Beohar is not one site but a family's mark on Jabalpur: a manor that hosted the leaders of the freedom movement, a historic temple complex, and a reservoir that never dries.
History books of the early 1820s and 1830s refer to this part of Jabalpur as Jamnera, and afterwards as Beohar Grove, which the British later turned into Civil Lines. When the railway line was laid it cut the area into north and south, and the northern portion became Civil Lines North. The whole area is now popularly called Beohar Bagh, the Garden of the Beohars, and three things in and around the city carry the family's name.
Beohar House, a private manor built soon after the building that now houses the High Court of Madhya Pradesh, has hosted a remarkable succession of visitors: Mahatma Gandhi, Dr Rajendra Prasad, Jawaharlal Nehru, Vinoba Bhave, Osho, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Mirabehn, Jamnalal Bajaj, Maithili Sharan Gupt, Shankar Dayal Sharma, Kaka Kalelkar, Thakkar Bapa, Makhanlal Chaturvedi, Somnath Hore, Maharshi Mahesh Yogi, Medha Patkar, Nirmal Verma and others.
In the old city stands the Beohar dynasty's Radha Krishna temple complex, incorporating a Shiva temple, built in roughly the 17th and 18th centuries CE. Its claim to being among India's first renaissance temples rests on 1929, when Beohar Raghuvir Sinha, with Ghanshyam Das Birla and Jamnalal Bajaj, opened these temples to Harijans, among the first series of temples in India to be so opened. The leaders came to Jabalpur for the occasion. And 20 to 25 km out along NH7 towards Sihora lies Beohar Sarovar, the family's summer retreat.
A private manor in Beohar Bagh, built soon after the building that now houses the High Court of Madhya Pradesh. Its significance is in its guest list, which runs from Gandhi, Nehru and Rajendra Prasad through Vinoba Bhave, Mirabehn and Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan to Osho, Maharshi Mahesh Yogi and Medha Patkar.
Vaishnav and Shaiva temples in the old city, built by the Beohar dynasty in about the 17th and 18th centuries CE and incorporating a Shiva temple. In 1929 Beohar Raghuvir Sinha opened them to Harijans with Ghanshyam Das Birla and Jamnalal Bajaj. The Radha Krishna temple holds idols of Shri Radha-Krishna, gifted by Maharaja Chhatrasal of Panna to the family's ancestors and believed to be replicas of the Bhagwan Jugal Kishore idols, alongside Shri Ram-Janki and other deities.
A large privately owned man-made reservoir alongside NH7 on the Jabalpur-Sihora section, 20 to 25 km from the city, also known as Burhan Sagar. It never dries up, carries Indian lotuses and draws migratory birds. Rainwater flow was blocked by piling earth and lining the ridge with stone, a work supervised centuries ago by one Burhan Shripaal of the Beohar household. Gandhi stayed here in 1933 as a guest of Beohar Rajendra Simha, who then renamed the village Gandhigram.
These are three separate places, two in the city and one well outside it, and two of them are private property. Plan accordingly.
October to March suits all three. The reservoir is at its most rewarding in the cooler months, when migratory birds are present and the lotuses are visible, and early morning is the best hour for both birds and light. The temple complex is busiest on festival days, which is worth knowing whether you want the crowd or would rather avoid it.
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