Interesting Information

Madhya Pradesh region is blessed with a rich history. There are so many things which are not popularly known to the rest of the world thus this state was under-rated by many people, in terms of tourism. Thus here we have tried to share some interesting information about historical back-ground of this region and tried to enlighten your knowledge.

State Symbols Madhya Pradesh

Category	Symbol	Description
State Bird	Indian Paradise Flycatcher	Widely seen in state. We can easily see in city outskirts, villages and forested regions.
State Mammal	Barasingha	State forest department successfully revived hard-ground Barasingha population, found only in Madhya Pradesh.
State Tree	Banyan Tree	Sacred tree, widely seen in villages, national parks.
State Fruit	Mango	Mango trees widely seen in villages, roadsides. Fruit can be seen in April-May-June month.
State Fish	Mahseer	Found in state rivers

The Jungle Book Reality

In the jungle book, Mowgli was the central character of the book around which all stories revolves. This character was inspired from a real life-character called "Sanichar" who was captured from forest area of Pench Tiger Reserve. The Kipling country " and the area of the famous ''The Jungle Book". Rudyard Kipling was awarded the first noble prize for literature in 1907 for his brilliant work, which includes the jungle book. There existed a real human child who was nurtured by wolves. This child was caught by Leut. John Moor under the guidance of Col. William Sleeman in 1831. Rudyard Kipling took the clue from William Sleeman's writing on Wolf nurturing children and a book on "Camp life of Seoni" by R.A. Sterendale

Mumtaz Mahal's death:

Famous UNESCO World Heritage Site Taj Mahal is a Marble mausoleum, located in Agra city at Uttar Pradesh state is of Mumtaz Mahal. She was wife of Mughal emperor Shahjahan. She died in Burhanpur town on 1631 AD. This town is in south-west of Madhya Pradesh where she initially buried for next 06 months. Later here remains were shifted from Burhanpur to Agra.

Pandit Ravi Shankar:

Famous sitarist Pandit Ravi Shankar and the sarod player Ali Akbar Khan learned music in Holy city Maihar under Ustad Allauddin Khan. Maihar is about 40 km. from Satna city, 65km. away from Katni city, and 157 km. from Jabalpur city.

Col. William Henary Sleeman:

Britisher responsible for cracking down Thugee gangs (road-side robbers) of India during British rule in India in 18th century. There are some Thugs (dacoits) who had strangled to death more than 700 peoples using their turban. About 1300 persons were hanged till death on the charge of Thugee. At that time Jabalpur was headquarter of Thugee department. Sleeman also worked for restricting Sati ritual in local area in which widow jumps into bonfire to end her life on death of his husband. There is a small town called ‘Sleemanabad’ on the name of Sleeman, now a days gaining popularity due to presence of marble mines in area. Sleeman wrote many books also on local kingdoms, intelligence service etc. still referred by researchers, intelligence wings etc. His Descendents still use to visit India.

Narmada river:

Narmada river is much older then holy river Ganges. River Ganga came into existence after formation of Himalaya mountain ranges where as Narmada River was in existence when himalaya mountains were not present in earth. It is said that once in a year Ganga takes bath in river Narmada to purify itself which means Narmada River is considered superior than Ganga river.

Narmada river valley

This river valley is rich fossils. Here fossils of Dinosaurs, egg-shells of Dinosaurs, stone-age tools etc were found. Many fossils are dated about 60 million years old. Many fossils are yet to be discovered.

Highest Tribal Population:

Madhya Pradesh have highest tribal population in compare to any other state of India. Her in Madhya Pradesh we can find tribes like Baiga, Gond, Bhil, Sahariya, Abujhmar, Korku, Santiya, Kol etc. In order to read more about Triber in Madhya Pradesh, please chick here.

Marble mines:

In Madhya Pradesh, mines of export quality marbles are present at Sleemnabad near Jabalpur city.

School of Lord Krishna:

Lord Krishna did his schooling from Sandipani Ashram in Ujjain. Here he met Sudama and became friends.

Geographical Central Point of India:

Geographical central point of India lies in Karondi village of Madhya Pradesh near by Katni District. Here we can found a monument, erected by state government to establish this fact. Karondi village in Madhya Pradesh is popular as the capital village called "Global Capital of World Peace". Here we can find Ashrams for Transcendental Meditation practice

Opium production:

Madhya Pradesh is a prominent producer of Opium and Marijuana. It is produced in Mandsaur district for medicinal usage, under strict supervision of authorities. 

Emperor Ashoka:

Ashoka The Great was governor of Ujjain District of Madhya Pradesh before becoming king. He was married to the daughter of a businessman of Vidisha District. As she is not from Royal family, she was not given status of Queen and she spend her life away from palace. She has two children from Ashoka in which one is boy and another one is girl. Both the child spend their life is spreading message of Buddhism around the world. They visited Sri-lanka to spread the message of Buddhism their.

POPULAR PERSONALITIES

Some of the famous personalities from Madhya Pradesh are as follows:
Tansen: Father of Hindustani classical music, Tansen was from Behat near Gwalior. He was born in Brahmin Pandey family. In his childhood he use to scare people by producing voice of various animals. Her learned music from teacher named Swami Haridas.

Baiju Bawra:

One who managed to defeat Tansen in music competition. Baiju Bawra was born in Chanderi District of Madhya Pradesh. He was from Brahmin Mishra family. He was crazy in love with a dancer due to which “Bawra” means crazy word was added in his name. His teacher was also same Swami Haridas. It is said that in a music competition, Baiju Bawra defeated world famous Tansen and thus he was greatest musucian of India. While visiting Chanderi fort at hill-top, close to Kila Kothi hotel, we can find the cenotaph of Baiju Bawra.

Lata Mangeshkar:

Unmatched legendary playback singer Lata Mangeshkar was born in Indore city of Madhya Pradesh.

Trio brothers:

Popular figures in Indian Film Industry Ashok Kumar, Anoop Kumar & Kishore Kumar were from Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh. They spend their childhood and initial days of youth in Khandwa town of state and till their death remain deeply attached with their home town.

Jaya Bachchan:

Senior film actress Jaya Bachchan was born in Jabalpur city of Madhya Pradesh. Her schooling was done in Bhopal, capital of State of Madhya Pradesh.

Osho alias Acharya Rajneesh:

Spiritual leader Osho was also born and grown up in Narsingpur district of Madhya Pradesh. He did his initial meditational practices in hills of Jabalpur. While doing Jabalpur city tour we can visit the place where Osho use to go for meditation practice. Now a days, it is converted in to a park for visitors.

Chandrasekher Azad:

Chandrasekher Azad was born in Bhavra village in Jhabua District of Madhya Pradesh. He was from Brahmin Tiwari family and created history in Indian freedom struggle. At the same time we should also know that, after the death of Azad, his old mother was left in the family, spending her last days in miserable condition. On knowing her condition, one of the Azad's friend from Jhansi, took her to his home to take care of her in last days of life. Thus mother died in Jhansi city, which is adjoining town Madhya Pradesh state border with Uttar Pradesh. After death of her mother, some local people tried to erect her statue in Jhansi to commemorate their struggle for freedom on India. Unfortunately, state government goes against the wish of local people and not allowed the erection of statue.

Actor Sharat Saxena:

Famous bollywood villain and now character artist Sharat Saxena was also from Satna town in Madhya Pradesh. His schooling & college was done from Jabalpur city.

Actor Arjun Rampal:

Famous model turned bollywood actor Arjun Rampal was born in Jabalpur city of Madhya Pradesh. For sometime he studied here in Model High School. Here he spend intial days of his childhood and later moved to other place.

Ajai Choudhry (Co-founder of HCL Infosystem):

Father of Mr. Ajai Choudhry joined Indian Administrative Service of Madhya Pradesh cadre in year 1955. When he was posted in Jabalpur, Ajai Choudhry studied in Christ Church School in city and later studied Electronics & Tele-communications engineering in Jabalpur Engineering College in city.

Ashutosh Rana:

Famous character artist Mr. Ashutosh Rana in bollywood had roots in Madhya Pradesh state. Gadarwara was his native place and he studied in Chirst Church School in Jabalpur city. His college life is also associated from Madhya Pradesh(Sagar University) later he moved to Mumbai in Film Industry.

Javed Akhtar:

Famous story writer and lyricist in Indian Film Industry Javed Akhtar was born in Gwalior city of Madhya Pradesh. Later his studied in Aligarh & Lucknow.

Adesh Srivastava:

Famous music composer in Mumbai film industry Lt. Mr. Adesh Srivastava was also from Jabalpur city of Madhya Pradesh. He studied here in Model High School and often visits his native place to recall the memories.