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The splendor of this royal city is living since sixth century. Once upon a time the patron saint of the shepherds and cowherds, Gwallipa, cured a king a of leprosy and thus the city got its name Gwalior on the saint.
With the decline of Muslim power in Delhi, Gwalior fell under the sway the Marathas- Scindias assumed sovereign power. The Scindias, counted among the most glamorous of Indian princes, became famous of their wealth and were popular with successive viceroys because of their generous hospitality and capacity to organize thrilling tiger shoots for visiting dignitaries.

Gwalior Fort

A glazed frieze in Gwalior Fort.

The author of Tajul Masir has described it as, "the pearl in the necklace of castles of Hindu".

Towering 100 meters above the town in splendid isolation on a solid rock of sandstone, the fort is reckoned the most imposing citadel in India and the Palace houses a priceless collection of rare objects de art.

A towering Jaina statue in the cliffs of the Fort.

Then there are huge rock cut icons of Bahubali, a Jain Master which the visitor of the giant Buddhas found in Bamiyan in Afghanistan. Executed in the 15^th century the tallest figure is almost17 meters high is made on the rock over which the fort is situated.

The main entrance on the eastern side affords a breathtaking view of the ever-extending plains of the Indian heartland. Six gates built in a distinct Hindu or Muslim style lead the way up to the summit. There are six Palaces encircled by the massive ramparts of this fort- these again show a beautiful blending of the Hindu and Muslim styles and testify the catholic taste and tolerance of the ruling dynasty.

There are many water tanks in the fort. The most prominent are the Johar Kund, where the Rajput women immolated themselves to save their honour when defeat and disgrace were imminent, and the Suraj Kund, where the family deity of the Scindias,the sun god, was worshipped. It is an impressive mustachioed Surya that blazons forth from the royal emblem of Gwalior.

Jai Vilas Palace
Jai Vilas is unmatched in scale and splendour The durbar hall for formal audience measures 15 meters Beautiful hall in the Gwalior Fort, rivals the tasteful European potentate.

Beautiful hall in the Gwalior Fort, rivals the tasteful European potentate.

by 85 meters with the roof over 12 meters high. The ceiling is painted in pale green and gold and the floor is covered with perhaps the largest one-piece carpet woven in situ by the carpet makers in the world. This is the room about which lady Dufferin the Vicereine exclaimed in 1884, " The magnificent room in which we lost ourselves last night". The two crystal chandeliers are reputed to be the largest in the world with the possible exception of one on display in the Tsar’s winter palace outside Moscow. When the huge chandeliers were about to be installed, doubts were expressed whether the ceiling would bear the combined weight of about six tons. The ruler of Gwalior could indulge in such expensive fancies because he was one of the richest men of his tome. Griffith, a British author, has provided a glimpse of the treasure he had amassed.

"In addition to coins, there was an inestimable quantity of Jewels which rivaled Alladin’s store. Thos collection… was the largest in the world He ( Jayajirao Scindia) had in his vaults, silver coins that could be counted in millions, manigicent pearls and diamonds by the ten thousands, rubies, emeralds and other gems by the thousands and wrought and melted gold by the maund".
( A maund, it is useful to recall, is Indian measure of weight used for wholesale purchase of grains and equals 35 kilos approximately.)

Moti Mahal
Jaivilas despite its opulence did not become the Maharaja’s favorite. It was more suited for a European prince than an oriental potentate. Another Palace was commissioned. Thus was Moti Mahal born, a modest mansion with nine hundred rooms. It draws inspiration from the medieval buildings in Gwalior and has an unmistakable oriental ambience with curving colonnaded terraces flanked by square towers. In the rear is the grand fort and in front an artificial lake sets it off as a showpiece.

Very fine carved window.

Mansing Palace
Mansingh palace is the most attractive of the palaces. The façade was originally covered with white plaster and the domes plated with copper. The courtyard and the rooms are ornamented with intricate carvings. A wall of hewn stand stone about 100 meters long and 30 meters high crowned by ornamental frieze of brilliant tiles, the ornamentation is further embellished by beautiful domes connected together by a balustrade of delicately wrought stone carvings.

Gujari Mahal The enigmatic beauty of Sura Sundari.

There is an other beautiful palace named Gujari Mahal, commissioned by Mansingh to satisfy a whim of his beloved queen Mrignayani. The epithet refers to the lady’s fawn like eyes. She is the heroine of many a folk ballad and the subject of a many historical novel. ( Mrignayani by Vrindavanlal Varma is a beautiful novel on her)

There are other surprises that Gwalior stores in its magic box. These includes the beautiful buildings namely Teli ka Mandir, Sas Bahu ka Mandir and the mausoleum of the sufi saint Gaus Mohammad are among the most well known.

Teli ka Mandir dates back to 8^th century. It is the loftiest building in the fort soaring 35 meters high and presents a curious blending of the North Indian and the southern style of temples architecture. Sculptures decorating it indicate that it started as a temple dedicated to Vishnu but was later converted for the worship of the other major Hindu God Shiva. The Sas Bahu Ka Mandir was built by the Mahipala the Kachchwah king in the early 11^th century. It was originally called the Sahastrabahu temple and is the most ancient structure in the fort.

Gwalior was the favorite haunt of the big game hunters of the Raj. It was almost mandatory for the Prince of Wales and the Viceroy to invite themselves for an exotic tiger shoot at Gwalior. There was a childish competition of sorts as to who had shot the largest tiger. Naturally the one highest in the hierarchy could only claim the largest tiger. To ensure that majesty was not offended an elaborate ritual of measurement was devised. The record stands in the name of Lord Harding who is immortalized in the stone slab between the 101 and 102 kilometer on the Bombay Gwalior road . The inscription reads simply, " Near this spot on 11 Right Honorable Charles Baron Hardinge of Penshurst . A decade later the Prince of Wales failed by a whisker to break this record. The tiger bagged by the future King Edward VIII was the measured 11feet 5 ½ inches .On an earlier occasion the hunting expedition of the Prince of Wales had inspired imperialist poets to the hunting expedition of the Prince of Wales had inspired imperialist poets to ecstatic rhyming – Beautiful he will shoot, Many a royal tiger brute, Laying on their backs they die,Shot in the apple of the eye!