Pravin Rai Mahal is a palace in
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital city, capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar, and Rewa, India, Rewa being the othe ...
built by prince (and later King) Indrajit Singh in 1618. It was built for his love interest, Pravin Rai, who was a beautiful poet and musician, also known as the "Nightingale of
Orchha
Orchha is a town, near city of Niwari in Niwari district of Madhya Pradesh state, India. The town was established by rajput ruler Rudra Pratap Singh some time after 1501, as the seat of an eponymous former princely state of covering parts of ...
". It is a state protected monument. The other names of this palace are Anand Mandal Bagh and Rai Praveen Manika Bhavan.
It is also known as 'Tope Khana' since later in time, it was used as a lookout post for
Orchha Fort.
Architecture
The palace has three stories. There is a central hall on the second floor with multiple paintings and depictions of various moods of Pravin Rai. There is also a garden attached to the palace which is divided into two parts. The palace has a large mansion, and alongside, it has small chambers with large windows. There is good lighting and circulation of air.
The palace's semi-subterranean summer room has been measured cooling its air to more than 10 degrees below exterior temperatures, using
passive cooling
Passive cooling is a building design approach that focuses on heat gain control and heat dissipation in a building in order to improve the indoor thermal comfort with low or no energy consumption. This approach works either by preventing heat from ...
.
Legend of Pravin Rai
Pravin Rai was a favourite courtesan of King Indrajit Singh of
Orchha State
Orchha State (also known as Urchha, Ondchha and Tikamgarh) was a kingdom situated in the Bundelkhand region and later a princely state in British India. The state was ruled by Bundela clan of Rajputs. It was located within what is now the state o ...
.
It is said that Emperor
Akbar
Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, H ...
summoned Pravin Rai to his court after hearing about her beauty and poetry. Pravin Rai reached the court and said a couplet,
''“Vinit Rai Praveen ki, suniye sah sujan. Juthi patar bhakat hain, bari, bayas, swan”''
It translated to - 'Oh you great and wise! Please hear the plea of Rai Praveen. Only someone from a low caste, barber or scavengers would eat from a plat that was partaken by someone else'. With this, she indicated that she was already in love with Indrajeet.
Akbar
Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, H ...
was impressed from this and she was sent back to Indrajeet with respect.
Rai Praveen is the central character in Sudheer Maurya's Hindi Novel Indrapriy
See also
*
Jahangir Mahal, Orchha
*
Orchha Fort complex
References
{{Reflist
Monuments and memorials in Madhya Pradesh
Orchha
Tourist attractions in Tikamgarh district