3068 INDIA (Tamil Nadu) - Nilgiri Mountain Railway - part of Mountain Railways of India (UNESCO WHS)

The development of railways in the 19th century had a profound influence on social and economic developments in many parts of the world. The Mountain Railways of India are examples of hill railways which exhibit an important cultural and technologicaly transfer in the colonial setting of the period of its construction. Opened between 1881 and 1908, and still fully operational, they applied bold and ingenious engineering solutions to the problem of establishing an rail link across a mountainous terrain of great beauty.

0029, 0987 INDIA (Tamil Nadu) - Great Living Chola Temples (UNESCO WHS)

0029 A gateway of  Brihadisvara Temple at Thanjavur

Posted on 06.11.2011, 24.01.2014
The Great Living Chola Temples, which includes the Brihadisvara Temple at Thanjavur, the Brihadisvara Temple at Gangaikondacholisvaram and the Airavatesvara Temple at Darasuram, were built by kings of the Chola Empire, which stretched over all of south India and the neighbouring islands. These complexes form a unique group, demonstrating a progressive development of high Chola architecture and art at its best and at the same time encapsulating a very distinctive period of Chola history and Tamil culture.

0987 A fresco in Brihadisvara Temple at Thanjavur

 

Brihadisvara temple, also known as Rajarajeswaram or Peruvudaiyar Kovil, is located in Thanjavur (formerly Tanjore), in the southern part of India. Dedicated to Lord Shiva and considered as one of the greatest glories of India, this temple reflects the power of its creator, Raja Raja Chola I (985-1014), the greatest of the Chola Monarchs, who built it between 1003 and 1010. The temple can be approached from the eastern side through two gateways (gopuras).

0808 INDIA (Tamil Nandu) - Bharathanatyam dance

Bharatanatyam is a classical Indian dance form, popular chiefly in the state of Tamil Nadu, which denotes various 19th- and 20th-century reconstructions of Sadir, the art of temple dancers called Devadasis. Considered to be a fire-dance, the mystic manifestation of the metaphysical element of fire in the human body, it is one of the five major styles (one for each element) that include Odissi (element of water), Kuchipudi (element of earth), Mohiniattam (element of air) and Kathakali (element of sky or aether). The name Bharatanatyam was coined in the 1930's to represent the three major elements of dance in the three syllables of the word Bharatha - bhava (facial expression), raga (melody), and tala (rhythm).

0068 INDIA (Tamil Nadu) – Let us plant One Tree

I like campaigns like this, even if I doubt of their immediate effect. If, however, are sufficiently numerous and well supported, can form a current of opinion, even a mentality, which isn't such a small thing. I haven't planted any tree (it would be difficult and useless now, given that in Romania is winter and the temperature began to drop below zero at night), but I promise to do it in the springtime. Thanks, Swaminathan.

I thought that the temple in the image of the top wasn't chosen at random, so I searched and finally I found it: is the Shore Temple, the earliest important structural stone temples of South India, built in 8th century on a promontory sticking out into the Bay of Bengal, at Mahabalipuram (Mamallapuram), a village south of Chennai (ex-Madras). It's part of the Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram, which contains nearly forty monuments of different types, inspired by the Pallava Art, and has been classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984.