New Indian Sites in UNESCO World Heritage List

Two Indian sites - Ramappa Temple (Telangana) and Dholavira (Gujarat) were included in UNESCO World Heritage Sites List during the 44^th session of the World Heritage Committee, held at Fuzhou city (16-31 July, 2021) in China. Now, India has a total of 40 UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Ramappa Temple

• Also known as Rudreshwara Temple, it is located in the Palampet village approximately 200km north-east of Hyderabad, in the State of Telangana. The temple was named after Rammapa, who was the chief sculptor.
• The temple was constructed in 1213 AD during the Kakatiya Empire by Recharla Rudra, a general of Kakatiya king Ganapati Deva.
• Ramappa is the main Shiva temple in a larger walled temple complex, which includes several smaller temples and structures.
• The temple’s unique feature is its tower or Vimana, which is in the shape of a pyramid.
• Marco Polo, during his visit to the Kakatiya Empire, apparently called the Ramappa Temple as ‘the brightest star in the galaxy of temples’.

Dholavira

• It is Located on Khadir Island in the Great Rann of Kutch in Bhachau taluka of Kutch district. It is the fifth largest archaeological site of the Indus Valley Civilisation.
• It is locally known as Kotda Timba (the fort mound) and was discovered in the 1968 by archaeologist Jagat Pati Joshi.
• It is the first site of the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC) in India to get the UNESCO World Heritage tag.
• It is divided into three main parts — the citadel, the middle town and the lower town, with the citadel having elaborate fortification structures.
• Excavation has revealed that the city houses, constructed using sandy limestones, were connected to an extensive network of sewage.
• Remains of copper smelters have also been found along with memorials having hemispherical structures though no mortal remains of humans have been recovered.