Bandhavgarh national park offers two kinds of tourism i.e. wildlife tourism and heritage tourism. Being a popular tiger reserve, it offers variety of mammmal and bird species. In addition to this one can also find ancient fort and other monuments and sculptured statues in core safari zone of Bandhavgarh. Now a days Bandhavgarh fort safari is closed for visitors. Bandhavgarh fort lies in Umaria district of Madhya Pradesh state in Central India. It has a great history. As per ancient deity, this fort is gifted by Lord Rama to his younger brother Laxmana due to which it was called Bandhavgarh. Here "Bandhav" means brother and "garh" means fort. It is a hill-top fort at a height of 811 meters in Vindhyachal hills and known by the name of "Moti Mahal". At present it is turned into ruins. Till year 2012 this was visited by tourists from outside and later forest department closed the site for tourists. During Kabir Mela, normal visitors can visit the site on bare foot. It is usually held in last week of December month. This Kabir darshan yatra is one of the most popular event when we have golden opportunity to walk through Tala zone forest area and visit the Bandhavgarh fort site, its statues, man-made caves and ancient temples. One should must try to attend this heritage walk and be part of this event.
It is a 10th century fort, located at a safe height of 811 meters on a hilltop. At the top of a hill their is a plateau of 4 sq.km. at which fort and other monuments are located along with man-made water holes. Their are about 32 hill and hillocks in Bandhavgarh forest area. It lies in Tala zone of Bandhavgarh and is visible from almost all the corners of forest. Bandhavgarh is ruled by different dynasties since 2nd century like Magh, Maurya, Vakataka, Sengar, Kalchuri and Baghels. In 2nd & 3rd century, Bandhavgarh was under Magh dynasty. In 5th century it was under rule of Sengar Dynasty followed by Kalchuris. The rule of Haihay Kalchuri during 9th century can be called the golden period of this region. Fort is believed to be of them. After Kalchuri rule, Baghel rajpoots, derived from Gujarat, finally took over the fort in 13th century. They ruled over the region from Bandhavgarh as their capital. Later Baghel King Vikramaditya Singh abandoned Bandhavgarh fort in 1617 when Rewa, at a distance of 130 km from Bandhavgarh, was established as their new capital. They are actually compelled by circumstances in which Mughals influence was the main reason. Abandonment leaves room for wildlife development in this region. When Baghel Kings became aware of it, they declared Bandhavgarh as their hunting preserve and strictly prohibited tree cutting, wildlife hunting by others. Although Baghels left shifted their capital to Rewa but the area remain in their control till year 1968. They visited the forest, time to time for hunting and had their stay in Maharaja Kothi building which is now converted into hotel called "Maharaja Royal Retreat".
Bandhavgarh fort visit is a great experience to witness the great history of this place. Marks of human establishments are scattered in Bandhavgarh forest in the form of man-made caves, sculpture art, rock-cut rooms, huge statues, water reservoirs, temples etc. In below given table, we have listed some prominent fort safari attractions.
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BANDHAVGARH FORT ATTRACTIONS
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| Shesh Shaiya (On the way) |
Karn Pole Gate (On the way) |
Vaman Incarnation Idol (On the way) |
Kachahri (Court) (On the way) |
| Ghudsaal (Stable) (On the way) |
Bandhavgarh Fort Moti Mahal (At Hill-top) |
Bandhavdheesh Temple (Active at Hill-top) |
Kabir Temple (At Hill-top) |
| Tortoise Idol (At Hill-top) |
Fish Idol & Inscriptions (At Hill-top) |
Varah (Boar) Idol (At Hill-top) |
Dharam Das Temple (At Hill-top) |
| Treasury Building (At Hill-top) |
Water Well (At Hill-top) |
Watch Tower (At Hill-top) |
Raja Talao (Man-made pond) (At Hill-top) |
Nearest airport for reaching Bandhavgarh fort is Jabalpur airport, at a distance of 180kms/04:30hrs. It has direct flight connectivity with Mumbai, Delhi, Bhopal etc. Second best option is Khajuraho Airport (250kms/05:30hrs) which is having flight connectivity with Delhi and Varanasi. Further from airport to Bandhavgarh is done by taxi cars. We offer Jabalpur airport taxi service and Khajuraho airport taxi service to visiting Bandhavgarh and other tourist destinations of Madhya Pradesh.
Nearest railway station for visiting Bandhavgarh fort is Umaria railway station (Station Code:UMR). It is about 37kms from Bandhavgarh Tala village and have direct train connectivity with Delhi, Agra, Gwalior, Jhansi, Jabalpur, Bhopal etc. Other options are Katni railway station (100kms/02:30hrs) and Jabalpur railway station (180kms/04:30hrs). Both railway stations are better train connectivity than Umaria.
Their are number of resorts and safari lodges surrounding to Tala village of Bandhavgarh. Here all category of accommodation options are available in which tourists can stay and do the visit to Bandhavgarh fort. Note that fort ruins are inside Tala core zone thus here we can't expect any hotel. All resorts are outside core zone.
In Bandhavgarh, apart from fort safari, one can do jungle safari drives. After visiting Bandhavgarh, next tourist destination options includes Kanha national park, Panna national park, Amarkantak, Khajuraho temples, Jabalpur marble rocks, Kundalpur Jain pilgrimage site, Chitrakoot, Varanasi etc.
9202337070
9202337070