India adds six properties to tentative list for UNESCO recognition

Left part of the Chausath Yogini temple
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

A set of six properties – including some considered serially, such as Ashokan Edict Sites and Chausath Yogini Temples spread across multiple States – have been added to India’s tentative list by the UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre.

These sites were added to the list on March 7, the Permanent Delegation of India to UNESCO said in a statement.

India at UNESCO shared the statement on social media platform X, late on Thursday.

Addition to the World Heritage Centre’s tentative list is mandatory if a property is to be nominated for inscription to the World Heritage List in future, it said.

The six properties added to the tentative list include Kanger Valley National Park in Chhattisgarh; Mudumal Megalithic Menhirs in Telangana; serial nomination of Ashokan Edict Sites along the Mauryan Routes (multiple States); serial nomination of Chausath Yogini Temples (multiple States); serial nomination of Gupta Temples in north India (multiple States), and the palace-fortresses of the Bundelas in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, the statement said.

With these additions, India now has 62 sites on the tentative list.

The ‘tentative list’ is an inventory of properties each country intends to consider for UNESCO nomination.

According to the UNESCO website, the Chausath Yogini Temples considered serially includes sites at multiple locations in the country.

“The Chausath Yogini Temples have 64 images of Yoginis in their individual shrines with intricate stone carvings circularly arranged. These temples are mostly situated on hilltops. ‘Yogini‘ refers to a female practitioner of yoga and ‘chausath‘ is the Hindi word for the number 64. The Yoginis are 64 in number and hence called the ChausathYogini. They are a group of forest spirits and mother goddesses,” a description on the UNESCO website reads.

“It is this embodiment of both alluring and threatening qualities, as well as the large number of goddesses from the group that identifies them as Yoginis,” it reads.

At present, a total of 43 properties from India are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, including 35 in the ‘Cultural’ category, seven in ‘Natural’ and one in ‘Mixed’ category.

India hosted a World Heritage Committee meeting for the first time in 2024, during which the Moidams – the mound-burial system of the Ahom Dynasty in Assam – was accorded the coveted UNESCO tag.