Introduction

Maharaja Chhatrasal Museum or Dhubela museum means the same. It is located in Dhubela Palace of great Bundela ruler Maharaja Chhatrasal (1649-1731). This site is locally more popular as Mau Sahaniya monuments. Its official name is Maharaja Chhatrasal museum. It is located in Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh and covers history of 300 kms radius i.e. from Chhatarpur to Rewa which also means from Bundelkhand to Baghelkhand region . It was one time country of Bundela rajputs who ruled bravely for long time in this region. Maharaja Chhatrasal was great Bundela ruler. Museum was inaugurated by Pd. Jawahar Lal Nehru in 12/Sept/1955. It is just 65kms north-west of Khajuraho temples site which is also a UNESCO World Heritage site. While staying at Khajuraho, large number of tourists often undertake excursion tour of Chhatrasal museum. We can also visit this museum while going from Khajuraho to Orchha or Khajuraho to Jhansi or vice versa. Chhatrasal Museum is the largest museum in the State of Madhya Pradesh and showcase precious archeological materials recovered from Bundelkhand and Baghelkhand region.

About Museum

Maharaja Chhatrasal Museum, also known by the name of Dhubela Museum, is a storehouse of antiques and artifacts, collected from vast Bundelkhand region and from some part of Baghelkhand region. Both the regions share border with each other. This museum is open for visitors from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. It is an Islamic palace-fort now used as a museum in form of under-roof galleries and open-air gallery. Here total 08 galleries are present which includes Inscription gallery, Lalitkala Gallery, Saiva & Shakta Gallery, Jaina Gallery, Vaishnava Gallery, Painting Gallery, Arms & Weapon Gallery and Open air display. The courtyard palace is on the edge of a beautiful lake surrounded by hills, two large mausoleums and other ruins. This museum site is approx. 16 kilometers away from Chhatarpur town, on the Chhatarpur-Nowgaon Highway. Here 02 galleries are dedicated to display inscribed images of Gupta & Kalchuri period, copper plates, Sati Pillars etc. The collection displayed in the museum helps visitors to know more about the great history of Bundelkhand & Baghelkhand region. Here Inscription gallery displays inscriptions from 4th century to 18th century AD inscriptions. These inscriptions are mainly on Supia rock and pillars. In Jaina gallery, we can find the Chandela and Kalchuri period sculptures, collected from Bundelkhand & Baghelkhand region. Among them are Shantinatha, Tirthankara Adinatha etc. In Saiva & Shakta gallery, we will find sculptures like Shiva Linga, Ravana-anugraha, Bhairava, Uma-Maheshwara, Kartikeya, Nandi etc. Yogini images represent the Shakta cult. In Lalitkala Gallery displays various kind of items of ivory, mood, terracotta, metal art items etc. In Vaishnava gallery, we will find sculptures of Lord Vishnu, Surya, Vamana, Parashurama, Hari-Hara-Pitamaha. Their is also a arms gallery in which we can arms collected from Panna, Chhatarpur, Rewa, Chakhari etc. It includes Sword, Shield, Tega, Khadag, Bow & Arrow, Axe, Spear etc. For readers, here library facility is also available with 2300 books on history and Archeology.

Museum Timing & Closure

As per Government website, museum is open for visitors from 10:30 AM to 5:00 PM. If you are staying in Khajuraho then it will take about 1:30 hrs to reach Mau Sahaniya village where all these monuments are located. While doing planning for this excursion tour, just note that  museums of Madhya Pradesh are mostly remain closed on Monday. There we need to avoid Monday visit to this place as Dhubela museum remain closed on Every Monday.

Best time to visit

Museums are the platforms where we can see the timeline of that region. Here statues, excavation findings, information are arranged in a show-cased way so that we can find history of that region in most concise way and most comprehensive way. They are good example of learn more in short interval of time. Here we can visit from Tuesday to Sunday. Majority of tourists visit this museum from October to April. It lies in Bundelkhand region thus here summers are challenging.

Accommodation