Delhi to Khajuraho

After our Leh trip in 2015, this was our first trip within India for the year 2017. The fact that 26th January, Republic Day, was on Thursday, we could easily take Friday off for a 4 day extended weekend trip. Since we always wanted to visit Khajuraho, we planned a trip for Khajuraho-Panna-Orchha.

I love jungle safaris. Watching wildlife is my primary motive to travel. I admit that I am not an avid traveller, but being a hardcore Animal Planet fan, I love safaris and animal watching. Therefore we planned two jungle safaris in Panna in this trip. 

Train is the best & most comfortable way to travel to Madhya Pradesh. So we booked 3AC seats in UP Sampark Kranti Express. We reached Nizamuddin Railway station on 25th evening, and took the 9 PM train to Khajuraho. We didn’t know that one bogey was only reserved for Khajuraho because the train will move to Manikpur leaving the Khajuraho coach on a slip line for another train. The train journey was quite comfortable and we were able to catch 5-6 hours of sleep. 

We were expected to reach Khajuraho by 6:30 AM, but the train was a bit late and we reached by 9 AM. Since we had already booked transport from the hotel, the cab from Syna Heritage hotel was waiting for us. We took the cab and reached our hotel. I was surprised to see that roads were really smooth and the city had a population of just 20,000 people. 

Our hotel, Syna Heritage, was nice and really close to the Western Group of temples. We took a bath and after breakfast left for the temples. The whole experience was mesmerising and we were left spell bound. We hired a guide who was really knowledgeable. Govt charges were around 1400 INR, but we negotiated for 1200. Tips for Khajuraho:

1. Western Group of Temples has the most beautiful temples, and it will take more than 2 days just to absorb all the beauty and the architecture.

2. It’s better to stay near the temples so that you can walk down without bothering about transport. Autos are cheap and people are usually very nice.

3. The light and sound show happens in the evening with the English show from 6:30-7:30 PM followed by its Hindi version. Ticket was for 200 INR per head and it is worth it. You get to know the history of the temples. We recommend the Hindi version of the show.

4. For eating: Raja Cafe is really nice. It’s right next to the temples.

We were so much spellbound that the very next day we decided to visit the temples again. In our second visit sans guide, we noticed much more than our earlier visit. After lunch we left for Panna via an auto rickshaw. The driver took us through an alternate route which passed through a lot of villages. The whole journey was very scenic. He charged us 800 INR.

We reached Panna after 1 hour, and our stay was at Ken River Lodge (right next to the Ken river, which is its modern name as the British couldn’t pronounce Karnavati). After having lunch, we left for our private evening safari at Panna Tiger Reserve. The key to the safari is to have a good guide. We love jungles and bird watching. Even though we were not lucky to see a tiger, we saw so much wildlife and were thrilled with the safari.

Next day we got up early at 5 AM for our morning safari which started around 6:45 AM. The morning safaris are a lot better as you get more time (around 4 hours) whereas evening safaris are from 3 PM to 6 PM. 

We left for Orchha from Panna at around 12 PM (cab charges 5K INR). We reached Orchha at 4 PM. Our stay was at Bundelkhand River Resort. This was an old palace converted to a resort. It is quite close to Orchha temples. Next day after breakfast we booked two bicycles and booked a guide for the Orchha Reserve. The whole 4 hour journey in the reserve on the bikes was an adventure. I wish the guide had mountain bikes as the terrain was very challenging. Only a proper mountain bike would do justice. We highly recommend our guide Mr Manhohar, who is a trained mountaineer, kayaking expert, river rafting guide and a professionally certified swimmer. Here are his details:

Cycles in Orchha

RAM RAJA ADVENTURES

Mr Manohar Lal

Email: manoharorchha@rediffmail.com

Mobile: +91 9893378581

After our bike ride, we hired a guide and an auto and visited the various temples and Chattris in Orchha. The history and stories behind these temples is amazing. It was indeed another highlight of our trip after our Panna safaris. 

In the evening we took the Shatabdi from Jhansi station which was again very comfortable. We reached Delhi on time at aorund 11:30 PM, it was a pleasant 4.5 hours journey with some nice food too.

Not many of us might realize it presently, but the invention of the wheel was one of the biggest events changing the life of us humans forever. Not only was it a major technological advance in the transportation sector but it also paved way for the next generation of tools using the wheel as a core component (like potters wheel, screw, clocks, motors, turbines etc).

So when was the wheel actually invented? Wikipedia says:

The wheel was originally invented in Mesopotamia in the 5th millennium BC (Ubaid period), originally in the function of potter’s wheels. Evidence of wheeled vehicles appears from the mid 4th millennium BC, near-simultaneously in Mesopotamia, the Northern Caucasus (Maykop culture) and Central Europe, so that the question which culture originally invented the wheeled vehicle remains unresolved and under debate.

And this ThinkQuest link says:

…According to archaeologists, it was probably invented in around 8,000 B.C. in Asia. The oldest wheel known however, was discovered in Mesopotamia and probably dates back to 3,500 B.C..

Now, there is a huge gap between 5th millenium and 8th millenium BC and if you consider ancient Indian scriptures like Mahabharata and Ramayana, some interesting facts (or rather anomalies) come to surface. According to some calculations the Mahabharata time was somewhere in between 850 BC – 1100 BC, whereas Aryabhatta places the event somewhere in the 4th millenium (around 3100 BC). Both these time ranges are in the Bronze Age, long after the wheel was invented.

But the Ramayana age was much earlier than Mahabharata, somewhere in the 8th millenium BC ( roughly 7200 BC). So if the wheel was invented in 5th millenium BC or later, then people in the Ramayana age could not have travelled in chariots, and there would not have been any potters too. Moreover,  since we were in the Stone Age at that time, there would not have been any jewellery, ornaments, weapons, utensils or other metallic objects during the Ramayana age, and this clearly contradicts the Ramayana scriptures where fine details are given about the common usage of different metals in everyday life.

So that means Ramayana must have happened at least after the invention of the wheel and before the epic Mahabharata. Or, we need to uncover a lot of archaeological evidence in India to find out the ruins and remains of our ancient eras and get a better estimate of the important inventions like the wheel. Note that though geologists and archaeologists have done extensive surveys, digging and exploration of ancient societies based in Europe, Middle East etc, but in India we are far behind and a lot is still buried deep waiting to get uncovered. Deep digging, detailed analysis and surveying is important because if the Ramayana era indeed lies in the 8th millennium BC, then the credit of both the invention of the wheel and the precious metals like gold would go to us Indians!