Datia

Datia lies between Gwalior and Jhansi, in a country of rocky hills and fortified towns. Above it rises the palace of Bir Singh Deo, an imposing seventeenth-century work of Bundela court architecture with many storeys, enclosed courtyards and richly projecting balconies. Its walls combine the forms of Rajput palaces with influences from the Mughal court.

Bir Singh Deo of Orchha built the palace in the early seventeenth century. In 1626 he granted Datia and Baroni to his son Bhagwan Rao, who established a separate Bundela state. The rulers of Datia maintained their court amid the rival powers of central India, including the Mughals and later the Marathas. The palace remained the most conspicuous expression of their family’s position in the region.