22 DAYS AND 20 NIGHTS FROM NEW YORK
Evening flight from New York's Kennedy airport to Bombay, western gateway to India, the big (one-third size of USA), populous (900 million) and diverse Republic (23 culturally and linguistically heterogenous states and 8 union territories) occupying most of the South Asian subcontinent, from the Himalayas in the north and great Indo-Gangetic plain down to the Deccan plateau in the south, the beaches of Cochin and Cape Comorin, the southernmost point.
Early morning arrival in bustling Bombay, capital of Maharashtra, a traditional magnet for not only industrious, aspiring Maharashtrans, but also Gujaratis, Parsees, Goans and others from north and south who -- with the cadres of visiting foreign businessmen and white-robed Arab merchant princes -- give this international trading port and city of some 9 million its vibrant, cosmopolitan feel. Afternoon tour: Back Bay, fashionable Malabar Hill and Kamala Nehru Park, Raj Bhawan, Hanging Gardens, the Parsi Towers of Silence; magnificent Marine Drive (the glittering nighttime "Queen's Necklace") adjacent Chowpatty Beach; the Prince of Wales Museum and the great Gateway of India erected to commemorate the 1911 visit of George V -- a time when the boast was true, that the sun never sets on the British Empire.. You may shop at the adjacent Central Cottage Industries Emporium and other establishments here or elsewhere such as the famous Zaveri Bazaar (fabulous jewelry).
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 or Mahesamurti -- Shiva as Creator, Preserver and Destroyer -- radiating might and mildness, awesome power and tender benevolence in one majestic eighteen foot icon, is one of the world's supreme religious sculptures.
These magnificent masterpieces lay undiscovered and undisturbed for 2 millenia -- until a hunting party of British officers chanced upon them beside the rushing Waghora river in 1819. To get there, take morning flight to Aurangabad, your home base for 2 unique trips into the heart of ancient India -- buried in 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.
Morning flight to the often photographed and painted city of Udaipur, an ethereally romantic creation of Maharana Udai Singh in the mid-16th century which lies like an oasis in the deserts of Rajasthan, whose name means "Abode of Kings"; the city's Maharanas claimed highest rank among Rajput chiefs for their martial prowess and gracefully sumptuous court life as befits the descendants of Kusa, elder son of Rama of the eponymous epic The Ramayana. Visit City Palace and exquisite white marble Summer Palace, reflecting itself in mirror-like Lake Pichola (now Lake Palace Hotel) and Saheliyon Ki Bari, 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
Morning visit to a most celebrated building, Hawa Mahal or Palace of Winds, a five-storeyed structure of pink sandstone with tier upon tier of delicate overhanging balconies creating a unique lacy, undulating surface effect. Continue on to the isolated hilltop splendour of the 17th century Amber Palace in Mogul style from its magnificent gateway to fountain garden and sumptious interiors of mirrors, mosaics and inlaid marble. Your appropriately royal "taxi service" will be a decorated and caparisoned elephant.
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.
Leave in morning for Delhi by way of Sikandara, where the motorcoach stops for viewing the imposing Akbar the Great mausoleum, a structure unlike any other Indian tomb: a 4-storeyed pyramid 74 feet high of red sandstone and marble. It stands as a reminder that by the close of his half-century reign (1605) the Mogul Empire stretched from Kabul and the Khyber Pass in the northwest to the mouth of the Ganges and the Bay of Bengal in the east and the rugged Deccan in the south-central subcontinenet, encompassing at its height as many as 150 million subjects.
With a population approaching 7 million, modern Delhi subsumes a series of previous cities, all of whom have left their mark and monumenrts. Morning tour: 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 owned by the unfortunate late Shah of Iran.); Chandni Chauk bazaar, Jama Masjid (India's largest mosque), and Rajghat Memorial Shrine where the venerated "Great Soul" or Mahatma (born Mohandas K.) Gandhi was cremated 31 January 1948 after his assassination -- not 6 months after Independence was proclaimed, climaxing the decades-long "Quit India" movement to which he had dedicated his whole 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.
Morning flight to Tamil Nadu's capital, a city of 6 million with long English ties (especially through the British East India company: Robert Clive married in St Mary's ) and a gateway to southern India -- land of luxurient tropical greenery, golden beaches, brilliant-hued saris, spicy vegetarian cuisine, wondrous temples and graceful Bharata Natya dancers with a genteel, unhurried pace of life (though noticetably quickening in cities like Bangalore on the cutting edge of international computer and electronics R&D). In Madras -- a region celebrated in R.K. Narayan's lifetime of wonderful writings -- you visit Fort St George and St Mary's church, Government Museum and Art Gallery (world's greatest collection of South Indian bronzes), San Thome Cathedral, Mylapore Temple and the magnifcent 8-mile marina, along which is the Anna Samadhi shrine, where the revered Tamil Nadu leader Dr C.N. Annadurai lies buried.
Day trip by motorcoach to 2 miraculous monuments of South Indian rock-cut temple architecture created by the Pallava kings: Mahabalipuram (called "Seven Pagodas"), a delightful beach resort , dominated by the great Shore Temple and stone shrines ("raths") plus the staggeringly huge bas-relief, the Penance of Arjuna; and Kanchipuram (Conjeevaram), Golden City of myriad temples and lingams such as Kailashnath and Varadarajaswami Temples ("Kanchi" is also famous for its beautiful silks and saris).
After short morning flight to Tiruchirapalli (also called Trichinopoly or Trichy), you can in the afternoon climb the 236 feet up the Rock Fort, thereby gaining a vantage point -- at the apex there is a ganesh or elephant-god temple -- for one of the finest panoramic views over the plains of southern India.
Morning motorcoach journey from Trichy to Tanjore (Thanjavur), capital of the 10th-14th century Chola empire whose king Rajaraja the Great built the Great Temple of Brihadiswara and its colossal black granite sculpture of Shiva's bull Nandi. Then continue on to the southernmost point of your journey: the pilgrimage city of Madurai, called "The City of Festivals" in the heartland of Tamil culture. Afternoon tour of an exotic example of Dravidian architecture built in the shape of a square mandala symbolizing the structure of the cosmos, the great Meenakshi "twin temple" of Goddess Meenakshi and her consort with its extravagantly decorated Hall of 1000 Pillars.
Morning flight to Bangalore, capital of Karnataka (formerly Mysore) state; then afternoon excursion by coach to Mysore, a city which goes back to the era of Ashoka and was built up under the Hoysalas (11th-13th centuries) ; today it is also well known for its gardens, elegant yellow buildings, spectacular Dussera Festival (October),and Maharajah's Palace, a turn-of-the-century mixture of Hindu and Muslim elements united by a dramatic sense of Oriental pomp. See also Brindavan Gardens and Chamundi Hill with its statues of the demon Mahishasura and the bull Nandi.
Full day motorcoach excursion to the superlative temple sites of Belur and Halebid erected under the Hoysalas. The superb decoration and figures include many mythical characters and deities, wild beasts and lovely nymphs of the heavens and woodlands. Belur's wonderfully preserved , star-shaped Chennakesava Temple is contemporaneous with France's Gothic masterpiece, Chartres Cathedral; the temple's friezes inspired the pioneering historian of Indian architecture, Sir James Fergusson, to declare them "one of the most marvelous exhibitions of human labor" which "far surpass anything in Gothic art." Return to Bangalore.
Morning tour of Bangalore, a fast-growing (over 3 million people) cosmopolitan metropolis of skyrocketing potential for India's technological revolution -- years ago Nehru called the city "a picture of India of the future" and today American computer companies are flocking here -- which still remains a spacious and attractive example of modern city planning, blending fine colonial buildings and beautiful public gardens and parks like Lal Bagh and Cubbon Park with major industrial, electronics and computer enterprises (including India's main aircraft plant and telephone industries ) and cutting-edge research institutes. Visit Lal Bagh, Cubbon Park, Bull Temple and high-I.Q. think tank, the Indian Institute of Science. Evening flight to Bombay.
Early morning flight from Bombay, arriving New York's Kennedy airport the same day.
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