Mandu festival

Subject: Arts and Culture

Context: The three-day Mandu Festival was recently held at Mandu in the historic town of Dhar district in Madhya Pradesh yesterday.

Concept:

The three-day festival had live concerts, adventure sports, cycling expeditions and much more. It will have Local art, craft and cuisine as well.

About Mandu

It is located in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh and reflects prominently Afghan architecture surrounded by baobab trees, native to Africa. Ex- Hoshang Shah’s Tomb is said to be India’s first marble structure and one of the best examples of Afghan architecture. It is truly Islamic in architecture with a beautifully proportioned dome, intricate marble lattice work and porticoed courts and towers. The Hoshang Shah’s tomb may have been used as a template for building the Taj Mahal.
It is also famous for Malwa style of architecture.
The architecture of Mandu is described as an example of Indian functionalism. It generally lacks the expression and decoration.
Darwazas: Mandu is the largest fortified city of medieval India. The wall encompassing Mandu has 12 major gates or darwazas.
Hindola Mahal or Swing palace which has sloping sidewalls.
Jahaz Mahal is located between two artificial lakes. It was built by Ghiyas-ud-din-Khilji, and it served as a harem for the sultan, with a reportedly aggregation of 15000 ladies inside.
Rani Roopmati’sPavillion, Baz Bahadur’s Palace are other important monuments.