20 DAYS AND 17 NIGHTS FROM NEW YORK
Evening flight from New York's Kennedy airport bound for Bombay, a city rich in Imperial and post-colonial history and architecture, the country's commercial capital and international crossroads on the Arabian Sea -- and, as "Bollywood:" (the local sobriquet) center of the world's most prolific movie industry, annually churning out hundreds of formulaic but entertaining extravaganzas of song, dance and eternal romance.
Arrive early morning. Afternoon tour: overview of Back Bay, fashionable Malabar Hill, Kamala Nehru Park, Hanging Gardens, Parsi Towers of Silence; the city's splendid promenade by the sea, Marine Drive -- the glittering "Queen's Necklace" thronged nightly by people of all walks of life -- and adjacent Chowpatty Beach; public festival and political site. Also the Prince of Wales Museum and the Gateway of India honoring the visit of King George V in 1911 -- the Raj at its zenith, when the boast was true that the sun never sets on the Empire. Shopping at the adjacent Central Cottage Industries Emporium and other nearby establishments or elsewhere in Bombay such as the famous Zaveri Bazaar (fabulous jewelry).
A wonder awaits in Bombay harbor. Morning excursion by motorlaunch to Elephanta island's 7th century cave temples with their rock shrines and sculptures dedicated to Lord Shiva; the colossal 3-headed Trimurti -- Shiva as Creator, Preserver and Destroyer -- radiating might and mildness, awesome power and tender benevolence in one majestic, 18-foot icon, is one of the world's supreme religious sculptures.
Morning flight to Aurangabad, your home base for 2 unique trips into the heart of ancient India -- the incredible caves of Ajanta and Ellora. .Afternoon excursion to Ellora, where Buddhist, Hindu and Jain shrines chiselled by hand out of sheer rock from 7th to 13th century stand side by side; the supreme example is the stupendous rock-cut temple of Kailasa 96 feet high for which 200,000 tons of rock were excavated in creating what one authoritative source calls "the noblest Hindu memorial of ancient India."
Day excursion to Ajanta's Buddhist cave chaityas (chapels) and viharas (monasteries) where subterranean statuary and world-famous murals -- miraculously preserved in the twilight world of the caverns for 2000 years -- present avivid panorama of the life and legends of the Buddha, born Prince Siddhartha, whose "great renunciation" led him on the exemplary spiritual pilgrimage so memorably depicted here, away from the endless cycle of human suffering and desire to the supreme blessedness of Nirvana.
Udaipur's Lake Palace, now a hotel, is an exquisite white marble structure in mirror-like Lake Pichola which is almost as often photographed as the Taj Mahal and even more often filmed in cinema and TV productions. Morning flight brings you to this romantic, photogenic "city of dreams" amidst shimmering blue lakes and green hills lying like an oasis in the deserts of Rajasthan where the city's Maharanas claimed highest rank among Rajput chiefs for their martial prowess and sumptuous court life (as befits the descendants of Kusa, elder son of Rama of the eponymous Ramayana epic). You also visit the City Palace and Saheliyon Ki Bari, a princely pleasure garden.
Fly in morning to Jaipur, Rajasthan's capital. Afternoon tour of this "pink city" built of rosy sandstone features the City (Maharajah's) Palace and Museum displaying the royal way of life in fascinating detail plus the extraordinary futuristic-looking (actually early 18th century) Observatory, one (and largest) of 5 built along with the layout and construction of the city itself in the 1720s planned and executed by the brilliant "Renaissance Man" of Rajputana, Maharajah Jai Singh II : astronomer, mathematician, urban planner, (assisted by Vidhyadhar of Bengal) military general and statesman
Architects around the world have been intrigued by Jaipur's unique and celebrated building, the Hawa Mahal or Palace of Winds, a five-storeyed structure of pink sandstone with tier upon tier of delicate overhanging balconies, where court ladies might sit unobserved by the hoi polloi behind the light, lacy stone latticework. After visiting there, travel some 7 miles out of town, then proceed on up by maharajah-style transportation -- a gaily caparisoned elephant -- to the isolated hilltop splendour of the 17th century Palace of Amber (an earlier Rajasthan capital) done in Mogul style from its magnificent gateway to fountain garden and sumptious interiors of mirrors, mosaics and inlaid marble.
Morning departure by motorcoach eastward for Agra, stopping en route to view the once-glorious ghost city of Fatehpur Sikri, a perfectly preserved outdoor museum of mosques, mansions and palaces. Arrive late afternoon in Agra, heart of Mogul India, an industrial city today but 4 centuries ago the residential capital of a legendary succession of India's most wealthy, powerful and cultured rulers in the 16th and 17th centuries. Agra is also, of course, the site of India's most famous symbol. Tonight you may view the Taj Mahal at its most haunting and ethereal, bathed in moonlight
Reflecting the morning sun, theTaj seems to float in perfect, pearly symmetry above the waters of the River Jamuna in eternal tribute to Queen Mumtaz-i-Mahal, whose death giving birth to her 14th child drove the emotionally devastated Shah Jahan to erect over 22 years (1630-52) this double mausoleum embellished by countless quotations from the Koran on the walls plus the actual tomb inscriptions reciting the 99 names of Allah. In the afternoon you visit the fabulous Agra Fort completed by Akbar a century earlier (1564) with its 70-foot-high walls enclosing lavish palaces and audience halls, courts and gardens, the lovely Pearl Mosque and also see nearby Tomb of Itmad-Ud-Daula,. a masterpiece of inlaid marble and wonderfully carved lattice work.
Short morning flight south from Agra's abstract Islamic grandeur to a very different spectacle -- the astonishing Hindu temples of Khajuraho, erected by the Chandella kings a thousand years ago and surviving (22 of 85 escaped destruction by Muslim invaders) as soaring, sensual monuments combining architecture and sculpture with a graceful yet powerful eroticism which animates the statues' pulsating profusion of amorous activity (perhaps reflecting mystical Tantric doctrines) and the idealized figures of "mithuna" couples serenely radiating the classic Indian forms of male and female beauty.
Morning flight to Varanasi (Benares) probably the world's oldest continuously inhabited city -- it is mentioned in both th e Mahabharata and Ramayana epics -- and ranks today as India's leading "holy city" of over 2000 shrines situated on the left bank of sacred "Mother Ganga" flowing down from her icy source high in the Himalayas. Visit Bharat Mata, Durga (Monkey) and most venerated Shri Vishwanath (Golden) temples. Then drive to Sarnath, the "cradle of Buddhism" -- where the Enlightened One preached his first sermon 2500 years ago -- with its great stupas and outstanding museum (Lion Capital, India's national saymbol is here).
At dawn your boat carries you on the Ganges along its stone stepped ghats and multitudes of the Hindu faithful of all ages and backgrounds praying and performing their ablutions in the sun's first rays: one of the world's unique, utterly distinctive scenes. Later you transfer to airport for 70-minute flight north to Nepal's capital Kathmandu, nestled 4500 feet above sea level in the terraced foothills of the snowy Himalayas, home turf of the peerless Sherpa mountain guide and the legendary Gurkha soldier.
Morning sightseeing : Durbar Square with diverse temples and courts of Hanuman Dhoka palace; also residence of Kumari, virgin "living goddess," and concluding with venerated Buddhist temple of Svayambunath, painted with "all-seeing eyes" of supreme Buddhahood. Afternoon excursion to the ancient capital of Patan (Lalitpur), early capital of Malla kingdom and a temple center today of Hindu and Buddhist shrines clustered around its Durbar Square; also visit the Tibetan Center. Known as the "City of Grace and Fine Arts," Patan is renowned for its metal, stone and wood handicrafts.
Day is free. You may shop for Nepalese and Tibetan handicrafts; visit a medieval treasure -- the museum-city of Bhadgaon (Bhaktapur) known for its ancient palaces and surrounding scenery in the shadows fo Annapurna and Dhaulagiri; make a day trip to famed l000 square mile jungle game preserve of Chitwan National Park (Tiger Tops lodge) featuring regal Bengal tiger, rhino, bear, wild boar, leopard, visits to elephant camp and crocodile reserve, jungle safari by elephant, nature walks and river rafting; or at dawn take a trek or airplane flight to view the gleaming Himalayas -- a true lifetime "peak experience."
Afternoon flight to Delhi, today's national capital of India and the latest of a succession of 7 cities across a millenium. Here, said Nehru, the air itself is "full of the dust and fragrance of the past."
Morning tour: famed Red Fort, enclosing Pearl Mosque, royal courts and baths and audience halls Diwan-i-Am and Diwan-i-Khas, once home of the fabled, ill-fated Peacock Throne (carried off to Persia in 1739, its remnants were more recently owned by the unfortunate late Shah of Iran.) Also see Chandni Chauk bazaar, Jama Masjid (India's largest mosque), and Rajghat Memorial Shrine where Mahatma (born Mohandas K.) Gandhi was cremated 31 January 1948 after the assassination of this most pacific of modern national liberation leaders -- not 6 months after Independence was gained, a dramatic climax to the decades-long "Quit India" movement to which he had dedicated his extraordinary life and career.
Morning sightseeing: the 234-foot Qutab Minar tower of Islam and Hindu Iron Pillar dedicated to Vishnu 1500 years ago, plus Humayan's Persian-style tomb. Drive to New Delhi proper and its broad boulevards laid out by Lutyens (1919-36) in European Renaissance/Oriental styles: India Gate war memorial and majestic Rajpath avenue, site of Republic Day's annual pomp and circumstance, National Museum and Parliament and immense Presidential Palace. Finally visit Connaught Place, the country's national market and outstanding source for buying Indian crafts, fabrics and antiques.
Depart from Delhi, arriving on same day at New York's Kennedy airport due to crossing the International Date Line.
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