The rock every empire wanted
The legend: a chieftain named Suraj Sen was cured of leprosy by the hermit Gwalipa, who gave him water from a pool on the hill. Suraj Sen built a fort and named it after the sage.
The pool is still there: Suraj Kund lies on the plateau, and families still come to feed the fish.
- The hill
- Gopachal, a sandstone ridge
- Founding legend
- Suraj Sen and the hermit Gwalipa
- Sacred pool
- Suraj Kund, on the plateau
- City below
- Gwalior, with Lashkar to the south
- A natural fortress: sheer cliffs on almost every side, a flat top large enough for palaces, temples, tanks and a town.
- A strategic prize: it watches the road between the Gangetic plain and central India, which is why sultans, Rajputs, Mughals, Marathas and the British all fought for it.
- A famous line: Babur, the first Mughal emperor, is often quoted as calling it the pearl among the fortresses of Hind.
- Our Rajasthani eye: if you have walked the walls of Chittorgarh Fort or Mehrangarh, you will feel at home here.
A thousand years of owners
The Pratiharas and the temple builders
- Ninth century: the Pratihara kings were building temples here, including the tall Teli ka Mandir.
- 1093: the Kachchhapaghata rulers added the Sas-Bahu temples.
The Tomar Rajputs
Late fourteenth century: the Tomars made Gwalior their capital.
- Man Singh Tomar: their greatest king, who ruled from 1486 to 1516, built Man Mandir and made his court a great centre of music.
- After him: the fort fell to the Lodi sultans, and then to the Mughals.
The Mughal prison
A place to disappear: under the Mughals, Gwalior held princes who were in the way.
- Aurangzeb's brother: Murad Bakhsh was executed here, and his nephew Sulaiman Shikoh died here.
- The Sikh Guru: Guru Hargobind was held here by Jahangir. His release is remembered at the gurdwara on the plateau.
The Scindias and 1857
Eighteenth century: the Maratha Scindias took Gwalior and became one of the richest princely houses in India.
- 1858: Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi came here with the rebel forces and was killed in battle near the city that June.
- The wider story: our essay on Mughal and Rajput history places it all.
The two ways up, and which to take
By the Urwai gate, from the west: the road climbs through a ravine lined with giant Jain figures cut into the rock. Cars can drive this way onto the plateau.
By the Gwalior gate, from the east: a steep stepped path past a series of gateways, with the little Chaturbhuj shrine and its zero on the way.
- Our usual plan: drive up through Urwai in the early morning, when the low sun lights the Jain colossi, and walk part of the eastern path down later if you are fit.
- For older travellers: the car can take you onto the plateau, where the main monuments are close together.
- Wear proper shoes: the stone is worn smooth, and the eastern path is steep.
Man Mandir, the painted palace on the cliff
The tiled wall
What you see: bands of glazed tiles in turquoise, green and yellow, showing ducks, elephants, peacocks and banana trees.
- The towers: round bastions topped with domed cupolas, strung along the cliff.
- The hour: early morning, when the eastern sun lights the tiles.
The courtyards
- Two courts: surrounded by carved stone screens, brackets and balconies.
- Look up: the screens are cut so finely that the light falls through them like lace.
The rooms below
Built for summer: circular floors descend into the rock to stay cool in the heat.
- Later, a prison: the Mughals used these cool rooms as cells.
- Fair warning: the stairs down are steep and dark. Skip them if you need to.
Why it matters beyond Gwalior
- A model for others: Man Mandir is often seen as an influence on the palaces the Mughals later built at Fatehpur Sikri and Agra Fort.
- Compare at home: the same love of screens and pavilions shaped our own Amber Fort.
Teli ka Mandir, the Sas-Bahu temples and the zero
Teli ka Mandir, the oldest and tallest
Built: in the eighth or ninth century under the Pratiharas, about 25 metres high.
- Why it is unique: a north Indian tower crowned by a long barrel-vaulted roof of a kind more usual in the south.
- The name: the oil-presser's temple. Nobody is quite sure why.
- At the door: Garuda, Vishnu's eagle, stands guard.
The Sas-Bahu temples
Built: in 1093, two Vishnu temples side by side, one larger and one smaller.
- The nickname: the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law, probably a corruption of Sahastrabahu, the thousand-armed, a name of Vishnu.
- Look up: the larger temple has lost its spire, but its hall of carved pillars and its ceiling are among the finest interiors of their age.
The Chaturbhuj shrine and its zero
Where: a small rock-cut Vishnu shrine on the eastern path.
- The inscription: dated 876 CE, recording land and garlands given to the temple.
- The zero: the numbers are written with a zero as we write it today, among the oldest known written zeros in India.
- For children: our guides love showing them the little circle in the stone.
Standing inside the Sas-Bahu hall
Storeys of pillars: the hall rises in tiers of carved columns, galleries and balconies, unusual for a temple of the eleventh century.
Look up: the carved ceiling is the reason to step inside. Give your eyes a minute to adjust to the shade.
- Carving everywhere: pillars, brackets and lintels covered with figures and scrollwork, as dense as anything on the plateau.
- Why the spire is gone: much of the upper temple has fallen over the centuries. What remains is the hall, and it is enough.
- The smaller temple: an open, airy pavilion, lovely in the late afternoon light.
- Pair it with: the Khajuraho temples, built by a neighbouring dynasty in the same era.
The Jain giants of the cliffs
Their scale: standing and seated figures, some taller than a five-storey house, cut straight from the cliff.
The Urwai group: the most dramatic, lining the ravine of the western road.
- Carved
- Fifteenth century, under the Tomars
- Tallest
- Adinath, about 17 metres, Urwai valley
- Damaged
- After Babur ordered them destroyed
- Still
- Worshipped by the Jain community
- Babur's order: when the first Mughal emperor came to Gwalior, he recorded ordering the images destroyed, and many faces were damaged.
- Restoration: some have been restored by the Jain community, which still worships here.
- How to visit: quietly, with shoes off at the shrines in worship, and no climbing on the figures.
- The light: early morning on the Urwai side, when the sun is low and the ravine is cool.
Gujari Mahal and the Mona Lisa of India
The queen: Mrignayani, who tradition says could tame a wild buffalo with her bare hands.
The palace: now the state archaeological museum, rich in sculpture from across the region.
- The treasure: the Shalabhanjika from Gyaraspur, a tenth-century figure of a woman so delicate she is often called the Mona Lisa of India.
- How to see her: she is kept apart and shown on request. Ask your guide to arrange it in advance.
- When: after lunch and a rest, when the plateau is too hot.
The gurdwara, the school and the pool
Gurdwara Data Bandi Chhor: built in the twentieth century where Guru Hargobind was held. Tradition says he would only leave if the captive princes left with him, holding the tassels of his cloak.
At Diwali: the Sikh community celebrates Bandi Chhor Divas, the day of his release, with lamps and prayers. It is lovely to see.
- How to visit: cover your head, remove your shoes and wash your feet. Everyone is welcome.
- The Scindia School: founded in 1897 by Maharaja Madho Rao Scindia for the sons of princes and nobles, it still teaches inside the fort walls.
- Suraj Kund: the pool of the founding legend, where families feed the fish.
A morning on the fort, in the order we walk it
- Start
- Early morning, by the Urwai gate
- Allow
- About four hours on the plateau
- Midday
- Lunch and rest at your hotel
- Afternoon
- Gujari Mahal museum
- Sunset
- The ramparts, then the light show
Early, the Jain colossi
- Drive up through Urwai: stop at the giant figures in the low light.
Next, Man Mandir
- The tiled wall first: while the sun is on it, then the courtyards and, if you wish, the rooms below.
Then the temples
- Teli ka Mandir and Sas-Bahu: a short drive across the plateau, with a pause at Suraj Kund.
- The gurdwara: on the way, for a few quiet minutes.
Down by the east, if you can walk
- The Chaturbhuj shrine: for the zero of 876 CE, on the way down the stepped path.
How to visit well
Hire a guide who knows the music too: in Gwalior the fort and the music are one story.
Arrange the Shalabhanjika ahead: she is shown on request at the Gujari Mahal museum.
- Carry water and a hat: there is little shade on the plateau.
- Dress modestly: cover your head at the gurdwara, and remove shoes at the Jain shrines and temples in worship.
- Watch the monkeys: keep food out of sight on the ramparts.
- Mind the edges: some rampart walls are low and the drops are sheer. Keep children close.
- Check for fog: in December and January, morning trains and flights can be delayed. We keep the fort morning flexible.
What most visitors miss
The zero: a tiny shrine on the eastern path that most people walk past.
The Shalabhanjika: she is not on open display, so most visitors never know she is there.
- The Sas-Bahu ceiling: the best stone ceiling on the fort, seen only if you step inside.
- The cliff colossi on foot: from the car they look large. Standing at their feet, they look impossible.
- The view at sunset: the ramparts glowing as the city lights come on below.
- Music: Gwalior is Tansen's city. A private recital in the evening joins the fort to the music that made it famous.
Why a Rajasthani family feels at home here
Our own kings came from here: by Kachwaha tradition, Dulha Rai, the founder of the family in Rajasthan, came from the country around Gwalior before his descendants took Amer. Read the Rajput dynasties.
A Rajput court of music: Man Singh Tomar's court shaped dhrupad, the austere old form of Hindustani classical music.
- Tansen's year: the great singer joined Akbar's court in 1562, the same year Raja Bharmal of Amer allied with the emperor.
- The Marathas in Rajasthan: in the eighteenth century the Scindias of Gwalior pushed into Rajput lands, extracting tribute and taking sides in succession quarrels. Our short history of Rajasthan tells that turbulent century.
- A queen of Gwalior on the Ganga: a Scindia queen built Scindia Ghat in Varanasi. Read Rajasthan and Varanasi.
- Shared tastes: like our maharajas, the Scindias built European-style palaces in the nineteenth century to receive British royalty.
Beyond the fort
Jai Vilas Palace: built in 1874 by Maharaja Jayajirao Scindia for the Prince of Wales, with two vast chandeliers in its Durbar Hall and a silver model train that once ran round the dining table.
Tansen's tomb: the great musician of Akbar's court lies in the garden of Muhammad Ghaus's sixteenth-century tomb. The Tansen Samaroh music festival is held there every December.
- Sarod Ghar: the ancestral house of the sarod family of Hafiz Ali Khan, now a small museum of music.
- Lashkar: the old army camp of the Scindias, now the bazaar city, best at dusk around Maharaj Bada.
- Bateshwar: about an hour away, some two hundred small Pratihara temples pieced back together from rubble since 2005.
- Datia: Bir Singh Deo's seven-storey palace on the road to Orchha. Read Orchha, the forgotten capital.
Getting there, staying and when to come
From Delhi: the Gatimaan Express from Hazrat Nizamuddin takes a little over three hours, after a stop at Agra.
From Agra: about two hours by road, so it follows the Taj Mahal naturally.
- From Jaipur: six to seven hours by road through Bharatpur and Dholpur, crossing the Chambal ravines.
- Where to stay: the Taj Usha Kiran Palace, an early twentieth-century Scindia guest house in gardens beside Jai Vilas.
- When to come: October to March. December and January bring fog that can delay trains, and the fort rises out of the mist like a ship.
- In summer: from April to June the sandstone radiates heat, so we plan only early mornings and evenings.
Who will love Gwalior Fort
Fort lovers: one of the great hill forts of India, and far quieter than the famous ones.
Early temple enthusiasts: buildings from the ninth and eleventh centuries, on one plateau.
- Mathematicians and curious children: the zero alone is worth the climb.
- Music lovers: the fort and Tansen's tomb tell one story.
- Not for: travellers who want a polished, fully restored monument with cafés. Gwalior is honest, worn and real.