Tamil Nadu Tourism

Red Fort
Mughal palace architecture reached its peak with the construction of the Red Fort at Agra.  Built over many centuries under different regimes, it is the product of many different architects who each worked on only a small portion of the whole.  To our eyes, this gives the Red Fort a rather eclectic feel that […]

Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal (Crown Palace) is India’s most famous structure, and, perhaps the most beautiful piece of architecture in the world.  Photographs cannot truly capture its grandeur.  While this is true for most photos, it seems especially true for this almost perfectly proportioned tomb of Mumtaz Mahal and its creator, Shah Jahan, the fifth […]

Mahabodhi Temple
The Mahabodhi temple at Bodhgaya is located on the spot where the Buddha attained enlightenment. The temple’s principle relic is a distant descendant of the Bo tree under which the Buddha sat when his enlightenment took place. The site, having been sacred to Buddhists since the earliest days of the faith, is of unknown […]

Quwwat-ul-Islam
Quwwat-ul-Islam was sponsored by Qutb-ud-din Aibak, founder of the Mamluk dynasty.  Born a slave in Turkey, Qutb rose to prominence as a general during Muhammed Ghari’s invasion of India in the 1180s.  After Muhammed’s assasination in 1206, Qutb seized the throne and crowned himself Sultan of the Mamluk dynasty, often disparagingly called the “Slave Dynasty” […]

Safdar Jang Tomb
The Safdar Jang mausoleum, built in the later years of the Mughal dynasty, is often panned by critics as unharmonious and poorly proportioned. Built in 1753 for Safdar Jang, the second nawab of Oudh (1739-53), by his son Nawab Shuja al-Daula, the monument recalls the Taj Mahal and Humayan’s tomb of earlier years. […]

Dada Hari Wav Step Well
The Dada Hari Step Well was built to provide drinking water to travellers and pilgrims.  The stepped well is dug directly into the water table, exposing fresh water at different levels according to the seasons.   Though now dry, its deep interior once provided cool relief from the harsh Indian sun.

The Adalaj Wav Step Well  is located 18 kilometers north of Ahmedabad in the Gandhinagar district.   It was built during the reign of Queen Rudabai, a muslim ruler.  Though now dry, the well once provided water to weary travellers and pilgrims along the roads outside of Ahmedabad.  The four-level well is dug directly into the […]

Nataraja Temple
The Shri Shiva Nataraja temple, also called Shri Sabhanayaka temple, Chidambaram, India. Notes by Raja Deekshitar
The temple of Shiva Nataraja (Shri Sabhanayaka) of Chidambaram  is one of the great temple complexes of South India. Chidambaram is situated some 250 km south of Chennai, about 10 km from the Bay of Bengal. (11°24’ North and […]

Humayun’s Tomb
Humayun inherited the Mughal dynasty when his father Babur died in 1530.  His reign got off to a good start, but his addiction to luxury at the palaces at Agra left the door open for ambitious men to plot behind his back.  Ten years into his reign, Humayun was overthrown by the opportunist Sher […]