3322 INDIA (Rajasthan) - Rambagh Palace in Jaipur

The Rambagh Palace is the former residence of the Maharaja of Jaipur and now a hotel, located 8 km outside the walls of the city of Jaipur on Bhawani Singh road. The first building on the site was a garden house built in 1835 for the wet nurse of prince Ram Singh II. In 1887, during the reign of Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh II, it was converted into a modest royal hunting lodge. In the early 20th century, it was expanded into a palace to the designs of Sir Samuel Swinton Jacob. Maharajah Sawai Man Singh II made Rambagh his principal residence and added a number of royal suites in 1931.

3305 INDIA (Rajasthan) - Amber Fort - part of Hill Forts of Rajasthan (UNESCO WHS)

Situated on a forested hill promontory in Amer, at 11 kilometres from Jaipur, Amber Fort overlooks Maota Lake. The settlement was founded by Raja Alan Singh, a ruler from the Chanda clan of Meenas in 967 CE, and the fort, as it stands now, was built over the remnants of this earlier structure during the reign of Raja Man Singh, the Kachwaha King of Amer. The structure was fully expanded by his descendant, Jai Singh I. Even later, Amer Fort underwent improvements and additions by successive rulers over the next 150 years, until the Kachwahas shifted their capital to Jaipur during the time of Sawai Jai Singh II, in 1727.

3285 INDIA (Rajasthan) - Jaswant Thada and Mehran Fort

In the foreground of the postcard is Jaswant Thada, a cenotaph located in Jodhpur, commonly known as the Taj Mahal of Mewar. Built by Maharaja Sardar Singh of Jodhpur State in 1899 in memory of his father, Maharaja Jaswant Singh II serves as the cremation ground for the royal family of Marwar. The mausoleum is built out of intricately carved sheets of marble. These sheets are extremely thin and polished so that they emit a warm glow when illuminated by the Sun.The cenotaph's grounds feature carved gazebos, a tiered garden, and a small lake.

3193 INDIA (Assam) - Kaziranga National Park (UNESCO WHS)

Located in the heart of the state of Assam, Kaziranga National Park is one of the last areas in north-eastern India undisturbed by a human presence. The fluctuations of the Brahmaputra River result in spectacular examples of riverine and fluvial processes in this vast area of wet alluvial tall grassland interspersed with numerous broad shallow pools fringed with reeds and patches of deciduous to semi-evergreen woodlands.

0089, 3100 INDIA (Karnataka) - Group of Monuments at Hampi (UNESCO WHS)

3100 Lotus Mahal at the Zenana Enclosure in Hampi

Posted on 02.01.2012, 27.06.2017
"…as large as Rome and very beautiful to the sight. There are many canals that bring water right into Vijayanagara, and in places there are lakes. The palace of the king, which is larger than the castle at Lisbon, is close to a palm grove and other richly bearing fruit trees. Below the Moorish quarter there is river… and along its banks fruit trees growing so closely together that they look like a thick forest", wrote the Portuguese traveller Domingo Paes around 1520, when he visited Vijayanagara (City of Victory), the capital of the empire with the same name, the last bastion of Hinduism in India.

0089 Elephant Stables in Hapi

The empire has reached its peak during the reign of Krishnadevaraya (1509-1529), when were erected the impressive temples and elephant stables still standing today at the village of Hampi. Even if they don't agree as to the origin of the empire, historians agree the founders were inspired by Vidyaranya, a saint at the Sringeri monastery to fight the Muslim invasion. After more then 200 years, the killing of emperor Aliya Rama Raya in 1565 at the battle of Talikota, against an alliance of the Deccan sultanates, mark the end of the city. The Sultanate's army plundered Vijayanagara and reduced it to the ruins; it was never re-occupied.

3085, 3098 INDIA / CHINA - Joint India (Chennai) - China (Ningbo) International Postcrossing Meetup, May 7, 2017

3085 INDIA - Joint India (Chennai) - China (Ningbo)
International Postcrossing Meetup, May 7, 2017

Posted on 12..06.2017, 26.06.2017
On May 7th, 2017 took place this meetup, actually two meetups which holded in same day, at the same hour (China is 3 hours earlier than India) in Chennai (India) and Ningbo (China). Chennai (formerly known as Madras) is the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, and one of the biggest cultural, economic and educational centres in South India. Ningbo is a sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province in China, with a port which is among the busiest in the world.

3098 CHINA - Joint India (Chennai) - China (Ningbo)
International Postcrossing Meetup, May 7, 2017

With this occasion, the postcrossers from the two countries issued a special postcard, one alone, on which are joined yoga postures and kung fu stances. Yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India, and has as ultimate goal moksha (liberation). Kung fu is an umbrella term for the Chinese martial arts, several hundred fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in China.

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.

3079 INDIA (Karnataka) - Group of Monuments at Pattadakal (UNESCO WHS)

3079 Pattadakal - Galaganatha Temple;
Shrine of Jambulinga; Sangameswarar Temple.

Pattadakal is a village located on the left bank of the Malaprabha River in Bagalakote, featuring 7th and 8th-century Hindu (Shaivism) and Jain temples. They represents the high point of an eclectic art which, under the Chalukya dynasty, achieved a harmonious blend of architectural forms from northern and southern India. Actually, Pattadakal was the capital of the Chalukya dynasty between the 6th and 8th centuries. The Chalukya architecture style originated during the 5th - 8th centuries at Aihole in the Malaprabha river basin, in present-day Bagalkot district of Karnataka state.

3071 INDIA (Gujarat) - Rani-ki-Vav (the Queen’s Stepwell) at Patan, Gujarat (UNESCO WHS)

Located in the town of Patan in Gujarat, on the banks of Saraswati River, Rani-ki-vav (Queen's step well) is an intricately constructed stepwell built as a memorial to an 11th century AD king Bhimdev I. Stepwells are a distinctive form of subterranean water resource and storage systems on the Indian subcontinent, consisting in ponds in which the water is reached by descending a set of steps, and have been constructed since the third millennium BC. The construction of stepwells is mainly utilitarian, though they may include embellishments of architectural significance.

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.

3061 INDIA (Himachal Pradesh) - Great Himalayan National Park Conservation Area (UNESCO WHS)

3061 Sar Pass Top as seen from Sar Pass

Great Himalayan National Park lies within the ecologically distinct Western Himalayas at the junction between two of the world’s major biogeographic realms, the Palearctic and Indomalayan Realms. It displays distinct broadleaf and conifer forest types forming mosaics of habitat across steep valley side landscapes, a compact, natural and biodiverse protected area system that includes 25 forest types and an associated rich assemblage of fauna species.

3040 INDIA (Chandigarh) - Chandigarh Capitol Complex - part of The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement (UNESCO WHS)

3040 Chandigarh - Palace of Assembly

Le Corbusier's largest and most ambitious project was the design of Chandigarh, the capital city of the Haryana & Punjab State of India, created after India received independence in 1947. Le Corbusier was contacted in 1950 by Prime Minister Nehru of India, and invited to propose a project. An American architect, Albert Mayer, had made a plan in 1947 for a city of 150,000 inhabitants, but the Indian government wanted a grander and more monumental city.

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.

3023 INDIA (Odisha) - Sun Temple, Konârak (UNESCO WHS)

3023 One of the two war horses in front of the southern side
of the Sun Temple at Konârak

The Sun Temple at Konârak, located on the eastern shores of the Indian subcontinent, at 65km from Bhubaneswar, the capital of the Indian state of Odisha, is one of the outstanding examples of temple architecture and art as revealed in its conception, scale and proportion, and in the sublime narrative strength of its sculptural embellishment. It was originally built at the mouth of the river Chandrabhaga, but the waterline has receded since then.

2352, 2386, 3022 INDIA - Sādhus

3022 A sādhu at Gangotri, Uttaranchal

Posted on 06.03.2016, 16.03.2016, 20.04.2017
In Hinduism, a sādhu (Sanskrit: good man, holy man) is a religious ascetic or holy person, solely dedicated to achieving moksha (liberation), the fourth and final aśrama (stage of life), through meditation and contemplation of Brahman. Sādhus are sannyāsins (renunciates) who have left behind all material attachments and live in caves, forests and Hindu temples all over India and Nepal. Although the vast majority of sādhus are yogīs, not all yogīs are sādhus.

2352 A sādhu

 

A sādhu is usually referred to as baba by common people, which also means father, grandfather, or uncle in many Indian languages. There are 4 to 5 million sādhus in India today and they are widely respected. It is also thought that their practices help to burn off their karma and that of the community at large, so are supported by donations. They often wear saffron-coloured clothing, symbolising their renunciation, but there are also naked sādhus (digambara, or "sky-clad") who wear their hair in thick dreadlocks called jata.

2386 Naked sādhus

A popular characteristic of sādhu ritualism is the utilisation of cannabis (known as charas) as a form of sacrament in line with their worship of Shiva . Indian culture tends to emphasise an infinite number of paths to God, such that sadhus, and the varieties of tradition they continue, have their place. Some practice extreme asceticism while others focus on praying, chanting or meditating. There are two primary sectarian divisions: Shaiva sādhus (devoted to Shiva), and Vaishnava sādhus (devoted to Vishnu).

The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement (UNESCO WHS)

Chosen from the work of Le Corbusier, the 17 sites comprising this transnational serial property are spread over seven countries and are a testimonial to the invention of a new architectural language that made a break with the past. They were built over a period of a half-century, in the course of what Le Corbusier described as "patient research". These masterpieces of creative genius also attest to the internationalization of architectural practice across the planet.

2992 INDIA (Nagaland) - Ao Naga

2992 Ao man during Moatsü Mong festival

The Aos are one of the major Naga tribes of Nagaland, Northeast India. Their main territory is from Tsula (Dikhu) Valley in the east to Tsurang (Disai) Valley in the west in Mokokchung district. They were the first Naga tribe to embrace Christianity and by virtue of this development the Aos availed themselves to Western education that came along with Christianity. Racially the Aos are Mongolians, and is believed to have migrated from the far east 'through' Chungliyimti, in Tuensang district, where are still intact the six stones from which it is said that they emerged.

2551 INDIA (Rajasthan) - Folk musicians on the road

Folk music is a vital part of Rajasthani culture. Kathputali, Bhopa, Chang, Teratali, Ghindar, Kachchhighori, Tejaji, parth dance etc. are the examples of the traditional Rajasthani culture. Folk songs are commonly ballads which relate heroic deeds and love stories; and religious or devotional songs known as bhajans and banis (often accompanied by musical instruments like dholak, sitar, sarangi etc.) are also sung. The Ghoomar dance from Udaipur and Kalbeliya dance of Jaisalmer have gained international recognition.

2503 INDIA (Karnataka) - A letter box in Dharwad

Department of Posts, trading as India Post, is a government-operated postal system in India. Generally referred to within India as "the post office", it is the most widely distributed postal system in the world. Mail is collected from 579,595 letter boxes by 154,979 post offices, of which almost 90% are in rural areas. On average, a post office serves an area of 21.23 square kilometres and a population of 7,114.

1130, 1189, 2358 INDIA (Rajasthan) - Rajasthani people

2358 Rajasthan: 1. Pushkar lake; 2. Traditionally dressed Rajasthani men
 at Pushkar fair; 3. Camels for trade! 4. The busy Pushkar fair.

Posted on 07.07.2014, and 17.08.2014, 07.03.2016
Located on the western side of India, at the border with Pakistan, between Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Punjab, and comprising most of the wide and inhospitable Thar Desert, Rajasthan (which means "Land of Kings" or "Land of Kingdoms") is India's largest state by area. It has a mainly Rajasthani population of approximately 68,621,012, made up mainly of Hindus, who account for 88.8% of the population. Although history of Rajasthan goes back as far as Indus Valley Civilization, the foundation of Rajasthani community took shape with the rise of Western Middle Kingdoms such as Western Kshatrapas (35-405 BC).

1130 Rajasthan - Traditionally dressed woman

They were successors to the Indo-Scythians who invaded the area of Ujjain and established the Saka era, marking the beginning of the long-lived Saka Western Satraps kingdom. With time their social structures got stronger reorganizations giving birth to several martial sub-ethnic groups. Some claim that Romani people originated in parts of the Rajasthan and Gujarat. Indian origin was suggested on linguistic grounds as early as 200 years ago. The roma ultimately derives from a form ḍōmba ("man living by singing and music"), attested in Classical Sanskrit.

1130 A Rajasthani little girl

Rajasthanis form ethno-linguistic group that is distinct in its language, history, cultural and religious practices, social structure, literature, and art. However, there are many different castes and communities, with diversified traditions of their own. Major sub ethnic groups are Ahirs, Jats, Gurjars, Rajputs, Rajput Mali, Meenas, Bhils, Kalvi, Garasia, Kanjar, etc. The garments are loose and flowing clothes and are generally cut out to cover up most of the body, to prevent sunburns. The textiles are mainly soft cottons during the summer, and wool for winter. The women wear either Sarees (a drape wrapped around the waist, with one end draped over the shoulder, baring the midriff) or Ghaghra Cholis (skirt) and Kanchli (top).