Architecture of India    
The Pleasure Palaces of Mandu – 2

Hindola Mahal

From the remains of Hoshang Shah’s palace, it is clear that the whole area was divided into three zones – ceremonials with halls of audience, the king’s private chambers and the ubiquitous zenana, or women’s chambers.

The ceremonial zone was dominated by the Hindola Mahal – literally ‘swinging palace’.

This vast longitudinal room enormous arches punctuating its length - and is uncharacteristically massive, with strongly battered walls adding to its ponderousness.

One theory is that it was originally intended to have several more storeys above.

The layout of Hoshang Shah’s palace shows the location of the Hindola Mahal highlighed in yellow. The image above shows the interior of the Hindola Mahal.

Pleasure at Mandu

Situated as it was on a plateau, with numerous water bodies through its length, and the home of a prosperous dynasty, Mandu became the site for various pleasure-palaces and resorts for royalty, be they for the women of the harem, the fine arts or hunting. In Mandu we have architecture dedicated to the pursuit of pleasure on a large scale, in the form of the Jahaz, Lal, Chappan, Baz Bahadur and Rupmati palaces.

The Jahaz Mahal, built by Mahmud Khilji, was a departure from the previously stolid and somber style at Mandu. The most striking thing about this monument is its location between two water bodies, the Kaphur Talao and the Munja Talao, which gives the building the appearance of floating on water, hence its name, literally the ‘ship palace’.

Architecturally, the building consists of a series of compartments and corridors over the Munja Talao, with terraces, kiosks and numerous open-air baths conforming to the lifestyle at Mandu, which was slowly sliding into decadence.

The Jahaz Mahal proved an inspiration for later Khilji sultans to dot the landscape with their own pleasure pavilions and summer retreats. The esoteric character of Mandu later prompted the like-minded Mughal emperor Jahangir to spend a considerable amount on its maintenance.

And so, even though the city of Mandu was eventually absorbed into the Mughal empire, its legend lives on as the city of Joy, and in the forests of the Vindhyas today, if you listen hard enough, echo the strains of the romantic tales of Rupmati and Baz Bahadur to this day.
   

– Ashish Nangia
July 21, 2002

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