Shivpuri

Shivpuri is a city and a municipality in Shivpuri district located in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is in the Gwalior Division of northwest Madhya Pradesh and is the administrative headquarters of Shivpuri District. Shivpuri was the summer capital of the rulers of Gwalior - the Scindias. The kings used to spent their summer here in Madhav Vilas Palace to escape the gorging heat of Gwalior. Therfore, the city came to be known as 'mini Shimla'. The rulers had constructed the famous Chattri, George Castle and the Madhav Vilas Palace in Shivpuri. The vast dense forests of Shivpuri served as the hunting grounds for the Scindias and the Britishers. In 1564, Mughal emperor Akbar came with his hunters to catch elephant herds from the dense forests of Shivpuri and Gwalior.

Shivpuri’s royal ambience lives on in the exquisite palaces and hunting lodges and graceful erected by the Scindia rulers. George Castle was built in 1911 by the Scindia ruler Jiyaji Rao Scindia within the National Park at its highest point, for an overnight halt for tiger shooting by George V. He was to pass that way during his visit to India. It so happened that King could shoot a tiger on the way itself and did not stop at Madhav National Park. View of the lake an