travel

The Elephanta Caves are a complex of rock-cut cave temples on Gharapuri Island in Mumbai Harbour, 11 km from the Gateway of India by ferry. The main cave contains a 5.45-metre three-faced Trimurti of Shiva carved from living basalt, dated to the 5th or 6th century CE. Portuguese soldiers used the island as a military base after 1510 and damaged several of the cave sculptures; the stone elephant that gave the island its current name was removed and partially reconstructed, and is now in a Mumbai museum.

The Red Fort (Lal Qila) is a Mughal imperial palace built by Shah Jahan in Old Delhi between 1639 and 1648 CE, serving as the residence of Mughal emperors until 1857. After the Indian revolt of that year, British forces demolished approximately two-thirds of the palace buildings; surviving structures include the Diwan-i-Khas with its inscription declaring “If there is paradise on earth, it is here.” On 15 August 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru raised India’s flag from its Lahori Gate.

The Khajuraho Group of Monuments is a complex of 25 surviving Hindu and Jain temples built by the Chandela dynasty in Madhya Pradesh between 950 and 1050 CE, abandoned after the 13th-century decline of the dynasty, and undocumented by European observers until 1838. The site’s erotic carvings represent approximately 10% of the total sculptural programme; the Kandariya Mahadeva Temple, at 30.5 metres, is the largest and most architecturally complete survivor.

Sanchi is a hilltop Buddhist complex in Madhya Pradesh preserving fifty monuments from the 3rd century BCE to the 12th century CE, including the Great Stupa originally built by Emperor Ashoka over relics of the Buddha and surrounded by four carved stone gateways from the 1st century BCE that depict 547 previous lives of the Buddha in narrative relief carving. The site was abandoned after Buddhism declined in India, rediscovered by British officers in 1818, and restored by the Archaeological Survey of India between 1912 and 1919. The Bhimbetka Rock Shelters UNESCO site is 46 km south via Bhopal.

Fatehpur Sikri was the Mughal imperial capital for approximately fourteen years under Akbar before being abandoned around 1585 and never re-inhabited, preserving the palatial complex, mosque and the 54-metre Buland Darwaza gateway almost completely intact. Akbar built the city on a hill in Uttar Pradesh near the village of a Sufi saint whose blessing he had sought for an heir, and the saint’s tomb remains an active pilgrimage site within the UNESCO-listed complex. Agra Fort and the Taj Mahal are 38 and 40 km to the east.

Agra Fort, built by Emperor Akbar from 1565 in red sandstone and later transformed by Shah Jahan into white marble palaces, served as the Mughal imperial residence for three emperors before becoming the prison where Aurangzeb confined his father Shah Jahan in 1658. From the Musamman Burj tower on the fort’s eastern rampart, Shah Jahan spent his final years with a direct sightline across the Yamuna to the Taj Mahal, 2 km away. Fatehpur Sikri, the third Agra-cluster UNESCO site, is 38 km west.

The Taj Mahal in Agra was commissioned in 1632 by Emperor Shah Jahan as the tomb of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, built by approximately 20,000 workers over 21 years using white Makrana marble transported 300 km from Rajasthan. Shah Jahan was later imprisoned in Agra Fort 2 km away, where he spent his final years with a direct view of his wife’s mausoleum across the Yamuna River. Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri — two more UNESCO World Heritage Sites — are within 40 km.

The 40 Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty, inscribed by UNESCO in 2009 and spread across 18 locations within 100 km of Seoul, house the remains of all 27 Joseon kings and their queens in burial mounds built between 1408 and 1966. The most significant individual tomb is Yeong Neung in Yeoju — the grave of King Sejong the Great, who created the Korean Hangul alphabet in 1446, a writing system now used by 80 million people and considered one of the most phonetically precise scripts ever designed.

Jongmyo Shrine in central Seoul is the UNESCO-inscribed (1995) royal ancestral shrine of the Joseon dynasty, housing the spirit tablets of 19 kings in the Jeongjeon — at 101 metres, the longest single wooden structure in Asia. The shrine still hosts the annual Jongmyo Jerye ceremony each May, a 630-year-old Confucian ritual of food offerings and court music (Jongmyo Jeryeak, separately inscribed as UNESCO Intangible Heritage in 2001) performed in the presence of the royal spirit tablets. Changdeokgung Palace, another UNESCO site, is 600 metres away.