Jabalpur

Jabalpur, in the heart of Madhya Pradesh on the Narmada river, is a busy heritage city best known as the gateway to one of central India's great natural wonders — the Marble Rocks of Bhedaghat, about 20 km away. Here the Narmada has carved its way through a soft band of magnesium-limestone and dolomite over countless centuries to create a soaring gorge whose cliffs, rising up to 30 metres on either side of the green river, glow in shades of white, pink, and pale blue as the light shifts across the day. The classic experience is a shared rowing-boat ride between the marble cliffs, the boatmen reciting the names of the rock formations in singsong verse; on full-moon nights (Sharad Purnima especially) the boats run late and the white marble takes on a silvery, otherworldly shimmer. A short way upstream, the river suddenly narrows and plunges over the Dhuandhar Falls — "the smoke cascade" — where the force of the water throws up a permanent haze of spray; a cable-car ropeway now carries visitors across the gorge for an aerial view. Perched on a hill above the river stands the 10th-century Chausath Yogini Temple, a rare circular shrine of sixty-four yogini niches dedicated to Goddess Durga, with fine Kalachuri-period carvings and a panoramic view over the marble gorge. Jabalpur itself holds the Madan Mahal fort, the Rani Durgavati museum, and the balancing Rock formations, and is a staging point for the Kanha and Bandhavgarh tiger reserves. The evening Narmada aarti at Gwarighat, the Bargi Dam backwaters, and the Dumna nature reserve add to a city that Madhya Pradesh fondly calls its "Sanskardhani," the cultural capital. For vegetarian travellers, the local Mahakaushal table runs to khoye ki jalebi, samosa and poha, Narmada-ghat prasad, and hearty MP vegetarian thali. October to March is the comfortable season.