THE LOST HERITAGE OF INDIA

THE LOST HERITAGE OF INDIA

India is one of the most culturally significant country in the whole wide world and being so diverse and amalgamated,it still represents some kind of  an unique identity of itself. The region,famous for huge temples and palaces, still goes down to earth so much so as to revere humanity above all else.

Being so diverse, whether its regional differences or spiritual,India has a lot of significant monuments and architecture which shows it's heritage. The UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE CONSERVATION UNIT & also THE ARCHEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA have worked really hard to conserve the heritage of this country. They have adapted to modern technologies to save the culturally significant monuments and complexes. And to a certain level of extent,they have succeeded in saving some of the major heritage sites of India and also saving its culture for which the site belonged to. We can take examples of Qutub Minar and Ajanta Ellora for this.

But still,an unimaginable number of heritage sites have been neglected,due to many reasons and due to the neglected approach,we have lost a considerable amount of heritage.

Some examples are Poompuhar,a Chola city,this once grandeur port has been reduced to ruins due to erosion from seas and we have done nothing to save it.Safe to say we surely lost the culture and history of the city .

One other example is Muziris,Kerala.Once called 'the first emporium of India’ by PLINY,the site has been neglected and brought to ruins. It was an important trading port of its time,a huge importance it had on the pepper spice market. Recently we have started a project to save it,The Muziris Heritage project but we might be a tad too late to save the amazing port town which could have opened a new gate of archeological treasures.

We would cite some more examples too,but first let's talk about what's so bad about losing some minor heritage sites,first of all,these are the intricate delicacies that drives a huge number of offbeat tourists away from big sites and to explore some of less known cultures. Losing these heritage & culture means we lost a big opportunity to create jobs and satellite tourist destination around these sites. It could tell us about our past,how did we evolved,and all this could be alluring to foreign tourists who want to discover India's soul.

So it's safe to say that it will certainly help the tourism industry if we preserve our heritage, whether small or widespread.So a question needs to be asked,'How can we preserve our smaller scale cultural and heritage sites’?

The answer to that question is the public awareness, marketing so that more tourists visit our now endangered sites, which will start the tourism multiplier effect which in return makes jobs opportunity.More jobs means the sites will be in eyes of public and government and as a result,it could afford to have a conservation project.

Now to the end the conversation,i will name some sites which could need some better recognition and some effort for their preservation otherwise they could also be lost heritage.These are Hampi, Pattadakal,some old and almost ruined baolis of Delhi.

There is a vav/baoli in Gujarat which could tell us a lot about the local history of the region, which is named Rani ki vav.

I hope we all become aware of our national treasures such as these and preserve them and also make them somewhat useful as a tourism product.