A temple by the river

The rivers that flow west into Kerala from the Western Ghats break into distributaries and backwaters. The Sri Rama temple at Triprayar in Kerala sits beautifully on the banks of one such river. It is believed that the Sri Rama idol was the one used for worship by Sri Krishna in Dwaraka and had drifted southwards through the Arabian Sea and was picked up by the fishermen from the sea coast nearby.

Enchanting Ellora

Unlike Ajanta, the caves of Ellora are not exclusively Buddhist. They also have Hindu (top four pictures) and Jain (last picture) temples, adding to the diversity.

Transcendent Thiruvannamalai

Situated under the Arunachala mountain is the Thiruvannamalai temple in Tamil Nadu dedicated to Shiva as Arunachaleswara. The huge temple with four compound walls and multiple temple gates (gopurams) is said to date back to the 8th Century. In the scrub jungles of the Arunachala mountain live many sanyasis, or Hindu holy men and women

Ajanta

The Buddhist caves, carvings and paintings at Ajanta in Maharashtra are both rugged and sophisticated.