With its impressive cache of baobab trees,
the ancient, fortified city of Mandu in the southwest of Madhya Pradesh seems
the unlikeliest of places to find the tree of African origins thriving and thus
becoming a part of the rich, local folklore.
By Raul Dias
It’s just been a couple
of hours since our minibus—having climbed the long, winding road etched onto
the Madhya Pradesh section of central India’s Vindhya Range—has deposited my
friends and I into the ancient, fortified city
of Mandu. Here, from our basecamp in Indore, to
participate in the 2019 edition of the 10km Go Heritage Run Mandu, we quickly
realise something thanks to our rather loquacious driver. And that is, that myths
and Mandu seem to enjoy a ‘conscious coupling’ made in folkloric heaven! It
wouldn’t be an exaggeration on my part to say that everything in this city
that sits precariously perched on the Malwa plateau has some sort of
phantasmagorical legend ascribed to it. A fact we bear witness to almost
everywhere we go…
Heads
and Tales
At the city center located Ashrafi Mahal, my 14-year-old de facto ‘guide’ Khayyum sidles up to me to tell me how one of Mandu’s earlier rulers, Mahmud Shah Khilji used the now-crumbling edifice as a gym in the15th century for some of the portly concubines in his harem. Apparently, said concubines would be rewarded with gold coins that Khilji had placed on each of the Mahal’s steps they would climb as part of their exercise regimen. And hence the name ashrafi which means “coin” in old Persian.
One is also told tales of the great love of the poetess queen of Malwa Rani Roopmati and Sultan Baz Bahadur—who built her the rather vertiginous Roopmati’s Pavilion at his Rewa Kund Palace in the early 16th century, so that she could gaze at her beloved Narmada river. All this, of course, before she poisoned herself upon hearing of Baz Bahadur’s death and the ensuing fall of Mandu. Then there is the famous myth of the headless soldier who till this day is said to guard the Tripolia Darvaza, one of the 12 gates along the city’s stone walls that serve as portals to Mandu.
At the city center located Ashrafi Mahal, my 14-year-old de facto ‘guide’ Khayyum sidles up to me to tell me how one of Mandu’s earlier rulers, Mahmud Shah Khilji used the now-crumbling edifice as a gym in the15th century for some of the portly concubines in his harem. Apparently, said concubines would be rewarded with gold coins that Khilji had placed on each of the Mahal’s steps they would climb as part of their exercise regimen. And hence the name ashrafi which means “coin” in old Persian.
One is also told tales of the great love of the poetess queen of Malwa Rani Roopmati and Sultan Baz Bahadur—who built her the rather vertiginous Roopmati’s Pavilion at his Rewa Kund Palace in the early 16th century, so that she could gaze at her beloved Narmada river. All this, of course, before she poisoned herself upon hearing of Baz Bahadur’s death and the ensuing fall of Mandu. Then there is the famous myth of the headless soldier who till this day is said to guard the Tripolia Darvaza, one of the 12 gates along the city’s stone walls that serve as portals to Mandu.
Trunk
Call
However, one Mandu-specific phenomenon defies all logic and comprehension, leaving me both bewildered and fascinated as I sprint past a few of them en route the early morning heritage run. I’m speaking of the rather bulbous trunked, leaf-bereft baobab tree that make their unusual presence felt all over the city. Native to Madagascar, some parts of mainland, sub Saharan Africa and Australia, the baobab tree is known not just for its towering height (up to 98 ft), but girth (up to 36 ft) and age (3,000 years) as well. The rather succulent trunk of the baobab is also said to hold as much as 100,000 liters of water—perfect to soak up Mandu’s aqueous bounty of the monsoon—while its fruit bat-pollinated flowers hang upside down and bloom only at night. Their otherwise mild fragrance, intensifies even more when it mingles with the musky petrichor brought on by the cooling rain that hydrates the parched, arid summer soil, making Mandu one of the India’s most idyllic monsoon getaways.
Found almost everywhere in the city for sale and called Mandu ki Imli, the elongated, rugby ball-like shaped baobab fruit when cracked open is a cluster of white pulp-coated seeds that resemble giant custard apple segments. Both the seeds and the dried pulp when powdered and mixed with chilled water are used to make a delightful sour, Vitamin C-rich drink that I relish at a hawker stall after a sweltering trek up Baz Bahadur’s palace. I even take back a few packets of the powder for friends and family.
However, one Mandu-specific phenomenon defies all logic and comprehension, leaving me both bewildered and fascinated as I sprint past a few of them en route the early morning heritage run. I’m speaking of the rather bulbous trunked, leaf-bereft baobab tree that make their unusual presence felt all over the city. Native to Madagascar, some parts of mainland, sub Saharan Africa and Australia, the baobab tree is known not just for its towering height (up to 98 ft), but girth (up to 36 ft) and age (3,000 years) as well. The rather succulent trunk of the baobab is also said to hold as much as 100,000 liters of water—perfect to soak up Mandu’s aqueous bounty of the monsoon—while its fruit bat-pollinated flowers hang upside down and bloom only at night. Their otherwise mild fragrance, intensifies even more when it mingles with the musky petrichor brought on by the cooling rain that hydrates the parched, arid summer soil, making Mandu one of the India’s most idyllic monsoon getaways.
Found almost everywhere in the city for sale and called Mandu ki Imli, the elongated, rugby ball-like shaped baobab fruit when cracked open is a cluster of white pulp-coated seeds that resemble giant custard apple segments. Both the seeds and the dried pulp when powdered and mixed with chilled water are used to make a delightful sour, Vitamin C-rich drink that I relish at a hawker stall after a sweltering trek up Baz Bahadur’s palace. I even take back a few packets of the powder for friends and family.
Disputed
Origins?
Back to Mandu and its myths. This time with regards to the ubiquitous baobab tree’s origins. I grapple with three different explanations for their presence here—each more fascinating than the other. Though one of them seems to have the empirical backing that only a precise science like geology can provide. But more on that one in a while as I lose myself in the miasma of myths!
A local shopkeeper selling the fuzz-coated fruit outside the gates of Ashrafi Mahal calls it ‘Khorasani imli’. When I probe further, he tells me that it was a group of spice route traders en route from Khorasan (which was what Central Asia used to be called earlier) to the orient, who brought along a few baobab seeds from their earlier travels to Africa which they then exchanged for food and shelter in Mandu.
Later in the day, as I take in the ship-like silhouette of the Jahaz Mahal complex built as a harem in the second half of the 15th century by Sultan Ghiyas-ud-din-Khalji and situated between two artificial lakes, my attention is once again drawn to a row of baobab trees standing guard at the east side of the complex. My guide tells me that the Sultan had a great fascination for exotic, foreign visitors. And that it was one such visitor to his court from Madagascar who presented him with a few baobab seeds that he had planted first at Jahaz Mahal then at other spots in Mandu.
Back to Mandu and its myths. This time with regards to the ubiquitous baobab tree’s origins. I grapple with three different explanations for their presence here—each more fascinating than the other. Though one of them seems to have the empirical backing that only a precise science like geology can provide. But more on that one in a while as I lose myself in the miasma of myths!
A local shopkeeper selling the fuzz-coated fruit outside the gates of Ashrafi Mahal calls it ‘Khorasani imli’. When I probe further, he tells me that it was a group of spice route traders en route from Khorasan (which was what Central Asia used to be called earlier) to the orient, who brought along a few baobab seeds from their earlier travels to Africa which they then exchanged for food and shelter in Mandu.
Later in the day, as I take in the ship-like silhouette of the Jahaz Mahal complex built as a harem in the second half of the 15th century by Sultan Ghiyas-ud-din-Khalji and situated between two artificial lakes, my attention is once again drawn to a row of baobab trees standing guard at the east side of the complex. My guide tells me that the Sultan had a great fascination for exotic, foreign visitors. And that it was one such visitor to his court from Madagascar who presented him with a few baobab seeds that he had planted first at Jahaz Mahal then at other spots in Mandu.
P.S. Back home in Mumbai, my geologist
friend Tanya shines some light on another baobab facet I had gravely ignored
while busy romancing myths. Apparently, more than a 100 million years ago,
India, Madagascar and Australia were all part of the mother continent called
Gondwanaland and with the ensuing continental split, it created the three
distinct paths taken by the baobab.
But that still begs the question; why Mandu and not Mumbai or Madurai?
But that still begs the question; why Mandu and not Mumbai or Madurai?
Travel
log
Getting There
Mandu can be reached from most Indian cities via Indore (2 hours) or Bhopal (5.5 hours) by road. The nearest railhead for Mandu is Ratlam on the Delhi-Mumbai main line which is just under a three-hour drive away.
Getting There
Mandu can be reached from most Indian cities via Indore (2 hours) or Bhopal (5.5 hours) by road. The nearest railhead for Mandu is Ratlam on the Delhi-Mumbai main line which is just under a three-hour drive away.
Stay
The super clean rooms, tasty food options and efficient service make the Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Department Corporation (MPSTDC)-run Malwa Retreat Mandu (Rs.1,900 approx. for two with breakfast, olrs.mpstdc.com) a good option. Another property worth checking out is the three-star Mandu Sarai Hotel (Rs.2,200 approx. for two with breakfast, sarai-mandu.booked.net).
The super clean rooms, tasty food options and efficient service make the Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Department Corporation (MPSTDC)-run Malwa Retreat Mandu (Rs.1,900 approx. for two with breakfast, olrs.mpstdc.com) a good option. Another property worth checking out is the three-star Mandu Sarai Hotel (Rs.2,200 approx. for two with breakfast, sarai-mandu.booked.net).
* Plan a visit to the ancient Buddhist Bagh Caves and to the Bagh Village famous for its artisans who practice the art of block printing fabrics using herb-based dyes. Both the caves and the village can be found in the Dhar District on the banks of the river Baghini en route from Bhopal and Indore to Mandu.
(An edited version of this article first appeared in the 8th June 2019 issue of The Hindu Business Line newspaper's BLink section on page 21 https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/cover/the-baobab-tree-madagascars-gift-to-mandu/article27609709.ece)
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