World Heritage Sites in India Part - I

 

World Heritage Sites in India

          After the success of G20 Summit in India, one more big achievement is in hand of India.

     Recently in 45^th session of UNESCO World Heritage Committee held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, two more sites of India have been declared as UNESCO’s World heritage site. These two sites are named as –

·       Shanti Niketan from West Bengal

 

·       Sacred Ensembles of Hoysala Temples from Karnataka

 

    Now total World Heritage Sites in India have been reached to 42, whose brief discussions will be held in many parts of this article.

         In this part, first we will discuss about 41^st and 42^nd World Heritage Sites, declared recently.

 

UNESCO and its World Heritage Convention, 1972 

UNESCO - It is a specialized agency of United Nation, having objectives to promote peace and security through global cooperation in the field of art, science, education and culture.

 

     UNESCO strive towards identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritages around the world.

International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) – It works for conservation, preservation and protection of World Heritage Sites around the world and advice the UNESCO to include them in the list.

World Heritage Sites – are the monumental, cultural or natural places listed by UNESCO, having special significance.

World Heritage Convention, 1972 – adopted by UNESCO having 3 objectives –

·       To safeguard significant and exceptional places as Heritage Sites for future generations

·       Recognizing universal values of these sites and

·       Need for international cooperation in their protection.

 

Brief discussion about World Heritage Sites (WHS) in India –

   India is the sixth country in the world in the series of largest number of WHS. In India, first time World heritage sites declared in 1983. Since then many sites have been declared under the list and many more to come.

  Recently two sites have been declared under the list of WHS, these are discussed as below –

Santiniketan – It is a small town in Birbhum district of west Bengal, which means “abode of peace”.

 

·       It is declared as 41^st WHS of India.

·       It is the first cultural heritage site from West Bengal.

·       It is a group of historic buildings, landscapes, gardens, artworks, educational and cultural traditions.

·       It comprises Ashram, Sangeet and Kala-Bhavan and Uttarayan areas.

·       It include a residential school, art centre and a world class university – Vishwa Bharti University.

·       It is established in 1901 by Rabindranath Tagore, a Nobel laureate, renounced poet and a philosopher.

·       It is a symbol of educational and cultural significance, where education and visual art are intertwined with architecture and landscape.

Sacred Ensembles of Hoyasala Temples –

       This is a complex site of three Hindu temples built during 11^th and 13^th century AD by Hoysala Empire located in southern India, present day Hassan and Mysore districts of Karnataka.

 These three temples are –

·       Channakeshava Temple in Belur – Built in 1116 AD by Vishnuvardhana, a Hoyasala King to mark his victory over Cholas.

        It is a Star – shaped temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu.

 

·       Hoysaleshwara Temple in Halebidu – This temple is built during 12^th century AD, a largest monument in Halebidu.

       This temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva.

 

·       Keshava Temple of Somnathpura – This temple was built during 13^th century AD, on the bank of river Kaveri at Somnathpura (Mysore), Karnataka.

      This temple is dedicated to 3 forms of Lord Vishnu – Janardhana, Keshava and Venugopala.

 

Features of Hoyasala Temples –

·       These temples show the characteristics of Vesara style of temple architecture, which is the hybrid style of Nagar and Dravida style of temple architecture.

 

      Nagar Style of Architecture found in temples of Northern, Eastern and Western India.

 

While Dravida style of architecture found in temples of southern India.

 

   If you want more details on this style of temple architecture, then please comment, I will provide details on it.

·       This type of temple architecture involve star – shaped temples.

 

·       These temples made up from Soapstone, which is soft stone, used for carving of temples.

·       Stellate Plan – This is unique plan of this type of temple architecture, in which multiple shrines are built around a central pillar hall.

 

·       Zigzag Pattern – The walls and stairs of temples followed a zigzag pattern.

·       These temples are examples of high level of architectural and artistic skills of people at that time.

          Thus, in this article, we have discussed the recent declared WHS of India.

   In next part, we will discuss about other WHS of India and their features.

 

-        By Pooja Gupta