ORCHHA TEMPLE

Orchha is also known as Ayodhya of kalyug. It is the only place where god is worship as king. In the 16^th century God has been established in the divine form. King and Queen of Orchha were deeply into god. The king, Madhukar Shah was devotee of Lord Krishna and Queen was devotee of Lord Rama. So king was to travel to Mathura and Queen travels to Ayodhya. It is also said that once when king, Madhukar Shah reached Mathura he finds the door of the temple closed, so he started singing for God so passionately to convince Lord Krishna that he has to come out to give his appearance to him and also did Nritya Leela with king. And when king came back to his palace Orchha with great experience he had a deep conversation with Queen where he said to queen that you worship Lord Rama with all you heart but he never showed his appearance to you but our king is so kind that he showed his appearance only by singing for him. So come with me to Mathura and see the grace to Lord Krishna there. You will forgot your Ram and Ayodhya. But queen refused to do so and said that I am a heartfelt devotee of Lord Rama and I cannot forget him in my entire life. Than King said that if you want to go to Ayodhya you can but you have to return from Ayodhya to our city with you Lord Ram, otherwise you will not return to this city. Then queen accepted this.

When she reaches to Ayodhya, she performed severe penance so that Ram would appear but it did not happen. After that the Queen decided to merge into water, as she swells, a statue appears from the river, which that, “Queen, you have to leave Ayodhya and get settle in Orchha otherwise my appearance for you is incomplete. Before leaving Ayodhya Lord Ram took three vows from the Queen.

So the first promise was, “The journey from Ayodhya to Orchha will be on foot and it will take place only in Pushya Nakshatra.”

Second promise was, “Wherever I will be seated first, I will never move away from there.”

Third and Important promise was, “In the place where we are going there will be only one king apart from this no one else will be considered as King.”

From then till today, no has been considered in the Orchha.

When Queen started her journey from Ayodhya to Orchha with Lord Ram, she wrote a letter to King that from now the king of Orchha will be Lord Shri Ram and I am coming Orchha with him.

T o welcome Lord Shri Ram, the king built a grand temple where it was decided to enshrine Shri Ram. When Queen returned with Lord Shri Ram, she became very happy and due to happiness, she forget the three promises and kept the statue of Lord Shri Ram in her palace. From then till today, Lord Ram is worshipped here in the form of king and has been performed with a salute or guard of honor everyday.

TIMING OF ORCHA TEMPLE

Timings during summer: 

·        Morning-  8:00 am – 12:30 pm

·        Evening-  5:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Timings during winter: 

·       Morning-  9:00 am - 1:00 pm

·       Evening-  7:00 pm -  9:30 pm

Entry fees: There is no entry fee to visit the temple.

PLACES TO VISIT IN ORCHHA

CHATURBHUJ  TEMPLE

Chaturbhuj temple is situated at Orchha in Madhya Pradesh, India. This temple is dedicated to Rama avatar of Lord Vishnu as the names suggests 'chatur' meaning "four" and 'bhuj' meaning "arms". It was constructed in the 18th century.

LAKSHMI TEMPLE

This temple is dedicated to Goddess Lakshmi Temple. It is formed in the shape of Owl because owl was the vehicle of Goddess Lakshmi. This temple was built to worship Goddess Lakshmi by King Veer Singh Bundela. The main attraction of this temple is it’s painting work. 

RAJA MAHAL

Raja Mahal is famous for its 500-years old fresco paintings. The construction of this temple started in 1501. The construction was began by King Rudrapratap carried on by his son Bharati Chandra and his son Madhukar Shah completed it. It was the only monument in Orchha during 16th century or 500 years ago.

JAHANGIR MAHAL

The Jahangir Mahal is symbol of a Hindu King and a Muslim ruler’s friendship because Jahangir was a very good friend of King Bir Singh Bundela. This palace took 22 years to build, from 1605 to 1627. This palace is a beautiful balance and a great fusion of the friendship and both the religions.

RAI PRAVEEN MAHAL

Rai Praveen was the royal dancer. This palace indicates the women’s  cleverness, beauty and intelligence. She was also the lover of Raja Indramani. It is said her exceptional beauty also reached the court of Akbar. Meanwhile there was a poet in Orchha named, Keshav Das. He was also known as the ‘pret’ of Hindi poetry. Rai Praveen was one of his student. Once she went to the court of Akbar and there she asked him to listen to her poetry once where she confessed her love for Raja Indramani. King Akbar got impressed by her and decided to send her respectfully back to Orchha, and than Rai Praveen Mahal was built in her honor.