100 Wonders of India (The Finest Treasures of Civilisation and Nature)

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Travellers in ancient times marvelled at seven man made wonders located in various countries bordering on the Mediterranean. Over hundreds of years since then, civilisations have risen and declined, the world has been built and rebuilt, and many more works of human genius lie scattered across geographies and eras. Exploration and discovery has revealed more of nature's wonders too, that stretch and humble human imagination.

India, with an area of well over three million square kilometers, is a continent within a continent. Within the folds of an astounding 5,000-year-old history and vast multitude of landscapes that include the world's highest mountains, great rivers, long coastlines, deserts and dense forests, is an awesome legacy of man-made and natural wonders-some legendary for long, others no less magnificent but not so well known.

Each is described with details of history and brought to life with vivid colour images. Also included is useful information for travelers, all of which blend to make this an attractive book for history buffs, art lovers, nature enthusiasts and all those who wants to be acquainted with India's magnificent wonders.

It is said that India is a continent more than a country. There is much merit to that, if all the components that go the making of history, as well as geography, are considered.

A vigorous civilisation that has spanned at least 4,500 years is bound to have left monumental marks in its march. And if UNESCO's list of 830 World Heritage Properties is any criteria to go by, the fact that 26 of these are in India – less than those of only six other countries – is tangible proof of the creative genius, and industry of this ancient land's people, and of the gifts bestowed on it by nature.

Man-made wonders in this book are selected from a vast matrix of religious and secular genres and styles of architecture and art, the one common denominator being that they are frozen in time and space, except for two unique train journeys. Thus the showcase, with the primaeval lines of Bhimbetka's prehistoric rock art at o ne end the stunning curves of the modern Lotus Temple at the other, includes palaces, paintings and public places, mosques, museums and mansions; citadels, cathedrals and carved caves, temples, tombs and towers; sprawling cities and solemn stupas.

In the natural section and wonders from the country's astoundingly varied landscapes. Rising from the white beach sands of Lakshadweep islands in the Arabian Sea to the white Himalayan snows of Mt. Kanchenjunga, the third highest peak in world, these are scattered across a host of habitats including torrential streams and calm rivers, desolate deserts and teeming wetlands, rolling hills and misty mountains, coral reefs and jagged cliffs, and forests ranging from tropical to alpine, within live amazing creatures of the wild, including, of course, the majestic tiger.

Through the pages of this book, written inlucid language and splashed with lavish photographs, come take a journey into the wonder that is India.