3084 INDIA (Madhya Pradesh) - Buddhist Monuments at Sanchi (UNESCO WHS)

On a hill overlooking the plain and about 40 km from Bhopal, the site of Sanchi comprises a group of Buddhist monuments (monolithic pillars, palaces, temples and monasteries) all in different states of conservation most of which date back to the 2nd and 1st centuries B.C. It is the oldest Buddhist sanctuary in existence and was a major Buddhist centre in India until the 12th century A.D. Sanchi was discovered in 1818 after being abandoned for nearly 600 years.

3032 INDIA (Madhya Pradesh) - Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka (UNESCO WHS)

Located in the foothills of the Vindhyan Mountains on the southern edge of the central Indian plateau, inside the Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary, the Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka are an archaeological site of the Paleolithic, exhibiting the earliest traces of human life on the Indian Subcontinent, and thus the beginning of the Indian Stone Age. The name Bhimbetka (meaning "the sitting place of Bhima") is associated with Bhima, a hero-deity of the epic Mahabharata.

0358 INDIA (Madhya Pradesh) - Khajuraho Group of Monuments - Kandariyâ Mahâdeva Temple (UNESCO WHS)

About one thousand years ago, in a summer night, a young Brahmin widow named Hemvati decided to take a dip in a pond near her house in Benares (now Varanasi). How she bathe under the canopy of stars, her ravishing beauty caught the eye of the Moon God, who couldn't resist her charm and descended to earth, interrupting his usual journey across the heavens. Hemvati submitted to his desire, and conceived a child out of this relationship. When the night ended, of course that the Moon God rose to leave. Worried about her fate, Hemvati asked what will happen to her after he will leave. The Moon God answered her that their son would be the first king of Khajuraho, founder of a new dinasty, and will build 85 temples, to free his mother from the blemish of extramarital love. And so it happened.