Silent and serene.These words would be enough to send a wave of calmness through your soul because the place i am goin todescribe you gives you exactly the same.The name of the place is Panchmari in Madhya Pradesh.It is not on the usual beat of hill station buffs and therefore, thankfully, not over-developed. Though considered the state’s hill station it does not offer thepredictable mountain fare of awesome heights and spectacular scenery, for the Satpuras are low lying weathered hills.Pachmarhi’s appeal is low key. Peace, seclusion and a quiet unobtrusive beauty are its charms.

I,beings an army officers kid kept travelling my whole life from place to place.Panchmari happened a few years ago when my father got posted there.Though it is not a well developed place and may not find your favorate pizza shop in the market,but that's what makes Panchmari retain its natural peace and beauty everywhere around it because still there are very less interruptions made by man here.Here is one the common views of Panchmai,yes a waterfall.






The nearest airport is Bhopal (120 kilometers) connected by flights with Delhi, Gwalior, Indore, Bombay, Raipur and Jabalpurand from Bhopal you can board a train till Pipariya which is the last railway station n after that you can hire a jeep till Panchmari.You can imagine how untouched it still is by not having a rail line.
Panchmari was 'discovered' in the year 1862 by Captain J.Forsyth. While exploring the Satpura forest, he found the Panchmari Plateau 3,500 feet above the neighbouring area of Pipariya. The enthralling sight enticed him to pen "the moist banks of streams covered with ferns and mosses and the clear sparkle of a brook, appear singularly refreshing." What caught the British imagination most was Panchmari's "Englishness"reminding them of Kent or Windermere - a wee-bit of India that would forever transport them to England. The British moved in - it became a sanitorium, and quickly thereafter a pretty little military cantonment.And believe me if you were the first one to go there you would have made it your home immediately.About panchmari there is a lot that local legends say.The earliest settlements at Panchmari were probably Buddhist in origin.Panchmari is a corruption of Panchmathi, "five caves" which are still in a fair state of preservation. Local legend tell that at some stage of their exile the five Pandav brothers lived here and i was very lucky to have got a house in the view of the cave.Before you get to the top of the cave you go through a exotic garden of vibrantly coloured roses and from the top of cave it looks like as if someone has spilled the colours of holi on the Earth.

Ok,now let me tell you about the enchanting place i saw.First of all panchmari is blessed with beautiful waterflls and cascades and waterpools.Of these the Apsara Vihar (Fairy Pool), is perhaps the most beautiful. The descent is easy, the location ideal for a picnic and the pool shallow enough for a paddle. Some distance away the Rajat Parbat, (the Big Falls), true to their name gush down from a height of over three hundred feet.




There’s something for everyone in Pachmarhi. The rocks which have eroded into fascinating shapes and sizes attract rock climbers, while a wildlife enthusiast can, if he is lucky, spot a variety of deer and birds in the dense deep forests of sal, mahua, jamun and bamboo. He is more likely to encounter the tribals, the Gonds and the Korkus, busy gathering firewood. These are the native in-habitants of the area who live in small huts or in almost primeval rock shelters. They are a happy people content with a simple lifestyle, fond of song, dance and the local brew mahua. Their distinct lifestyle manifests itself in a number of quaint customs like the memorial blocks they carve for their dead which are rather like wooden slates, each with a figure carved in relief representing the dead person riding a horse. This is surprising because horses are hardly visible in the area.Perhaps the horses signify a journey to the other world. It would be interesting if one had the time, to study these customs in depth.Tribal people who stay in depth of satpura arise with stockful of fruits in season often found selling them on roadsides and mind you these fruits are of best quality and flavor.The two highest peaks of M.P reside in here.Dhupgarh:the Citadel of the Sun. Sunset from here is an orchestration of light, particularly if you look at the cliffs facing Pachmarhi and watch them go through subtle shifts of colours. And then swing west to see the sun sink in a blaze of saffron into the darkening plains, far below.Then come the Chaursgarh,whose apex homes a temple of Lord Shiva.Legend has it that Shiva reached this place from Tilak Sindur through a tunnel in order to save himself from the demon King Bhasmasur. Here's a view of a beautiful sunset seen from the pinnacle of Dhupgarh.








Although younger, but deeper and more exotic is the 100-year-old Shaivite tradition. Shiva's shrines located in deep caves,ravines and atop cliffs speak of the untamed pre-Sanskritic roots of Shiva. It reminds one of Pashupati Mahadeo depicted on so many of the seals found in Harappa and Mohenjodaro. Mahadeo, the most sacred Shaivite spot in Panchmari, less than an hour's drive from the town, is a deep cleft in the rock through which an underground stream runs. Barefooted devotees inch their way in single file through the slithery darkness to the flower bedecked lingam. Jata Shankar which gets its name from a rock formation that resembles the matted locks of Shiva is another interesting place. A short walk from the road leads to a point from where numerous steps descend. Below a large overhanging rock are hundreds of tridents and close-by, the source of the Jambu Dwipa stream.Here are a small part of history,the rock paintings made by early wind man.












A derelict church and houses with a perceptible colonial ambiance are vestiges of the British Raj. It was in fact Colonel Forsyth, a Bengal Lancer, who discovered Pachmarhi in 1857 and the point where he first sighted and fell in love with the area was named after him and earlier called Forsyth Point. Today this has been renamed Priyadarshini. Point, Enthralled by the beauty he wrote, “Everywhere the massive groups of trees and park-like scenery strikes the eye and the greenery of glade and wild flowers unseen at lower elevations, maintains the illusion that the scene is a bit out of our temperate zone.” This feeling was echoed by other Englishmen who, finding the town pleasant throughout the year, settled here and developed Pachmarhi into a cantonment which it still is today. The Army Education Corps and the music school still have their training centers here.Development has come by way of government aided projects which are geared more towards cottage industries. There are several vocational study centers and there is also the silkworm breeding farm and horti-cultural centre that make interesting breaks during walks. But essentially Pachmarhi remains slowpaced and peaceful, allowing for leisurely observation and reflection.The beautiful church i mentioned above is here.


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Pachmarhi is one of the exceptions to the heat and dust image, because it is a hill station in the heart of India. It’s woods consist of the deciduous Sal, not of the usual Oaks and Conifers. Clearly it is a different mountain resort.
This is probably what attracted the Army to it, and they have made Pachmarhi into an orderly, cottages-and-gardens town where there is a place for everything and everything seems to be in it’s place: including legends, pre-history and history adn that is the probable reason i was there.Legends gave the town its name: the Panch Pandava caves are, traditionally,associated with the heroes of the epic Mahabharata but, historically, they were probably shaped by Jain or Buddhist monks.At about the same time, or perhaps a shade later, wandering tribes painted the, so-called, ‘Stone Age’ figures in some of the rock shelters of Pachmarhi. The depiction of horses in the rock paintings dates them. Two impressive, water-washed caveshave become shrines to Lord Shiva: Mahadeo, a little distance up a hill, and Jatashankar, at the deep end of a gorge. Both are impressive and well worth visiting.So if you have got a taste for history then where else you will want to savour it?


If i have to write about panchmari i would never run out of words because everything about Panchmari has a story to be told.

People have given names to different spots in different locations of panchmari which draws tourist attraction but for a person like me there's more about panchmari then all this.Caves with paintings of early humans,so many waterfalls,mystic landscapes,the rainy season,simple and innocent people,rich flora and fauna and absolute calm and pure nature....when you live in such a heaven,life seems to be giving you what you ultimately want from it.Peace and serenity.