Ornamental Horticulture

The Mughal Garden, Pinjore (Haryana)

This garden situated 5 km below Kalka on the Ambala Simla road, was laid out by Fidai Khan, the foster-brother of Aurangazeb during his reign in the seventeenth century. The original name of the place Panchapura or Panjpur has association with the five Pandavas of our epic Mahabharata.

Courtesy: http://www.indiatourismecatalog.com

It is one of the best preserved gardens of north India and is famous for its beauty. The garden is uniquely laid out in an area of 25 hectares and is divided into six terraces. During its heyday a dignitary paying a visit to the garden saw about 40 maunds (each maund is equal of about 37 kg) of red roses being sent to the perfumery (gula khana) of Fidai Khan in a single day.

As customary with all Mughal gardens, this garden is also enriched by an embattled wall. The main gate is at the highest terrace while the remaining five appear in a descending way. Because of this, in spite of the formal layout the full garden is not visible to the visitor at one glance.

As in other Mughal gardens there is a central water channel. Water falls from one terrace to the other and into the tanks. The tanks and the water channels have numerous fountains. On other side of the central channel the paths are paved. Along these paths there are lawns, flower beds, trimmed hedges, rows of bottle palms and many other ornamental shrubs and trees. There is a good collection of fruit trees, especially of mango, litchi and sapota. There are three magnificent buildings - the Shish Mahal, the Rang Mahal, and the Jal Mahal. The credit for the fine collection of ornamental plants goes to the erstwhile rulers of Patiala, especially the former Maharaja Yadavindra Singh. The garden is situated at the foothills of the Himalayas at an altitude of about 600 m. A mini zoo, plants nursery, a Japanese garden, historic palaces and picnic lawns await tourists.