5 Carving a marble path

Garge, head of the state’s directorate of archaeology and museums. “The hilly Western Ghats provided the perfect terrain for his (Shivaji’s) guerrilla war tactics.”

Fourteen forts are part of the Unesco nomination, all associated with Shivaji. They include the forts at

Raigad and Rajgad, both of which served as Maratha capitals; Shivaji’s birthplace at Shivneri; the hilltop Torna Fort in Pune district, famously captured by Shivaji at 16; and one of the world’s finest examples of sea-fort architecture, the Kolaba fort at Alibaug.

If the Unesco tag comes through, “I’m expecting to see better upkeep of these forts, better publicity and better facilities, like drinking water and clean toilets,”

Garge says.

image at top);

Sindhudurg (see

more images of the Indian sites on the world heritage shortlist

Bhedaghat, a small town near Jabalpur, in Madhya Pradesh, is famous for its 100-ft-tall marble cliffs that stretch along the Narmada for a majestic 8 km. The ethereal passageway glints with silver and, when the sun hits the rocks, sometimes there’s also a beautiful shower of colour.

The interplay of light and shadow on the rocks tricks the mind into seeing patterns, animal and human figures in the white stone. As the river rushes on past the gorge, it cascades down a wide rock cliff, forming the thundering Dhuandhar Falls, enveloped in a cloud of its own mist.

India’s submission to Unesco states that “No such example exists where a river flows freely, splitting an enormous mountain of marble… Somewhere (the Narmada’s) flow is turbulent and in other places… calm.”

Perhaps a river cruise might showcase the unusual rockfaces best.