Impression of Mandu - I

We were given an assignment to build an impression of Mandu through illustrations. We spent a week there, explored all the places and monuments to our heart's content and built a relationship with the place. This doesn't often happen when you travel as a tourist. So, I was glad. This assignment made me focus on the place, on what made it different from other places I had visited and the kind of mood and ambience it had.

As soon as we enter Dhar, the landscape changes slightly. There is a fantastic view of the valley and a very prominent gorge enroute - called suicide point. Cliched really. I wish it was called something else. The current name is not befitting something as magical as Mandu.  We enter the fortified town through a large, ancient gateway.It is quite dry and arid outside. The Vindhya ranges that Mandu is located in show their characteristic flat- topped, plateau-like peaks. The Gray Langur, more human than animal, watches us from the tree near the ruins. The landscape is dotted with the Baobab trees, called 'Mandu ki imli' locally - A native of Madagascar and Africa who traveled all the way to the little rocky fort town of Mandu, living on for generations. Who brought this tree? And how did it survive the journey? Whatever its secret, it is unimaginable to think of Mandu without it.

As to the monuments themselves, they are unique because they are one of the few examples of Indo- Islamic architecture with Afghan influences. While the Mughals in Delhi brought about a synthesis between Indian architecture and Persian architecture, the Afghan -origin Dilawar Khan Ghori and his son Hoshang Shah, brought a dynasty ( Ghuri dynasty) which evolved a regional style of Indo - Islamic architecture with Afghani Pashtun influences. Short-lived as their reign was, they and the dynasties that ruled after them managed to build very beautiful buildings.

And these beautiful buildings, give me a very mysterious vibe and a longing to return back to Mandu's charming town and the village surrounding it. This was a little ink sketch I had made after a day's ambling - not representing a particular place but a way for my brain to bring together all the wonderful things I had imbibed and putting it through in my own composition.