Madhya Pradesh Mixed Quiz: Set 15

Bhoja, who ruled from Dhar in the eleventh century and is remembered as a scholar king, began the Bhojeshwar temple at Bhojpur in Raisen district on the Betwa.

Ujjain stands on the Shipra, and the Simhastha bathing takes place at its ghats, chiefly Ram Ghat, with the Mahakaleshwar jyotirlinga at the centre of the fair.

Maha Shivratri falls on the Chaturdashi of the dark half of Phalguna, in February or March. In Madhya Pradesh it is the largest single fair day of the year: it fills the Mahakaleshwar jyotirlinga at Ujjain, the Bhojeshwar temple at Bhojpur in Raisen district and the Shiva shrines of Pachmarhi.

Mahakaleshwar stands at Ujjain on the bank of the Shipra and is the only south-facing jyotirlinga, known for the Bhasma Aarti performed before dawn.

The core of the Great Stupa at Sanchi, in Raisen district, was raised in brick by Ashoka in the third century BCE, and the stone casing and the railing were added later.

Ravishankar Shukla had been Chief Minister of the old Madhya Pradesh, that is the Central Provinces and Berar, from 1947, and he continued as the first Chief Minister of the reorganised state from 1 November 1956 until his death at the end of that year.

The Nagdwari Mela is held at Pachmarhi in Narmadapuram district, inside the Satpura hills, at Nagpanchami in the month of Shravan.

The core of Stupa 1 at Sanchi, in Raisen district, was raised in the third century BCE in Ashoka's reign, with the Ashokan pillar carrying the schism edict beside it.

The Sharda Devi temple stands on the Trikuta hill at Maihar in Satna district, and pilgrims climb more than a thousand steps to reach it.

After the fall of Jhansi in April 1858 the Rani joined Tatya Tope and Rao Sahib, and in June 1858 they took Gwalior when the Scindia army went over to them.

Amarkantak in Anuppur district is the source of the Narmada, and of the Son as well, so Narmada Jayanti is kept there on the largest scale, with gatherings also at Jabalpur, Hoshangabad and Omkareshwar along the river.

Ujjain stands on the Shipra, also written Kshipra, a tributary of the Chambal, and it is on the ghats of this river that the Simhastha, the Kumbh of Ujjain, is held every twelve years.

Amarkantak, in Anuppur district, stands where the Maikal range joins the Vindhyas and the Satpuras, and both the Narmada and the Son rise there.

Sher Shah Suri died at Kalinjar in 1545 when a gunpowder explosion during the siege of the fort burned him fatally.

Khajuraho lies in Chhatarpur district of the Bundelkhand region, and the dance festival has been held there every February since 1975, with classical dance performed against the Chandela temples, themselves a World Heritage Site.

The Scindia family's early centre in Malwa was Ujjain on the Shipra, and under Daulat Rao Scindia the seat of the state was moved to Gwalior, where the camp settlement of Lashkar below the hill fort grew into the modern city.

At Orchha, the Bundela capital on the Betwa in Niwari district, the Ram Raja temple is a palace that became a shrine, and Rama is honoured there as a ruling king rather than only as a deity, with a daily guard of honour.

Tansen, one of the navaratnas of Akbar, belonged to Gwalior and his tomb stands there beside that of his teacher Muhammad Ghaus; the Tansen Samaroh is held near it in December and the Tansen Samman is given at it.

The name Bawangaja means fifty-two gaz, the traditional height given to the standing rock-cut image of Adinatha cut into the Satpura slope in Barwani district, and its mahamastakabhisheka draws Jain pilgrims from across the country.

Ujjain is held to be the city of Kalidasa, and the state festival named after him, with drama, recitation and scholarship on his works, is held there.