by HELIODURUS, A Greek Ambassador to the city . The pillar celebrates to his conversion to Hinduism. It is dedicated to Lord Vishnu and is wonpluged by the local fishermen.

MUSEUM: There is a small museum in Vidsha which contains some of Besnagar’s earliest antiques.

UDAIGIRI CAVES
Five km. From Vidisha are about 20 Gupta cave shrines popularly known as the Udaigiri caves. They date back to the period from the 4^th to 7^th centuries A.D. Eighteen caves are Hindu and two are Jain. Particularly spectacular is cave 5 in which VISHNU is depicted in his VARAHA (BOAR) incarnation holding aloft an one tusk the earth Goddesses Prithvi . There is another large sculpture of Lord Vishnu in the reclining postures. Cave 9 has 2.5m high pillars, long porticos and pillared halls. Cave 7 was built for the personal use of King Chandragupta II. Cave 20 has detailed Jain carving .All these caves have been cut into a sandstone hill and have all the distinctive features that gave Gupta art its unique place. An inscription in one of the caves seems to suggest that the caves or some of them were built during the region of Chandragupta II.

BIJAMANDAL MOSQUE: You can see the ruin of this mosque. It was built during the Muslim period on a site where once stood a Hindu temple.

GUMBAZ – KA – MAKBARA -This too dates back to the Muslim period and is now in ruins (in the 3^rd century B.C.) of the Sung dynasty, is said to have married a local princess. Ashoka governed it before he became Emperor. However due to same reason it was deserted for 3 centuries from the 6^th century A.D. and was resurrected in the 9^th century. Now it came to be known as BHILSA. It was under the Malwa, Sultan, then the Mughals and the Scindias.