Credits

Photographs and maps

The author’s own photographs are credited to Rushendra Pydi. Every other photograph on this website was published under a Creative Commons licence or in the public domain and is credited to its photographer below.

Other

  • Rushendra PydiDusk settles over the North Cliff at Varkala, the Arabian Sea rolling in below.

Andaman & Nicobar Islands

  • Vinayaraj / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Ross Island — ficus roots reclaiming the old British quarters.
  • Anirvan Shukla / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)Radhanagar Beach, Swaraj Dweep — rainforest walking straight down to the sea.

Andhra Pradesh

  • Joshi detroit at English Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.5)Inside the Borra Caves — limestone formations lit against the dark.
  • Amartyabag / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)Dawn over the Araku Valley, Eastern Ghats — mist lifting from coffee terraces.

Arunachal Pradesh

  • Ashwani Kumar / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Ziro's paddies — rice above, fish below, millet on the bunds: three harvests, one field.
  • Vikramjit Kakati / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Tawang monastery at dawn — the largest in India, holding the valley like a hand.

Assam

  • Anurag2174 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)The Rang Ghar at Sivasagar — the Ahoms' royal pavilion, six centuries on duty.
  • Kunal Dalui / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)The Brahmaputra at Guwahati — a river the width of a weather system.

Bihar

  • Mrityunjay.nalanda / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)The brick cells of Nalanda — eight hundred years of teaching, one long doorstep.
  • Andrew Moore / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)The Mahabodhi temple at Bodh Gaya — the tower above the tree above the seat of awakening.

Chandigarh

  • Harvinder Chandigarh / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Sukhna Lake at morning — the planned city's unplanned calm.
  • shankar s. from Poona (pune), India / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)The Open Hand at the Capitol Complex — 'open to give, open to receive', turning with the wind.

Chhattisgarh

  • Satyajeet Sahu / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)The Lakshmana temple at Sirpur — sixth-century brickwork, sharp as yesterday.
  • Gotul / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Chitrakote in monsoon spate — the Indravati falling in a mile-wide horseshoe.

Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu

  • Aditya Mahar / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Diu Fort at dusk — Portuguese ramparts holding the Arabian Sea's last light.

Delhi

  • Arjunfotografer / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)The Jama Masjid courtyard at dusk — Shah Jahan's city still keeping the hour.
  • Sauban96 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Humayun's Tomb at first light — the rehearsal, a century early, for the Taj.

Goa

  • Dudva / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)The Divar ferry crossing the Mandovi — Goa's slowest and best public transport.
  • Fredericknoronha / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Fontainhas, Panjim — the Latin quarter waking up in ochre and oyster-shell light.

Gujarat

  • Ahub1988 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)Ajrakh block printing in Ajrakhpur — sixteen stages of indigo, madder and patience.
  • Prof Ranga Sai / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)The White Rann under a full moon — salt to the horizon, sky doing the rest.

Haryana

  • Rishikachauhan1 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)The handloom — the craft Panipat industrialised, still worked by hand elsewhere.
  • Harvinder Chandigarh / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Dawn at Brahma Sarovar, Kurukshetra — the tank where the Mahabharata's geography still takes bookings.

Himachal Pradesh

  • Kulbhushan Singh Suryawanshi, derivative by Aristeas / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Key monastery — a thousand years stacked on a hill, prayer flags doing the maintenance.
  • Rupak Sarkar / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)The Spiti valley from above Dhankar — a river of glacial silver in a land the colour of the moon.

Jammu & Kashmir

  • Bright-210 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)A Srinagar handicrafts workshop — Kashmiri handwork, measured in centimetres a day.
  • Basharat Shah / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)Dal Lake at first light — shikaras, mist, and the mountains keeping watch.

Jharkhand

  • Delonix / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)A sarna sthal at a village edge — the grove that is the temple.
  • Ajay kumar / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Hundru Falls on the Subarnarekha — the plateau letting the river go, ninety metres at once.

Karnataka

  • Timothy A. Gonsalves / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Shade-grown coffee and pepper vines on a Kodagu estate after morning rain.
  • Sangramgovardhane / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Sunrise from Matanga Hill, Hampi — the ruins of Vijayanagara scattered gold among the boulders.

Kerala

  • Rushendra PydiVarkala beach from above: three umbrellas and the Arabian Sea coming in.
  • Rushendra PydiA still backwater canal beneath leaning coconut palms.
  • Rushendra PydiThe copper-clad roof and carved brackets of an old Kerala temple.
  • Rushendra PydiSunset from the Varkala cliffs, palms silhouetted over the surf.
  • Rushendra PydiSree Padmanabhaswamy Temple at golden hour, mirrored in the Padma Theertham tank.
  • Rushendra PydiThe carved gopuram of Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, Thiruvananthapuram.
  • Rushendra PydiDried ginger, chillies, nutmeg and more in jute sacks — the spice coast’s old trade.
  • Rushendra PydiMorning light on an old Kerala temple, its stone lamp tower in the courtyard.
  • Rushendra PydiA lone coconut palm leans over a long, quiet Kerala beach.
  • Rushendra PydiA coast road lined with coconut palms, the sea just beyond.
  • Rushendra PydiA peacock in full display beside a forest path.
  • Rushendra PydiHouseboats file down the Alappuzha backwaters under a monsoon sky.
  • Rushendra PydiA stone shrine with saffron doors, standing against a hilltop sky.
  • Rushendra PydiThe giant Jatayu sculpture at Jatayu Earth’s Center, Chadayamangalam.
  • Rushendra PydiTea rows wrap a hilltop in the high ranges of the Western Ghats.
  • Rushendra PydiA dugout canoe slips into a tunnel of mangroves in the backwaters.
  • Hans A. Rosbach / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)Village canals near Kumarakom — the school boat makes its morning rounds.
  • Ingo Mehling / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)A kettuvallam drifts through the Alleppey backwaters at first light.

Ladakh

  • Shrikanthhegde / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)Thiksey monastery at first light — the dungchen horns waking the valley.
  • Haseebtrumboo / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Pangong Tso in the afternoon — the lake running through its wardrobe of blues.

Lakshadweep

  • Shafeeq Thamarassery, derivative by UnpetitproleX / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Pole-and-line tuna boats returning to the jetty at dusk.
  • Asssagar / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)The lagoon at Agatti from the air — a ring of coral holding a bowl of light.

Madhya Pradesh

  • Juan Antonio Segal from Madrid, Spain / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)Orchha's cenotaphs on the Betwa at dusk — kings' memorials, vultures on sentry.
  • Kandukuru Nagarjun from Bangalore, India / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)First light in Kanha's sal forest — the meadows where the jungle book was born.

Maharashtra

  • Abhishek Thakur from Mumbai, India / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)Rajgad's ramparts riding the ridgeline — the Sahyadris shaped into a capital.
  • Av9 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Marine Drive at night — the Queen's Necklace curving into the Arabian Sea haze.

Manipur

  • E.J. Mitchell, Esq. / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)Sagol Kangjei in Manipur — polo as the world first played it, still in session.
  • Laishram Ashakiran / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Loktak at dawn — the phumdis drifting like a country still deciding its shape.

Meghalaya

  • Vikramjit Kakati / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)The Umngot at Dawki — boats on water so clear the shadows do the floating.
  • Arshiya Urveeja Bose / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)The double-decker root bridge at Nongriat — architecture, growing.

Mizoram

  • Ramesh Lalwani / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)Cheraw — the bamboo dance: the hills' oldest rhythm, still opening every festival.
  • Bogman / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)Aizawl at dusk — a capital balanced along its ridgelines, lights coming on in tiers.

Nagaland

  • পাপৰি বৰা / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Hornbill Festival at Kisama — the morungs in session, ten loud days a year.
  • Girish Mohan P K / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Khonoma's terraces at dusk — the warrior village that laid down its guns for its forest.

Odisha

  • Rajku6070 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)Puri's Grand Road at evening — the temple tower, the daily flag, the sea wind.
  • Arpan Mahajan / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Konark at first light — the sun temple's wheel, part sundial, part scripture.

Puducherry

  • Richard Mortel from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)The evening promenade on Goubert Avenue — the town walks, the sea speaks.
  • iMahesh / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Rue Romain Rolland, White Town — bougainvillea against colonial yellow and grey.

Punjab

  • BOMBMAN from Mumbai, India / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)The langar hall — a hundred thousand meals a day, everyone on the same floor.
  • Susheel Khiani / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)Harmandir Sahib on its pool of nectar — gold holding the last light, and the first.

Rajasthan

  • Nico Crisafulli from USA / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)The blue city of Jodhpur from the ramparts of Mehrangarh Fort.
  • Sruti Gudavalli / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)Jaisalmer Fort at golden hour — a sandstone citadel that seems lit from within.

Sikkim

  • Sharath chandra mudalkar / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Yumthang in rhododendron season — the state flower, by the hillside.
  • Subhamwiki1984 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Kanchenjunga at dawn from Pelling — the guardian, attending office.

Tamil Nadu

  • Rainer Halama / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)A sthapathi at work in Swamimalai — lost-wax bronze casting, unchanged since the Cholas.
  • Aalangaram / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)The Brihadeeswarar temple, Thanjavur — a thousand years old and still on duty.

Telangana

  • Izzat Jamal / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)The Charminar at dusk — four minarets over four centuries of commerce.

Tripura

  • Shivam22383 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Unakoti — the great Bhairava face in the hillside: one less than a crore, and the waterfall.
  • Kingshuk Mondal / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)Neermahal at dusk — the water palace afloat on Rudrasagar, lights doubling in the lake.

Uttar Pradesh

  • Learningleaders / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)A Banarasi handloom at work — zari and silk, weeks per sari.
  • Schwiki / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Dawn on the ghats of Varanasi — the city facing east, as it has for three thousand years.

Uttarakhand

  • Bhuvi Uniyal / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)The ghats at Rishikesh — the young river, the old rituals, the swaying bridge.
  • Ms Sarah Welch / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)Devprayag — the Bhagirathi and Alaknanda meeting in two colours to become, from this exact point, the Ganga.

West Bengal

  • Sujay25 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Kumartuli — the goddess in progress, eyes always last.
  • Pradip paswan / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Howrah Bridge at dusk — 700,000 crossings a day, no nuts, no bolts, all rivets and nerve.

Map of India

State and Union Territory boundaries: India boundaries by the DataMeet India community, licensed under CC BY 4.0, simplified for display.