The Jabalpur Page

My Hometown: Jabalpur

I was born and grew up at a place named Jabalpur in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Located at the geographic center of India, Jabalpur is famous for the Marble Rocks through which flows the fabled river Narmada. The Narmada enters the Marble Rocks by falling a height of several meters and creating an aptly named waterfall Dhuan Dhar. On the north and south of Narmada lie the sylvan mountain ranges, Vindhayachal and Satpura, respectively. There are two common beliefs as to how the city got its name. Some hold that Jabalpur owes its name to a saint named Jabali. The other theory is that, since the place is surrounded by rock bearing hills and since rocks are also called "jabal" (in Persian or Arabic, I am not sure which), Jabalpur was named so. Not too long ago, it was given the name Sanskardhani by Saint Vinoba Bhave.

Before being a part of the Mughal empire, the region was under the domain of tribal rulers. The kingdom was bravely defended by Rani Durgavati against the Mughal invasion. When she was loosing the battle, the Queen stabbed herself to death besides the consecrated banks of the Narmada. Her palace Madan Mahal and temple Chausat Jogini (The temple of Sixty Four Godesses) are sites worth visiting. An old saying is "Madan Mahal kee chchaanv mein dhaaee laakh kee eent..." (Within the shadows of Madan Mahal is buried a golden brick worth Rs 250,000...). Considering the worth of the brick more than three centuries ago, if someone is lucky enough to find it today, he/she and perhaps a few generations can sit back and relax all their life! As a tribute to the Queen, the Jabalpur University was renamed Rani Durgavati University (RDU) during mid 1980s.

Jabalpur was adored by the Britishers primarily because of the cool climate and numerous trees. They went on to build several offices and defence establishments in the city. An aura of the days of the Raj still persists, thanks to the disciplined maintainenance of old bunglows and offices by armymen, Jabalpur being the Indian Army Headquarters of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa. The city also houses several defence industries which are administered by the federal Govt of India. Jabalpur is the seat of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh and Central Offices of the Madhya Pradesh Electricity Board (MPEB). It is also the chief commercial center of the surrounding region which is called Mahakaushal. Besides the Rani Durgavati University, it also has an agricultural university: the Jawahar Lal Nehru Krishi Vishva Vidyalaya (JNKVV). Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Vedic Vishwavidyalaya, as the name suggests, has been set up by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

Other tourist locations closeby are the Kanha National Forest Reserve in the eastern adjoining district of Mandla and the hill resort Pachmarhi (or Pachmadi) in the western district of Hoshangabad. The town of Maihar famous for the hill temple of Godess Sharada and home to one of the greatest exponents of Hindustani classical music, Ustad Allauddin Khan, is located in the northern neighbouring district of Satna. Also located about 150kms east is the Bandhavgarh National Park.

Among the famous people having roots and deep associations with Jabalpur are Osho (also known as "Bhagwaan Shree Rajneesh"), Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Pandit Ravi Shankar Shukul (the first Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh), Pandit Dwarka Prasad Mishra (former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh who was instrumental in gathering support for Mrs Indira Gandhi when she became Prime Minister for the first time), Sharad Yadav (prominent Janata Dal leader and MP who has now moved to the greener pastures of caste-politics in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar) and Raghuveer Yadav (cinema and TV actor: famous for his role as "Massey Saheb" in the movie by the same name, and, as "Mungeri Lal" in the TV comedy serial "Mungeri Lal Ke Haseen Sapne"). Noted contributors to Hindi literature and poetry: Hari Shankar Parsai, Subhadra Kumari Chauhan and Rameshwar Shukl "Anchal" have found home and relations in Jabalpur.

Jabalpur is connected to all the four metropolitan cities: Mumbai, Kolkata, New Delhi and Chennai, directly by trains run by the Indian Railways. Other important places directly connected via railroad are Bhopal, Gwalior, Indore, Raipur, Hyderabad, Pune, Rajkot, Allahabad (Prayag), Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi (Kashi), Patna, and Nagpur. The Varanasi-Kanayakumari National Highway 7 passes through Jabalpur. Air services operated by the Indian Airlines connect Jabalpur to New Delhi via Gwalior.

Any questions, comments, or more info related to Jabalpur can be emailed to me.

Photos from Dhuandhar Waterfall
Photos of Marble Rocks, Bhedaghat
Chausat Yogini temple and other photos
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