Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya organised ‘National Tagore Public lecture’ on Friday at Rock Art Centre Conference Hall where OP Mishra (National Tagore Fellow, Union Ministry of Culture) spoke on ‘Cenotaphs of Madhya Pradesh : a socio-cultural study’.
The lecture was chaired by Prof. Sarit Kumar Chaudhuri, Director, IGRMS. Mishra used power-point presentation and multiple pictures of hundreds of Cenotaphs while explaining the research.
Mishra began his lecture with explaining concept of Cenotaphs, he said, “Cenotaphs means a tomb, which has been built in memory of an individual or group of individuals. Built with a sense of purity ornate and plain pillars and pavilion is the core element with a hollow dome on the top.
It is called by different names in local dialects. like Mausoleum in Maharashtra, Thadha in Rajasthan and in Bundelkhand region of MP it is also addressed as Mukrba. These Cenotaphs were ever built of red sandstone or sometimes it is made up of marble. Dedicated to memory of a person, Mughal architecture offers architectural geniuses like Humayun Tomb in Delhi and Taj Mahal in Agra.
Speaking in context of Madhya Pradesh Mishra gave examples of research work done by Manoj Jain, he said that MP has very rich culture of constructing cenotaphs. Some prominent examples are the cenotaphs of Subedar Malhar Rao Holkar I in Alampur, cenotaphs of King Vir Singh and others rulers of Orchha, representing Bundelkhand, Datia Kings and Bundela Kings and cenotaphs of queen Kamlapati Chhatrashal located in Dhubela. Along with these Cenotaphs of Shyamji in Sanka Rajgarh district, Cenotaphs of Khichi Dyanasty of Narsinghgarh, and Cenotaphs built along the banks of rivers by kings of Rajgarh, Cenotaph of of Burhanpur King - Raja Jai Singh, two Cenotaphs of Nayapura, Cenotaph of Bhimsen Rana in Gwalior, Cenotaphs of the Scindia dynasty in Gwalior and Shivpuri, Cenotaphs of Rani lakshmibai in Gwalior and of Tatya Tope in Shivpuri, Cenotaph of Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar in Maheshwar of Malwa region, Cenotaph of Yashwantrao Holkar in Bhanpura of Indore are also prominent.