Mandu

Mandu, ruined city, southwestern Madhya Pradesh state, central India. It lies at an elevation of 2,079 feet (634 metres) above sea level in the Vindhya Range, 38 miles (60 km) southwest of Indore.

Mandu is thought to have been founded in the 6th century ce by an individual named Munjadeva. It was ruled for a time by the Paramaras, a Rajput (warrior caste) clan, until they were defeated in the early 14th century by Muslim invaders. Mandu then became famous as the 14th–15th-century capital of the Muslim Malwa kingdom. The city reached its zenith under Hoshang Shah (ruled 1405–34), but it declined with the advent of the Mughals. Mandu underwent a period of conquest and annexation by Humayun (1534), Shēr Shah of Sūr (1542), Akbar (1561), and others. It also served as the headquarters of a district (sarkar) under the Mughals, who made it a retreat locale. The Marathas captured Mandu in 1732, after which it remained part of the territory of the Pawars of Dhar.

The city’s ruins stretch for 8 miles (13 km) along the crest of the mountains. The battlemented wall, 23 miles (37 km) in circumference, once enclosed tens of thousands of dwellings as well as lakes, marble palaces, mosques, gold-topped temples, and other buildings; however, few of those remain. Among the extant structures are the marble-domed tomb and the nearby Great Mosque (Jāmiʿ Masjid; completed 1454) of Hoshang Shah, both notable examples of Pashtun architecture. Another group of buildings just to the north includes the Jahaz Mahal. The glory of Mandu has been immortalized in the writings of Akbar’s court historian Abu al-Faḍl ʿAllāmī, writer Muḥammad Qāsim Firishtah, and others.