India (Frommer's, 4th Edition) - Keith Bain [6]
• Look into the Eyes of the Dalai Lama (Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh): There’s a good chance you’ll meet the Dalai Lama in person if you visit Dharamsala, home to the exiled Tibetan government, which fled its homeland in 1959. Arranging a private audience isn’t easy (unless you’re Richard Gere), but if you attend one of his public appearances, you will—like everyone else in the audience—receive a personal blessing. And whatever your convictions, when you look into the eyes of His Holiness, you know you are in the presence of pure love. See chapter 13.
• Witness a Thousand Prayers Take Flight on the Wind (Leh, Ladakh): Take the overland journey from Manali to Leh and enter the stark world of the Trans-Himalayas—a breathtakingly beautiful yet desolate lunarlike landscape, with arid peaks and ancient Buddhist monasteries perched on rocky crags. Here prayer flags flutter against an impossibly blue sky, sending their silent prayers to the heavens. See chapter 13.
• Clapping Along during Evening Aarti as the Faithful Give Thanks to the Ganges (Rishikesh, Uttarakhand): By day, Rishikesh is a spiritual Disneyland, where the commercial excesses of packaged meditation and two-for-one tantric yoga hang heavily about the concrete ashrams, bedecked with gaudy statues of Vishnu and Shiva. But at night, to the accompaniment of hypnotic prayers and harmonious singing, the town undergoes a magical transformation. Head for the Parmarth Niketan Ashram Ghat and feel yourself seduced by the divine rhythms during Ganga Aarti, when devotees gather to sing their praises at the edge of the Ganges River. See chapter 14.
2 The Best Temples, Monuments & Lost Cities
• Cave Temples at Ajanta & Ellora (near Aurangabad, Maharashtra): Fashioned out of rock by little more than simple hand-held tools, the cave temples at Ajanta (created by Buddhist monks btw. the 2nd and 7th c.) and Ellora (a marriage of Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain temples, created btw. the 4th and 9th c.) are the finest examples of rock-cut architecture in India, and deserving of their World Heritage status. The zenith is Kailashnath Temple, effectively a mountain whittled down to a free-standing temple. See “Aurangabad & the Ellora and Ajanta Caves” in chapter 5.
• Lord Gomateswara Monolith (Sravanabelagola, Karnataka): One of the oldest (ca. A.D. 918) and most important Jain pilgrimage sites, this 18m (59-ft.) statue of the naked Lord Gomateswara—a representation of Bahubali, son of the first Jain tirthankara, said to have sought enlightenment by standing naked and motionless for an entire year—is the tallest monolithic statue on earth. See “Exploring the Hoysala Heartland: Belur, Halebid & Sravanabelagola” in chapter 9.
• Hampi (Karnataka): Scattered among the Henri Moore–like boulders in the heart of Karnataka’s rural interior, Hampi was once the royal seat of the powerful Vijayanagar kingdom, its size and wealth drawing comparisons with imperial Rome. Today, the city has crumbled away to a few starkly beautiful leftovers, but the remote setting couldn’t be more romantic. See “Hampi & the Ruined City of Vijayanagar” in chapter 9.
• Shri Meenakshi-Sundareshwarar Temple (Madurai, Tamil Nadu): Alive with prayers, processions, garland-makers, and joyous devotees who celebrate the mythological romance between the beautiful three-breasted goddess and her mighty Lord Shiva, this colorful and lively complex of shrines, halls, and market stalls is almost Disneyesque, marked as it is by numerous entrance towers tangled with colorful stucco gods, demons, beasts, and mythological heroes. It truly embodies the spirit of Tamil Nadu’s deeply embedded temple culture. See “Madurai” in chapter 8.
• Taj Mahal (Agra, Uttar Pradesh): Nothing can prepare you for the beauty of the Taj. The perfect symmetry, the ethereal luminescence, the wonderful proportions, the sheer scale—virtually impossible to imagine from staring at its oft-reproduced image—and the exquisite detailing make this bejeweled monument to love a justifiable wonder of the world.
• Fatehpur