India Travel

Eating of Tribal Museum in Southern Maharashtra

Related Properties from Gurgaon

Tribal Museum in Southern Maharashtra

The Tribal Research and Training Institute, which runs the Tribal Museum. Koregan Road (daily 10am—5pm; free) 2km east of the railway station, is dedicated to the protection and documentation of Maharashtra's numerous tribal groups, such as the Wagdheo. Bahiram. Danteshwan and Marai, who number more than five million. The museum's faded photos, costumes and artefacts serve as an excellent introduction to this little-known world, but the highlights are the wonderful collections of dance masks and Worli wedding paintings.Talk to the director of the museum if you're interested in guided (but culturally sensitive) tours to tribal areas.

Southern Maharashtra

Most tourists heading south from Mumbai skip southern Maharashtra, but if you have a little time you can break up the journey and ease the burden of covering vast distances. Pune retains its Maratha character, in the old quarter at least, and also boasts a unique museum; some may also be attracted by its much-dended Osho Commune. Hill stations such as Matheran provide coolness, wooded walks and fine views, while the Konkan coast has little-visited beaches and forts that make a pleasant journey down to Goa. From Lonavala, you can get to see the earliest Buddhist rock-cut art in the

The Central Museum in Western Madhya Pradesh

Indore's Central Museum (Mon-Sac 10am-5pm) is over in the southeast of the city, near the GPO. Its large collection includes finds from nearby prehistoric sites, as well as fine Jain and Hindu sculpture from the ruined eleventh-and twelfth-century temples at Hinlajgarh. The downstairs gallery boasts a handful of priceless Harappan terracottas unearthed at Mohenjo Daro, in southern Pakistan. None of the exhibits is adequately labelled, but the museum attendants are happy to show you around.

Nagpur Eating in Maharashtra

While Nagpur's swish hotels, such as the Hardeo and jagson's Regency, boast the majority of its top gourmet restaurants, a number of smaller, less pretentious places to eat around Central Avenue and Sitabuldi offer excellent food at a fraction of the cost.

Aga Khan Palace and Gandhi Memorial in Southern Maharashtra

In 1942, Mahatma Gandhi, his wife Kasturba and other key figures of the freedom movement were interned at the Aga Khan Palace (daily 9am—12.30pm & 1.30—6pm; Rs2), which is set in quiet leafy gardens, across the River Mula, 5km northeast of the centre (buses #1, #158 & #156).The Aga Khan donated the palace to the state in 1969. and it is now a small Gandhi museum, typical of many all over India, with captioned photos and simple rooms unchanged since they were occupied by the freedom fighters. A memorial behind the house commemorates Kasturba, who died during their imprisonment. A

Around the town in Orissa

Capital Market, situated m a residential area along Janpath, is the place to buy typical Orissan handlooms, handicrafts and jewellery. All the material shops claim to be the official government outlet, so the prices for lengths of beautifully woven cloth and ready-made garments are very competitive. Tucked in a corner of Unit Two East, next to a large fast-food joint, is a treasure-trove of tribal and village crafts and jewellery and materials, all at bargain prices. Ask to look in the dusty cupboards and you may well stumble across an antique mask or two. Hidden away on the northwestern edge of

The Museum of Man in Madhya Pradesh

The story of India's indigenous minorities - the adivasis, literally "original inhabitants" - is all too familiar. Dispossessed of their land by large-scale "development" projects or exploitative moneylenders, the "tribals" have seen a gradual erosion of their traditional culture - a process hastened by proselytizing missionaries and governments that tend at best to regard tribal people as anachronistic and, at worst, as an embarrassment. The Museum of Man, properly known as the Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (Tues—Sun: March—Aug llam-6.30pm; Sept-Feb 10am—5.30pm; free), is an enlightened attempt to redress the balance, setting out to provide genuine insights into ways of life few

Other museums in Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad's museums are strong in arts and crafts. Among them, the informative Shreyas Folk Art Museum, way out to the west near the city limits (Tues-Sat 3-6pm, Sun lOam-noon & 3-6pm; free; bus #41 from Lai Darwaja), displays the traditional work of Gujarat's many tribes. The Tribal Museum (Mon-Fri noon-5.30pm, Sat noon-5pm; free) in the northeastern corner of Gujarat Vidyapith, on Ashram Road 100m south of Income Tax Circle, is also illuminating, detailing the various peoples of the state and their customs, such as the painting of "magical" pictures by Bhils (see p.695) to ward off" disaster: N. C. Mehta

Southern Orissa

Long stretches of dishevelled roadside settlements and rural stations along the National Highway do not inspire much excitement about the stretch of coast between Puri and Andhara Pradesh. However, there are a couple of scenic detours that may tempt you to break a long journey. Three hours south of the capital, at the foot of a barren, sea-facing spur of the Eastern Ghats - which creep up to the coast here - is India's largest salt-water lake. Chilika's main attractions are the one million or so migratory birds that nest here in winter, and leisurely boat trips to its islands.

Nagpur and around in Maharastra

Capital of the "land ot oranges" and geographically at the virtual centre of India, NAGPUR is the focus of government attempts to develop industry in the remote and tribal northeastern corner of Maharashtra - most foreigners in the city are there for business rather than aesthetic purposes. The trickle of visitors who do stop here tend to head straight for the Gandhian ashrams at Sevagram and Paunar, near Wardha only 77km southwest, for a retreat in an idyllic village or to spend some time studying the works and ideas of the Mahatma. To get really off the beaten track for

Panchalesvara cave in Southern Maharashtra

The Panchalesvara cave, to the west of town, just across the River Mula, lies in a rather surprising urban setting at the northern end of busy Jungli Maharaj Road (buses #4, #16 or #98). Hewn from rock in the same manner as the more elaborate examples elsewhere in Maharashtra, the cave dates from the Rashtrakuta period (eighth-ninth centuries). Steps lead from the pavement to a path which ends in a square courtyard and a circular roofed Nandi enclosure. Beyond it, the roughly excavated cave, with broad, square, plain pillars, is unfinished, bearing numerous chisel marks, and yet appears to have

Practicalities Khauldabad in Maharashtra

MSRTC buses pull in every half-hour or so at Rauza's small bus stand, a short walk west of the walls, en route between Aurangabad and the Ellora caves just down the hill. There is no accommodation in Khauldabad, so you should press on to Ellora or Aurangabad. If the prospect of eating in one of the sweet shops and chai stalls in Rauza's main bazaar doesn't appeal, you'll have to wait until you get to Ellora.

Southern torana in Madhya Pradesh

Opening directly onto the ceremonial staircase, the southern torana was the Great Stupa's principal entrance, as is borne out by the proximity of the stump of Ashoka's original stone pillar. Over the years, some of the panels with the best sculpture have dropped off the gateway (and are now housed in the site museum), but those that remain on the three crossbeams are still in reasonable condition. A carved frieze on the middle architrave shows Ashoka, complete with royal retinue, visiting a stupa in a traditional show of veneration. On the reverse side, the scene switches to one of the

Shaniwarwada Palace in Southern Maharashtra

In the centre of the oldest part of town, only the imposing high walls of the Shaniwarwada Palace (daily 8am—noon & 2—6pm; Rs2) survived three fires 111 the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.The palace, founded by the Peshwa ruler Bajrao I in 1730 and the chief residence of the Peshwas until the British arrived in 1817, has little to excite interest today. Entrance is through the Delhi gate on the northside, one of five set into the perimeter wall, whose huge teak doors come complete with nasty elephant-proof spikes. Just inside, faded murals show Ganapati, Vishnu and scenes from the Ramayana.

The Buddhist group of Ellora in Maharashtra

The Buddhist caves line the .sides of a gentle recess in the Chamadiri escarpment. All except Cave 10 are viharas, or monastery halls, which the monks would originally have used for study, solitary meditation and communal worship, as well as the mundane business of eating and sleeping. As you progress through them, the chambers grow steadily more impressive in scale and tone. Scholars attribute this to the rise of Hinduism and the need to compete for patronage with the more overtly awe-inspiring Shaivite cave-temples being excavated so close at hand.

Eating in Mumbai

In keeping with its cosmopolitan credentials, Mumbai (and Colaba above all) is crammed with interesting eating places, whether you fancy splashing out on a buffet lunch-with-a-view from a flashy five-star revolving restaurant, or simply tucking into piping-hot roti kebab by gaslight in the street.

About Calcutta and West Bengal

Unique among Indian stares in stretching all the way from the Himalayas to the sea, WEST BENGAL is nonetheless explored in depth by few travellers. That may have something to do with the exaggerated reputation of its capital, CALCUTTA, which is actually a sophisticated and friendly city that belies its popular image as poverty-stricken and chaotic. Certainly the rest of Bengal holds an extraordinary assortment of landscapes and cultures, ranging from the dramatic hill station of Darjeeling, within sight of some of the highest mountains in the world, to the vast mangrove swamps of the Sunderbans, prowled by man-eating Royal

Agartala, the Capital of Tripura in the Northeast

AGARTALA. the capital of Tripura, is a laid-back administrative centre very reminiscent of the low-level towns of Bangladesh, whose border is just 2km away. Its mam monument of interest is the gleaming white Ujjayanta Palace, completed in 1901. Set amid formal gardens and artificial lakes, this huge building, whose main block now houses the State Legislative Assembly, covers an area of around eight hundred acres. One of many temples nearby and open to the public, the Jagannath temple with its orange tower rises from an octagonal plinth across the road. It contains some fascinating and very colourful sculptures depicting various

The state archeological museum in Madhya Pradesh

Hidden away near Raj Bhavan, just south of Lower Lake, the modest, poorly labelled collection of ancient sculpture, bronzes and Moghul miniatures at the state archeological museum, or Rajkiya Satigrahalaya (Tues-Sat l0am-5pm), is only likely to inspire real enthusiasts. It you do end up here, among the more noteworthy exhibits in the main gallery are the second-century BC yakshis (female fertility figures), the standing Buddha in black granite and the fifth-century statue of Karttikeya, the Hindu god of war. The far wall in the last gallery holds a reproduction of the famous - but now badly damaged - Bagh frescoes,

Murud-Janjira in Southern Maharashtra

The Konkan coast, stretching south down the length of Maharashtra to Goa, remains unspoilt and has a distinct culture with its own dialect of Marathi and a fiery cuisine. The further you get from Mumbai the quieter and more tranquil it becomes - the towns closer to Mumbai are inundated with Mumbaiakas for much of the year, especially at weekends. The first really nice place is the unspoilt, unhurried little coastal town of MURUD-JANJIRA. 165km south of Mumbai, once part of a state belonging to the Siddis of Janjira. Modern development seems to have passed this quiet backwater by, and many