Journey
UNESCO Tentative List
India keeps sixty-nine properties on its tentative list, some submitted in 1998 and still waiting. The list is where the country's own idea of its heritage is most visible: root bridges, menhir alignments, a stepped water tunnel, a village of Adivasi rice terraces, a fossil park and a trunk road.
Stops (35)
- Lothal · submitted 2014
Lothal was proposed as part of a serial nomination of Harappan sites, and Dholavira from the same group was inscribed in 2021 while this one waited. The trapezoidal basin usually read as a tidal dock is the site's claim, and the fact that the reading is disputed is part of why it is still on the list.
- Burzahom · submitted 2021
Burzahom's Neolithic pit dwellings, dog burials and engraved hunting slab make the Kashmir valley's prehistory a separate case from the plains, with Central Asian rather than Indian parallels. It was proposed with several other Indian prehistoric sites and remains unlisted. It was proposed with several other Indian prehistoric sites as a serial nomination and remains unlisted, and its engraved slab showing a hunting scene under two suns is one of the few narrative prehistoric carvings from the subcontinent.
- Konkan geoglyphs · submitted 2022
The Konkan geoglyphs — hundreds of figures cut into lateritic plateaus in Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg, some tens of metres across — were identified only from the 2010s and nominated within a decade. Their date is unresolved, and the plateaus they are on are under quarrying and refinery pressure. The plateaus they are cut into are under quarrying and refinery pressure, and their date is unresolved.
- Hire Benakal · submitted 2021
Hire Benakal in Koppal district, a plateau of several hundred dolmens and stone circles, many with porthole slabs — one of the largest megalithic necropolises in India and never systematically excavated. It is nominated as a serial megalithic property with Mudumal. It is nominated as a serial megalithic property together with the Mudumal menhirs two hundred and fifty kilometres away, and at both sites the interpretation has run well ahead of the fieldwork.
- Mudumal Menhirs · submitted 2021
The Mudumal menhirs, some eighty large standing stones in Telangana with an alignment read as marking solstice sunrise and cup marks read as a star map. The astronomical claims are unproven; the alignment was measured before it was interpreted, and that distinction matters for the nomination. That distinction between what was measured and what was inferred matters for the nomination.
- Salkhan Fossil Park · submitted 2021
Salkhan Fossil Park in the Kaimur hills holds stromatolites — laminated structures built by cyanobacteria — dated to around one and a half billion years, which would make it among the oldest fossil beds on earth. It is India's one tentative nomination for geological rather than cultural or biological value.
- Aihole · submitted 2004
Aihole, where the Chalukyas experimented: a hundred and twenty temples in one small village trying out northern and southern plans, apsidal and rectangular shrines, and every kind of roof, before the results were built properly at Pattadakal — which was inscribed in 1987 while this was not. A system that rewards finished ensembles undervalues the place where the work was figured out.
- Dhamnar caves · submitted 2021
The Dhamnar caves in Mandsaur district, some fifty rock-cut Buddhist excavations with a large reclining Buddha, and the monolithic Dharmarajeshwara temple cut from the same rock face in a later period. Two religions in one quarry, which is the site's argument for inscription. Two religions quarrying one rock face several centuries apart is the site's argument for inscription, and the reclining Buddha is among the largest in India.
- Bhojeshwar Mahādev, Bhojpur · submitted 1998
Bhojpur's Bhojeshwar temple, raised by the Paramara king Bhoja and never finished, with the earthen construction ramp still in place beside it and mason's drawings incised on the surrounding rock. It is the best evidence anywhere of how an Indian temple was actually built. It is the best physical evidence anywhere of how a large Indian temple was actually built, and the lingam inside it is among the largest carved from a single stone.
- Chausath Yogini, Mitaoli · submitted 2022
The Chausath Yogini temple at Mitaoli, a circular open-roofed shrine of sixty-four cells on a hill in Morena, and one of only four surviving yogini temples. The claim that it inspired the plan of the Indian Parliament is repeated constantly and rests on nothing. The claim that it inspired the plan of the Indian Parliament is repeated constantly and rests on nothing at all, which is itself part of the site's modern history.
- Unakoti · submitted 2022
Unakoti in Tripura, a hillside of colossal Shaiva rock carvings and reliefs in dense forest, with a thirty-foot Shiva head cut from the living rock. The name means one less than a crore, which is the local count of the images, and the site is almost unknown outside the state.
- Vadnagar · submitted 2022
Vadnagar in Gujarat, a town with a continuous archaeological sequence of some two and a half thousand years, Buddhist monastic remains, a set of carved torana gateways and a working settlement on top of all of it. Continuity of occupation is its claim rather than any single monument. Continuity of occupation is its claim rather than any single monument, and the site is still a working town.
- Gwalior Fort · submitted 2021
Gwalior Fort on its sandstone mesa, with the Man Mandir's tilework, the Sas-Bahu temples, the eleventh-century Teli ka Mandir and the Jain colossi cut into the approach. Nine dynasties built on one rock, and it is proposed with the Orchha and Datia palaces as a Bundela serial nomination. Nine dynasties built on one rock, and the fort is proposed with the Orchha and Datia palaces.
- Orchha · submitted 2021
Orchha on the Betwa, whose Jahangir Mahal, Raj Mahal and cenotaph line were built by Bir Singh Deo out of the reward for murdering Abul Fazl on Prince Salim's instructions. The Chaturbhuj temple there is built to the scale of a fort and was never occupied by its intended image.
- Palace-fortresses of the Bundelas · submitted 2021
The Bundela palace-fortresses, proposed as a serial property covering Orchha, Datia and Jhansi — the three seats of one dynasty's seventeenth-century building programme. Datia's Bir Singh Palace is a five-storey square block on a rock, and it was probably never lived in at all. Datia's Bir Singh Palace is a five-storey square block on a rock and was probably never lived in at all, which is why it survives unaltered.
- Gond monuments, Ramnagar Mandla · submitted 2021
The Gond monuments at Ramnagar in Mandla, built by the Gond rulers of Garha-Katanga: a three-storey palace of dressed stone, a temple and a bathhouse, in the Narmada valley. They are the surviving architecture of an Adivasi kingdom, which is why the nomination matters more than the buildings' scale. They are the surviving architecture of an Adivasi kingdom, which is why the nomination matters.
- Mandu · submitted 1998
Mandu, a walled city on a plateau with a twelve-kilometre circuit, the Jami Masjid, the Hoshang Shah tomb that the Taj's builders were sent to study, and the Jahaz Mahal between two lakes. It was submitted in 1998 and has been waiting nearly thirty years. It was submitted in 1998 and has been waiting nearly thirty years for a decision.
- Bishnupur · submitted 1998
Bishnupur's terracotta brick temples, built by the Malla rajas when stone had to be replaced by what the Bengal delta actually has, with the whole Ramayana and Krishna cycle modelled on their walls. It is also the home of a Hindustani gharana and of Baluchari silk weaving. It is also the home of a Hindustani gharana and of Baluchari silk weaving.
- Chettinad village clusters · submitted 2014
The Chettinad village clusters, where the Nattukottai Chettiar banking families built enormous courtyard mansions with Burmese teak, Italian marble and Birmingham tiles, financed by lending across Burma, Ceylon and Malaya. When that network ended the houses were left; many are being sold for their timber. When the banking network ended the houses were left, and many are now being sold for their timber.
- Padmanābhapuram Palace · submitted 2014
Padmanabhapuram, the Travancore palace built almost entirely in jackwood and teak with polished black floors, carved rosewood ceilings and a granite council chamber. It is the best surviving timber palace in India, and it is in Tamil Nadu while remaining Kerala government property. It is the best surviving timber palace in India, standing in Tamil Nadu while remaining the property of the Kerala government, which is a jurisdictional oddity the nomination has to deal with.
- Mattancherry Palace, Kochi · submitted 1998
Mattancherry Palace at Kochi, built by the Portuguese for the Kochi rajas about 1555 and altered by the Dutch after 1663, with the Ramayana painted in full across its coronation hall. Three European powers and a Malayali dynasty in one building, and it has been on the list since 1998.
- Srirangapatna / Srirangapattana · submitted 2014
Srirangapatna, the Kaveri island that was the Wodeyar and then Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan's capital, with the Ranganatha temple, the Jama Masjid, the Daria Daulat Bagh and its Pollilur mural, and the Gumbaz. It is nominated as the ensemble rather than as the temple or the fort alone. It is nominated as the whole island ensemble rather than as the temple or the fort alone.
- Chārmīnār · submitted 2010
The Charminar, the four-minaret gateway at the centre of the city Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah laid out in 1591, with a mosque on its upper floor. It is nominated with the Qutb Shahi tombs and Golconda as a serial Qutb Shahi property, and the streets of the old city still radiate from it.
- Qutb Shāhi Tombs, Ibrahim Bagh · submitted 2010
The Qutb Shahi necropolis at Ibrahim Bagh, some seventy structures including the tombs of seven sultans, a mortuary bath and a step-well, in one walled garden — an unusually complete dynastic burial ground, and the only one in the Deccan where the whole line lies together. It is the only dynastic burial ground in the Deccan where the whole line lies together in one walled garden, and it was restored over the last decade after long neglect.
- Hazrat Nizāmuddīn Dargah, Delhi · submitted 2014
The Nizamuddin dargah and the settlement around it: Amir Khusrau's tomb, Jahanara's, Ghalib's, the Chausath Khamba and the Humayun's Tomb complex next door, which is already inscribed. The dargah is nominated as a living cultural landscape rather than as a monument, which is a harder case to make. A living cultural landscape is a harder case to make than a monument, which is part of why it waits.
- Lotus Temple, Delhi · submitted 2014
The Lotus Temple, the Bahai House of Worship completed in 1986 with twenty-seven marble petals in nine sides, open to anyone of any religion and with no images, sermons or ritual. It is the youngest property on India's tentative list by several centuries. It is the youngest property on India's tentative list by several centuries, and among the most visited buildings in the country.
- Harmandir Sāhib (Golden Temple) · submitted 2004
The Harmandir Sahib at Amritsar, built in a tank with entrances on four sides and a floor level below the surrounding ground, and rebuilt in marble and gold leaf under Ranjit Singh. Nominated in 2004, and the Sikh institutions' own position on inscription has not been straightforward. The Sikh institutions' own position on inscription has not been straightforward, which matters for a living shrine.
- Mughal Gardens of Kashmir · submitted 2010
The Mughal gardens of Kashmir — Shalimar, Nishat, Chashma Shahi, Achabal, Verinag — terraced down the Dal lake slopes and fed by the springs above them, with the Jhelum valley as the view. They are the fullest surviving statement of the charbagh as a landscape rather than as a tomb enclosure.
- Khooni Bhandara, Burhanpur · submitted 2021
The Khooni Bhandara at Burhanpur, a seventeenth-century underground water system of eight interconnected qanat channels with vertical shafts, built by a Persian engineer for Shah Jahan's governor. It still supplies part of the town, which is why it is nominated as a working structure rather than a ruin. It still supplies part of the town, which is why it is nominated as a working structure rather than a ruin.
- Living root bridges, Meghalaya · submitted 2022
The living root bridges of Meghalaya, grown over decades by Khasi and Jaintia villagers training the aerial roots of the rubber fig across streams, and strengthening rather than decaying with age. It is the clearest case anywhere of architecture that is cultivated rather than constructed. It is the clearest case anywhere of architecture that is cultivated rather than constructed, and the bridges get stronger rather than weaker with age.
- Apatani cultural landscape, Ziro · submitted 2014
The Apatani cultural landscape at Ziro, where wet rice and fish are cultivated in the same terraced plots with no draught animals and no ploughs, on a valley floor in Arunachal. It is nominated as a living agricultural landscape, and the Apatani have been managing it for centuries. It is nominated as a living agricultural landscape that the Apatani have been managing for centuries.
- Thembang fortified village · submitted 2014
Thembang, a fortified Monpa village in West Kameng with a stone wall, two gates and dzong-style houses, on the old trade and pilgrimage route to Tawang and Tibet. It is one of the few nominations from Arunachal and one of the very few fortified villages on the list. It is one of very few nominations from Arunachal and one of the few fortified villages anywhere on the list.
- Majuli · submitted 2004
Majuli, the Brahmaputra river island whose satras are monasteries, art schools and dispute-resolution bodies at once. It has lost more than half its area to erosion since the nineteenth century, and the nomination is partly an argument for protecting a landscape that is physically disappearing. The nomination is partly an argument for protecting a landscape that is physically disappearing, which is not what the convention was designed for.
- Cellular Jail, Andaman Islands · submitted 2014
The Cellular Jail in Port Blair, a seven-winged radial prison built to hold political prisoners a thousand miles offshore, with solitary cells facing the backs of other cells. Three wings survive as a national memorial, and it is the only nomination on this list for a site of imprisonment. It is the only nomination on either Indian list for a site of imprisonment.
- Ekāmra Kshetra, Bhubaneswar · submitted 2014
Ekamra Kshetra, the temple city of Bhubaneswar, with the Lingaraja, Mukteshvara, Rajarani and Parasurameshvara temples and the Bindusagar tank — several hundred shrines covering the whole development of the Kalinga style in one city. Its absence from the inscribed list is the largest single omission. Its absence from the inscribed list, given that Konark thirty kilometres away was listed in 1984, is the largest single omission on the Indian list.