Gwalior

Gwalior is a city in Madhya Pradesh, India, lying 76 miles (122 km) south of Agra, and known as the tourist capital of Madhya Pradesh. Gwalior occupies a strategic location in the Gird region of India, and the city and its fortress have served as the center of several of historic northern Indian kingdoms.

That the location of the city still is considered militarily important is signaled by the presence of a major air force base at Maharajpura. According to local tradition, Gwalior owes its name to a sage of former times. SurajSen, a prince of the Kachhwaha clan of the eighth century, is said to have lost his way in the jungle.

On a secluded hill he met an old man, the sage Gwalipa, whose influence almost took him by surprise. Upon asking the sage for some drinking water he was led to a pond; the waters not only quenched his thirst but cured him of leprosy. Out of gratefulness, the prince wished to offer the sage something in return, and the sage asked him to build a wall on the hill in order to protect the other sages from wild animals which often disturbed their yagnas (or pujas).

SurajSen later built a palace inside the fort, which had been named "Gwalior" after the sage; eventually the city which grew around the fort took the same name. Gwalior is well connected by train services to all parts of the country, including 4 metros.

There are direct trains to Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata (Howrah), Chennai, Trivandrum, Indore, Jaipur, Udaipur, Ahmedabad, Pune, Jammu, Lucknow, Bhopal, Bangalore and other major towns. Gwalior is the main station serving most of the important and long distance trains.

Gwalior lies on the longest functional broad gauge line in India between Delhi and Mumbai.