Madhya Pradesh: Secrets And Fables

The central Indian state is a place full of surprises—where even the tallest tales seem to come true

- Kai Friese

Madhya Pradesh: It's India’s biggest secret. It lies there, hidden in plain sight, in the middle of the country. It’s bigger than most Indian provinces, in fact until 2000, when Chhattisgarh seceded, Madhya Pradesh was by far the largest Indian state. It’s still as big as a country. A little bigger than Britain, a little smaller than Poland. It has more forests and natural parks than any other Indian state. It doesn’t have the snowy peaks of the Himalayas but it is chequered with the hills and plateaus of the Vindhyas, India’s most ancient mountains. It still bristles with the palaces and forts of more kingdoms than ‘princely’ Rajasthan ever had.

I spent a week touring as much of the state as I could, from the northern fringes of the Bundelkhand region to the capital Bhopal in the Malwa plateau. By the end of the week, I was bursting with secrets of my own but perhaps I should keep them to myself. Would you really believe me if I said that in a few short days I had climbed India’s oldest mountains, traversed several kingdoms, witnessed an orgy, stalked a tiger, eaten the world’s best (and cheapest) gourmet burger, had tea with a pretender to the House of Bourbon, and a beautiful Bhopali Begum, stepped inside the perfectly preserved dwellings of India’s—and quite possibly the ancient world’s—earliest artists? I didn’t think so. No wonder there’s a conspiracy of silence about Madhya Pradesh.