Saturday, March 29, 2008

List Of UNESCO World Heritage sites in Madhya Pradesh

Buddhist Monastery at Sanchi.
The 'Great Stupa' at Sanchi was originally built by the emperor Ashoka the Great, in the third century BC. Its nucleus was a simple hemispherical brick structure built over the relics of the Buddha; it was vandalized by Pushyamitra Sunga but was restored by his Son Agnimitra who rebuilt it to twice its size. There are 4 Toranas or gateways which are exquisite ornamental carvings, the Toranas depict love, peace, trust, and courage.
Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka.
Situated 46 Kms from Bhopal, The Bhimbetka rock shelters are an archaeological site World Heritage Site, located in Raisen District in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The paintings in over 500 caves depict the life of the pre-historic cave-dwellers. The Bhimbetka shelters exhibit the earliest traces of human life in India The rocks paintings are approximately 9,000 years old are among the worlds oldest.The colors have remained intact for many centuries due to the chemical reaction resulting from the oxide present on the surface of the rocks.
Group of Monuments at Khajuraho:
One thousand years ago, under patronage of the Chandela kings of Central India, 85 temples came up on one site, near the village of Khajuraho. The Chandelas later shifted their capital to Mahoba but Khajuraho remained the cultural and the religious capital of the Chandelas The amazingly short span of 100 years saw the completion of all the temples. Only 22 of the original 85 have survived. Some of the temples are Jain temples but the rest are dedicated to Hindu deities.
The temples follow the Shikhar form of Architecture predominant in The Northern India. Each contains an entrance, a hall, a vestibule and a sanctum The secondary shikharas (spires) cluster to create an appropriate base for the main shikhara over the sanctum.The Khajuraho temples do not contain erotic art inside the temple or near the deities but some external carvings bear erotic art. Against the popular belief , only 10% of the sculptures contain sexual themes and reportedly do not show deities, they show sexual activities between people. The rest depict the everyday life of the common Indian of the time when the carvings were made, and of various activities of other beings.

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