Description of the attraction
The beautiful and vibrant Ram Raya temple is a real gem of the city of Orchha, located in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. This is the only temple-palace in the whole country dedicated to God Rama.
It was originally created as a palace for King Madhukar Shah of Orchha and his wife. As legend has it, the king worshiped God Krishna while the queen prayed to Rama. Madhukar Shah often made fun of his wife because of this and tried in every possible way to convince her that she was wrong. But the queen was adamant and even ordered a temple to be erected in honor of Rama next to the palace.
One day, the queen decided to make a pilgrimage to the city of Ayodhya (the birthplace of Rama). There a miracle happened to her - Rama himself appeared to her, whom she asked to follow with her to Orchha in order to prove to her husband that he was right. Rama agreed, but on the condition that he became the ruler of Orchha instead of Majukar Shah. The queen gave her consent. Then Rama followed her to the city in the form of a little boy. And when they returned to the palace, it turned into a statue. They wanted to move her to a new temple, but to the surprise of people, no one was even able to move her a little bit. Therefore, the statue was left in the palace, which later became a temple. It was named Ram Raya (Raja), which means "ruler of Rama" - thus, Rama became the real "king" of the city, as promised by his wife Majukar Shah.
Ram Raya is a striking quadrangular building with a huge marble-paved courtyard, many huge halls, long corridors and tall colonnades. It annually attracts a huge number of tourists who want to see this legendary temple-palace live.
