Man Mandir Palace, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh India

The palace is a magnificent structure of forbidding walls relieved by soaring towers and cupolas and glistening yellow, blue and green ceramic tiles depicting ducks, and banana trees. A long flight of steps leads from the ground to the open courts of the palace, encircled by apartments.

Of particular interest are their carved pillars and brackets, fretted ceilings, and a dance hall with a grilled balcony for the ladies of the court to see performances without being seen. Deep, wavy eaves, with a curiously Chinese-Persian look, throw cool shadows inside the rooms. The beautiful perforated stone screens have such intricate designs that they could be expressed in mathematical formulae.

The two subterranean floors are suitably dark and were once used as naturally air-conditioned chambers to escape from the heat of summer. Later, they became dungeons. Today, many visitors avoid them because of the terrible tales of cruelty and death associated with these underground prisons.

Man Mandir Palace  is one of the spectacular palaces in the ancient city of Gwalior. The grandiose and majestic palace is ensconced within the premises of the breathtaking Gwalior Fort, the city's jewel in the crown. The palace was built under the generous patronage of the legendary Raja Mansingh in between 1486 AD and 1517 AD.

Although the palace does not retain its former glory, traces of its grandiose past can still be found. The tiles that were once used to embellish the exteriors are no longer there. The palace walls also portray a spectacular frieze of ducks wading in the waters. The palace rooms are bare and devoid of their glory and bears testimony to the ravages of time. The large rooms that once functioned as music halls for the womenfolk of the royal family stand in a dilapidated condition today. The palace also houses an underground dungeon where prisoners would be held captive during the Mughal era. The dungeons recount a grisly history. In fact, it was here that the former Mughal emperor Aurangzeb has his sibling Murad incarcerated and executed.

The Man Mandir Palace is a testimony to the Rajput culture way back in the medieval era. The Jauhar pond that once sparkled like a jewel in a brass setting served as the burning grounds for the Rajput queens who would commit mass sati here after their kings had been vanquished in battle. Although it has been supposed that the palace was constructed during the 15th century, some regions date further back to the ancient era namely 425 AD.