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Elephanta CavesTemples in Mumbai, India The Elephanta Caves on Elephanta Island are speculated to date back to the 6th century. Off the coast of Mumbai, they are home to a temple full of carvings and sculptures depicting and venerating the three faces of Shiva, known as the Trimurti of Elephanta. The temple is deemed a World Heritage site for the spiritual and cultural significance of the artwork, especially the reliefs cut high up in the cave walls.
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Review by Photo by flickr user technicolorcavalry |
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PuducherryColonial Towns in Puducherry, India The capital of the Indian district named after it, Puducherry (once Pondicherry) is a quiet, picturesque coastal town, most notable for the incongruity of its beautiful, palm-fringed, south coast beaches and the many examples of distinctively French architecture which stretch alongside them.
Once a French colony, Puducherry bears the marks of its heritage everywhere, from the long, solid sea wall to the grid-shaped layout of the streets, designed to accommodate the local Tamil population and the French in separate quarters. The neat, expansive streets of ‘French Town’ are lined with pastel-coloured buildings with high windows, columns and other neo-classical features, while those of ‘Tamil Town’ focus around the huge, covered verandas which front the houses, inviting constant social interaction - but the later buildings which incorporate both styles are by far the most interesting.
Besides being architecturally unique, Puducherry boasts a number of temples dating back as far as the Chola dynasty and even a fascinating Roman history.
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Review by Photo by flickr user poobesh |
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Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers National ParksMountains in Uttar Pradesh, India Nestled high in West Himalaya, India’s Valley of Flowers National Park is renowned for its meadows of endemic alpine flowers and outstanding natural beauty. This richly diverse area is also home to rare and endangered animals, including the Asiatic black bear, snow leopard, brown bear and blue sheep. The gentle landscape of the Valley of Flowers National Park complements the rugged mountain wilderness of Nanda Devi National Park. Together they encompass a unique transition zone between the mountain ranges of the Zanskar and Great Himalaya, praised by mountaineers and botanists for over a century and in Hindu mythology for much longer. Copyright © UNESCO/World Heritage Centre. All rights reserved.
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Review by Photo by flickr user Dawn Endico |
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Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers National ParksMountains in Uttar Pradesh, India Nestled high in West Himalaya, India’s Valley of Flowers National Park is renowned for its meadows of endemic alpine flowers and outstanding natural beauty. This richly diverse area is also home to rare and endangered animals, including the Asiatic black bear, snow leopard, brown bear and blue sheep. The gentle landscape of the Valley of Flowers National Park complements the rugged mountain wilderness of Nanda Devi National Park. Together they encompass a unique transition zone between the mountain ranges of the Zanskar and Great Himalaya, praised by mountaineers and botanists for over a century and in Hindu mythology for much longer. Copyright © UNESCO/World Heritage Centre. All rights reserved.
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Review by Photo by flickr user Dawn Endico |
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The Great Stupa GatewayWorks of Art in Bhopal, India Between the 3rd and 12th centuries, during the rule of the Satavahna and Sunga dynasties, a number of Buddhist monuments were built at Sanchi to form a place of holy pilgrimage, near what is now nothing more than a tiny village near Bhopal in India.
The most complex and impressive of all these is a giant stupa, or Buddhist burial mound, which is guarded by four finely-detailed, carved stone gates. The life and attributes of the Buddha are represented in them with all the artistic perfection that religious fervour can bring; the lotus, which represents his birth, the bodhi tree, signifying his enlightenment, the wheel of nirvana and even his footprints are revealed in the greatest detail and held up for worship by all who visit the site.
Crowds of carved Indo-Greek figures cluster around these many facets of Buddha, dancing, singing, praying and celebrating as they watch him leaving home, walking on water, overcoming his enemies and providing divine inspiration at different periods in his life.
The gates are, unsurprisingly, regarded as key pieces in the foundation of all Indian art which followed.
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Review by Photo by flickr user Carol Mitchell |
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