Hire Benkal, Kanchipuram temples in UNESCO tentative list for World Heritage Site

Hire Benkal megalithic site near Koppal, a series of forts built by the Maratha kings in Maharashtra and the temples of Kanchipuram are part of the six sites submitted by India to the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Bhedaghat-Lametaghat, often described as the Grand Canyon of India, the Satupura Tiger Reserve and the riverfront on the Ganga at Varanasi are the other nominations to the tentative list, which is considered as the first step for nomination as a World Heritage Site.

"The Archaeological Survey of India had sent nine sites for inclusion in the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Site of which six have been accepted," Culture Minister Pralhad Singh Patel said.

As per the UNESCO guidelines, it is mandatory to put a monument or a site on a Tentative List of the World Heritage Monument before it is considered for the final nomination dossier.

The six new sites were added on April 14, taking the number of monuments on India’s Tentative List to 48.

The Monuments and Forts of the Deccan Sultanate, Sacred Ensembles of Hoysala and Monuments of Srirangapatana Island Town were named to the Tentative List on April 15, 2014. The Evolution of Temple Architecture – Aihole-Badami-Pattadakal was named to the tentative list in 2015.

The earliest entries on the Tentative List of 48 monuments/sites date back to 1998 when India had Mattanchery Palace, Ernakulam and Group of Monuments at Mandu, Madhya Pradesh for consideration as World Heritage Sites.

Usually, these sites remain on the tentative list for a year before the government decides which one to push for the final dossier with UNESCO.

According to the justification for including Hire Benkal in the tentative list, the government has said the site is world renowned for the existence of hundreds of megaliths which have been standing on a mound for more than 2500 years.

The site of Hire Benkal provides an exceptional insight into the funerary and ritual practices of the Iron Age – Megalithic Culture of Indian Protohistory.

The centre has also highlighted the unique prehistoric rock paintings at Hire Benkal with motifs such as – long row of human figures, horse rider holding battle-axe, row of deers, bull with long horns, peacock.

“The depictions in rock art from Hire Benkal provides clue about subsistence strategies (hunting), weapons used (spears, axes comparable to the one reported from megalithic excavated sites), fauna etc. of the Iron Age – megalithic period,” it said.