Pachmarhi
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Pachmarhi is a hill station in Madhya Pradesh state of central India. It is widely known as " Satpura ki Rani", situated at a height of 3500 ft. in a valley of the Satpura Range in Hoshangabad district, 45 kilometres by road from Piparia station on the Indian Railways. Piparia is on the Itarsi Jabalpur train line 2 hrs Train run from Jabalpur. All the trains on this line pass through Piparia, but only a few halt here.
The area was discovered in the modern times by Captain James Forsyth of the British army in 1857 Pachmarhi became a hill station and sanatorium for British troops in the Central Provinces of India. The population in 1901 was 3020, rising to double that number in the hot summer months. Pachmarhi also served as the summer capital.
Pachmarhi is a tourist retreat; its elevation and the forests of the Satpuras, with their streams and waterfalls, are picturesque and home to much wildlife. Pachmarhi lies within the Pachmarhi Biosphere Preserve, created in 1999 to link two forest reserves and Satpura National Park into a larger wildlife conservation area. It also has Dhupgarh -- the highest point in Central India
Pachmarhi also has a lot of cave paintings in the forests, some of which have been dated to be as much as 10000 years old.
Shown in the picture is the garden at the base of a tourist attraction called Pandava caves, the caves are actually Buddhist in origin but the name persists
The town is not very large, and most of the area is under Army control, overall it is a small town of about 10000 population, the majority of it being the army. During the north Indian summer season many tourists visit this place, and there are reasonable facilities to accommodate them. There is no college, and there is a state government school as well as a Kendriya Vidyalaya. The Indian Army's Army Education Corps Center and College is based here. The forest around the town is home to many rare varieties of birds and insects.
Some of the sightseeing places here are:
- Rajat Prapat (Silver Fall)
- Bees Fall
- Pandav Caves
- Gupt Mahadev
- Chauragarh (Shiv Devotees come here in huge numbers during Mahashivratri)
- Dhupgarh (The highest peak of the Satpuras and Madhya Pradesh)
- Handi Kho (Deep Valley)
- Priyadarshini
- Apsara Falls
- Jatashanker
- Saunderkund
- Big Fall
- Duchess Fall
