DESTINATION INDIA

Environment

India is a large, triangular-shaped country in southern Asia, buttressed by the long sweep of the Himalaya in the north and protruding into the Indian Ocean in the south. It's bordered by Pakistan to the north-west, China, Nepal and Bhutan to the north, and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. Sri Lanka is the teardrop-shaped island hanging off its southern tip. India covers a land area of some 3,287,000 sq km (1,281,930sq mi), though disputed borders with Pakistan and China make this figure somewhat arbitrary. It is the seventh largest country in the world.

Northern India contains the snow-bound peaks and deep valleys of the Himalaya and the vast Gangetic Plain, which separates the Himalayan region from the southern peninsula and stretches from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal. South of the plains, the land rises up into a triangular-shaped plateau known as the Deccan, which ranges in altitude from 300m (984ft) to 900m (2952ft). The plateau is bordered by the Eastern and Western ghats, ranges of hills which run parallel to India's eastern and western coasts and separate the fertile coastal strips from the interior.

Wildlife in India is often purported to have enjoyed a privileged and protected position thanks to the religious ideals and sentiments of Hindus, Jains and Buddhists, but much of this tradition has been lost. Extensive hunting by the British and the Indian rajahs, large-scale clearing of forests for agriculture, poaching, pesticides and the ever-increasing population have had disastrous effects on India's environment. Only around 10% of the country still has forest cover, and only 4% is protected within national parks and reserves. In the past few decades the government has taken serious steps to improve environmental management and has established over 350 parks, sanctuaries and reserves.

The highlights of India's fauna are its lions, tigers, leopards, panthers, elephants and rhinoceroses, but the country is also home to a rich variety of deer and antelope, wild buffaloes, massive Indian bisons, shaggy sloth bears, striped hyenas, wild pigs, jackals and Indian wild dogs. Monkeys include rhesus macaques, bonnet macaques and long-tailed common langurs. The reptilian world boasts magnificent king cobras, pythons, crocodiles, large freshwater tortoises and monitor lizards, while the diverse birdlife includes large hornbills, serpent eagles and fishing owls, as well as the elegant national bird, the peacock.

Climate varies greatly, from the arid deserts of Rajasthan to the cool highlands of Assam, allegedly the wettest place on earth. But basically India has a three-season year - the hot, the wet and the cool. The heat starts to build up on the northern plains around February and by April it becomes unbearable. The first signs of the monsoon appear in May with high humidity, short rainstorms and violent electrical storms. The monsoon rains begin around 1 June in the extreme south and sweep north to cover the whole country by early July. The monsoon doesn't really cool things off, but it's a great relief - especially to farmers. The main monsoon comes from the south-west, but the south-eastern coast is affected by the short and surprisingly wet north-eastern monsoon, which brings rain from mid-October to the end of December. The main monsoon ends around October and India's northern cities become crisp at night in December. In the far south, where it never gets cool, the temperatures are comfortably warm rather than hot.

History

India's first major civilisation flourished for a thousand years from around 2500 BC along the Indus River valley. Its great cities were Mohenjodaro and Harappa (now in Pakistan) where a complex civilisation ruled by priests and bearing the rudiments of Hinduism flourished. Aryan invaders swept south from central Asia between 1500 and 200 BC and secured control of northern India as far as the Vindhya hills in what is now Madhya Pradesh. They pushed the original Dravidian inhabitants south.

The invaders brought their own gods and cattle-raising and meat-eating traditions, but were absorbed to such a degree that by the 8th century BC the priestly caste had succeeded in reasserting its supremacy. This became consolidated in the caste system, whose hierarchy was maintained by strict rules designed to secure the position of the Brahmin priests. Buddhism arose around 500 BC and presented Brahmanical Hinduism with its greatest challenge by condemning caste. Buddhism began to drive a radical swathe through Hinduism in the 3rd century BC when it was embraced by the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka, who controlled more of India than any subsequent ruler prior to the Mughals.

A number of empires rose and fell after the collapse of the Mauryas, but the most impressive was the Gupta Empire, which lasted from the 4th century AD until 606. This was a golden age of poetry, literature and art, with some of the finest work being done at Ajanta, Ellora, Sanchi and Sarnath. Hinduism underwent a revival during this period, and Buddhism began its decline. The invasion of the Huns signalled the end of the Guptas and the north of India broke into a number of separate Hindu kingdoms; it was not really unified again until the coming of the Muslims.

The far south of India was unaffected by the rising and falling of kingdoms in the north, and Hinduism in this region was never threatened by Buddhism or Jainism. The south's prosperity was based upon long-established trading links with the Egyptians, Romans and South-East Asia. Great empires that rose in the south included the Pandyas, Cheras, Chalukyas, Pallavas and Cholas.

While the Hindu kingdoms ruled in the south and Buddhism was fading in the north, Muslim power was creeping towards India from the Middle East. In 1192 Muslim power arrived on a permanent basis and within 20 years the whole of the Ganges basin was under Muslim control. The Muslim Sultans of Delhi were, however, an inconsistent bunch and Islam failed to penetrate the south, where the Hoysala Empire ruled from 1000 to 1300 AD. Two great kingdoms then developed in what is now Karnataka: the mighty Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagar, whose beautiful capital was at Hampi, and the Bahmani Muslim kingdom which fragmented into five separate domains centred on Berar, Ahmednagar, Bijapur, Golconda and Ahmedabad.

The Mughal emperors are the giants of Indian history. They marched into the Punjab from Afghanistan, defeated the Sultan of Delhi at Panipat in 1525, and ushered in another golden age of building, arts and literature. Their rise to power was rapid, but their decline was equally quick and there were really only six great Mughal emperors. The Maratha Empire grew during the 17th century, thanks to the larger-than-life exploits of the lower-caste Shivaji, and gradually took over more of the Mughals' domain. The Marathas consolidated control of central India until they fell to the last great imperial power, the British.

British power in India was initially exercised by the East India Company, which established a trading post at Surat in Gujarat in 1612. The British were not the first or the only European power with a presence in India in the 17th century: the Portuguese had been in control of Goa since 1510 (before the Mughals had even arrived in India) and the French, Danes and Dutch also had trading posts. Britain's power gradually spread from the time that Clive retook Calcutta in 1757 until the British victory in the fourth Mysore War in 1799. The long-running British struggle with the Marathas was finally concluded in 1803, which left almost the entire country under the control of the British East Company.

The British perceived India principally as a place to make money, and its culture, beliefs and religions were left strictly alone. The British expanded iron and coal mining, developed tea, coffee and cotton plantations, and began construction of India's vast rail network. The British encouraged absentee landlords because they eased the burden of administration and tax collection, creating an impoverished and landless peasantry - a problem which is still chronic in Bihar and West Bengal today. The Indian Mutiny in northern India in 1857, led to the demise of the East India Company, and administration of the country was belatedly handed over to the British government. The next 50 years were the golden years of the empire on which `the sun never set'.

Opposition to British rule began in earnest at the turn of the 20th century. The 'Congress' which had been established to give India a degree of self-rule now began to push for the real thing. Outside the Congress, hot-blooded individuals pressed for independence by more violent means. Eventually, the British mapped out a path towards independence similar to that pursued in Canada and Australia. In 1915, Gandhi returned from South Africa, where he had practised as a lawyer, and turned his abilities to the question of independence, adopting a policy of passive resistance, or satyagraha, to British rule.

WWII dealt a deathblow to colonialism and the myth of European superiority and Indian independence became inevitable. Within India, however, the large Muslim minority began to realise that an independent India would be Hindu-dominated. Local elections began to reveal an alarming growth of communalism, with the Muslim League, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, speaking for the overwhelming majority of Muslims, and the Congress Party, led by Jawaharlal Nehru, representing the Hindu population. Jinnah's egotistical bid for power over a separate Muslim nation proved to be the biggest stumbling block to Britain granting independence.

Faced with a political stand-off and rising tension, the viceroy, Lord Louis Mountbatten, reluctantly decided to divide the country and set a rapid timetable for independence. Unfortunately, the two overwhelmingly Muslim regions were on opposite sides of the country - meaning the new Muslim nation of Pakistan would have an eastern and western half divided by a hostile India. When the dividing line was announced, the greatest exodus in human history took place as Muslims moved to Pakistan and Hindus and Sikhs relocated to India. Much of the migration was accompanied by acts of barbaric violence. By the time the chaos had run its course, over 10 million people had changed sides and even the most conservative estimates calculated that 250,000 people had been slaughtered. The final stages of Independence had one last tragedy to be played out. On 30 January 1948, Gandhi, deeply disheartened by Partition and the subsequent bloodshed, was assassinated by a Hindu fanatic.

Following the trauma of Partition, India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru championed a secular constitution, socialist central planning and a strict policy of nonalignment. Although India maintained generally cordial relations with its former coloniser and elected to join the Commonwealth, it actually moved towards the former USSR - partly because of conflicts with China and partly because of US support for arch-enemy Pakistan, which was particularly hostile to India because of its claim on Muslim-dominated Kashmir. There were clashes with Pakistan in 1965 and 1971, one over the Kashmir issue and the other over Eastern Pakistan/Bangladesh.

India's next prime minister of stature was Nehru's daughter Indira Gandhi, who was elected in 1966. She is still held in high esteem, but is remembered by some for meddling with India's democratic foundations by declaring a state of emergency in 1975. Mrs Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards in 1984 as a reprisal for her ill-considered decision to use the Indian Army to flush out armed Sikh radicals from the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The Gandhis' dynastic grip on Indian politics continued when her son, Rajiv, an Indian Airlines pilot with no interest in politics, was swept into power.

Rajiv brought new and pragmatic policies to the country. Foreign investment and the use of modern technology were encouraged, import restrictions were eased and many new industries were set up. These measures certainly projected India into the 1990s and woke the country from its partially self-induced isolationism, but they did little to stimulate India's mammoth rural sector. Rajiv suffered a similar fate to his mother when he was assassinated on an election tour of Tamil Nadu by a supporter of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers. India has had three leaders since Rajiv Gandhi, each of whom have shown a determination to continue dragging India kicking and screaming into the world's global economy.

The dangers of communalism in India were clearly displayed during the Ayodhya fracas in 1992, when a Hindu mob stormed and destroyed a mosque they believed had been built on the site of Rama's birth. The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been keen to exploit such opportunities. Corruption in the Congress party has hampered supporters of a secular, tolerant India from offering a creditable political alternative. The BJP was excluded from power by an unlikely coalition of smaller parties, known as the United Front (but dubbed the 13 losers), who had the backing of Congress. In November 1997, Congress withdrew that support, the Lok Sabha was dissolved and elections were called for February 1998.

The elections were won by a coalition led by the BJP and Atal Bihari Vajpayee became Prime Minister for the second time. Despite the dangers of playing communalist politics, the BJP's traditionalist Hindu stance has attracted voters concerned about retaining traditional values during the sudden onslaught of modern global influences. When you see Baywatch dubbed into Hindi and beamed into India by satellite, you'll understand what they're concerned about. It was assumed that the more extreme policies of the BJP would be mellowed by their reliance on a broad range of coalition partners. This assumption proved false when they followed through on a promise to make India a nuclear weapons power only weeks after the election. Despite international outrage, the nuclear tests were met with widespread jubilation in India and caused a groundswell of support for the BJP.

But proving the adage that a week is a long time in politics, by April 1999 Vajpayee had lost majority support in parliament and was forced into a vote of confidence which he preceeded to lose by one critical vote. There was widespread expectations that Sonia Ghandi, Rajiv Ghandi's widow, would revive the Ghandi political dynasty by leading the Congress Party to victory after its three years in the political wilderness. But in the factional and fractitious way of India's parliament she was unable to secure a coalition with majority seats and India was forced to the election polls for the third time in as many years.

Economic Profile

GDP: US$1,250 billion
GDP per head: US$350
Annual growth: 5%
Inflation: 5%
Major industries: Agriculture (rice, wheat, tea, rubber), textiles, coal, steel
Major trading partners: CIS, US, Japan and EU

Culture

Religion seeps into every facet of Indian life. Despite being a secular democracy, India is one of the few countries on earth in which the social and religious structures which define the nation's identity remain intact, and have continued to do so for at least 4000 years despite invasions, persecution, European colonialism and political upheaval. Change is inevitably taking place as modern technology reaches further and further into the fabric of society but essentially rural India remains much the same as it has for thousands of years. So resilient are its social and religious institutions that it has absorbed, ignored or thrown off all attempts to radically change or destroy them.

India's major religion, Hinduism, is practised by approximately 80% of the population. In terms of the number of adherents, it's the largest religion in Asia and one of the world's oldest extant faiths. Hinduism has a vast pantheon of gods, a number of holy books and postulates that everyone goes through a series of births or reincarnations that eventually lead to spiritual salvation. With each birth, you can move closer to or further from eventual enlightenment; the deciding factor is your karma. The Hindu religion has three basic practices. They are puja or worship, the cremation of the dead, and the rules and regulations of the caste system. Hinduism is not a proselytising religion since you cannot be converted: you're either born a Hindu or you're not.

Buddhism was founded in northern India in about 500 BC, spread rapidly when emperor Ashoka embraced it but was gradually reabsorbed into Hinduism. Today Hindus regard the Buddha as another incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. There are now only 6.6 million Buddhists in India, but important Buddhist sites in northern India, such as Bodhgaya, Sarnath (near Varanasi) and Kushinagar (near Gorakhpur) remain important sites of pilgrimage.The Jain religion also began life as an attempt to reform Brahminical Hinduism. It emerged at the same time as Buddhism, and for many of the same reasons. The Jains now number only about 4.5 million and are found predominantly in the west and south-west of India. The religion has never found adherents outside India. Jains believe that the universe is infinite and was not created by a deity. They also believe in reincarnation and eventual spiritual salvation by following the path of the Jain prophets.

There are more than 100 million Muslims in India, making it one of the largest Muslim nations on earth. Islam is the dominant religion in the neighbouring countries of Pakistan and Bangladesh, and there is a Muslim majority in Jammu & Kashmir. Muslim influence in India is particularly strong in the fields of architecture, art and food. The Sikhs in India number 18 million and are predominantly located in the Punjab. The religion was originally intended to bring together the best of Hinduism and Islam. Its basic tenets are similar to those of Hinduism with the important modification that the Sikhs are opposed to caste distinctions. The holiest shrine of the Sikh religion is the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

India is as close as the world comes to Babel. There's no `Indian' language per se, which is partly why English is still widely spoken almost half a century after the British left India. Eighteen languages are officially recognised by the constitution, but over 1600 minor languages and dialects were listed in the 1991 census. Language is a heavily politicised issue, not least because many state boundaries have been drawn on linguistic lines. Major efforts have been made to promote Hindi as the national language and to gradually phase out English. A stumbling block to this plan is that while Hindi is the predominant language in the north, it bears little relation to the Dravidian languages of the south. In the south, very few people speak Hindi. The Indian upper class cling to English as the shared language of the educated elite, championing it as both a badge of their status and as a passport to the world of international business. In truth, only about 3% of Indians have a firm grasp of the language.

Indian art is basically religious in its themes and developments, and its appreciation requires at least some bacground knowledge of the country's faiths. The highlights include classical Indian dance, Hindu temple architecture and sculpture (where one begins and the other ends is often hard to define), the military and urban architecture of the Mughals, miniature painting, and mesmeric Indian music. The latter is difficult for visitors to appreciate since there is no sense of harmony in the Western sense, but don't be put off by this.

Indians love the cinema and the Indian film industry, centred on Bombay, is one of the largest and most glamorous in the world. The vast proportion of films produced are gaudy melodramas based on three vital ingredients: romance, violence and music. You'll know what to expect from the fantastically hand-painted cinema billboards that dominate many streets. Imagine Rambo crossed with The Sound of Music and a Cecil B De Mille biblical epic, and you're halfway there. It's cheap operatic escapism, extremely harsh on the ears, and should not be missed.

Contrary to popular belief, not all Hindus are officially vegetarians. Although you'll find vegetarians everywhere, strict vegetarianism is most prevalent in the south (which has not been influenced by meat-eating Aryans and Muslims) and in the Gujarati community. There are considerable regional variations from north to south, partly because of climatic conditions and partly because of historical influences. In the north, much more meat is eaten and the cuisine is often `Mughal style', which bears a closer relationship to food of the Middle East and Central Asia. The emphasis is more on spices and less on chilli; grains and breads are more popular than rice. In the south, more rice is eaten, there is more vegetarian food, and the curries tend to be hotter. Another feature of southern vegetarian food is that you do not use eating utensils; just scoop the food up with your fingers - though not with those of your left hand.

Events

India is blessed with a huge number of festivals, and several are so spectacular that you would be a fool to miss them if you were remotely within spitting distance. They start with the secular Republic Day Festival in Delhi each January, which includes elephants, a procession, and plenty of military might and Indian princely splendour. Holi in February is one of the most exuberant Hindu festivals in the north of India. It marks the end of winter and basically involves throwing coloured water and red powder over as many people as you can in one day.

The 10-day Shi'ite Muharram festival commemorates the martyrdom of Mohammed's grandson. It's marked by a grand parade and dedicated penitents scourge themselves with whips in religious fervour. It's best seen in Lucknow, the principal Indian Shi'ite city and takes place in April/May for the next couple of years. The massive Kumbh Mela festival commemorates an ancient battle between gods and demons for a pitcher (kumbh). During the fight for possession, four drops of nectar fell from the pitcher and landed in Allahabad, Haridwar, Nasik and Ujjain. The mela is held every three years rotating through these four cities. The next festival takes place in Haridwar from 1 February to 11 May, 1998.

Don't mistake the great car festival Rath Yatra for a rally race. This spectacle in Puri in June/July involves the gigantic temple car of Lord Jagannath making its annual journey, pulled by thousands of eager devotees. One of the big events of the year in Kerala is the Nehru Cup Snake Boat Races on the backwaters at Alappuzha (Alleppey), which take place on the second Saturday of August.

The festival of Ganesh Chaturthi in August/September is dedicated to the popular elephant-headed god Ganesh. It's celebrated widely, but with particular enthusiasm in Maharashtra. Shrines are erected, firecrackers let off, clay idols are immersed in rivers or the sea, and everyone tries to avoid looking at the moon. September/October is the time to head for the hills to see the delightful Festival of the Gods in Kullu. This is part of the Dussehra Festival, which is at its most spectacular in Mysore and Ahmedabad.

November is the time for the huge and colourful Camel Festival at Pushkar in Rajasthan. Diwali (or Deepavali) is the happiest festival of the Hindu calendar and is celebrated over five days in November. Sweets, oil lamps and firecrackers all play a major part in this celebration in honour of a number of gods. It may be a tired old scene, but a beach party in Goa is still the only place to be for Christmas.

Facts for the Traveller

Visas: Virtually everybody needs a visa to visit India. They come in a variety of flavours ranging from 15 days to six months and include single and multiple-entry versions. Only six-month tourist visas are extendable. Be careful to check whether your visa is valid from the date of entry or the date of issue.
Health risks: Cholera, dengue fever, dysentery, hepatitis, malaria, meningitis (trekking areas only) and typhoid. Many of India's larger cities are highly polluted and travellers with respiratory ailments may wish to take precautionary measures.
Time: GMT/UTC plus five hours 30 minutes
Electricity: 230-240V, 50 HZ
Weights & measures: Metric (see conversion table)
Tourism: 2 million visitors per year

Money & Costs

Currency: Indian rupee
Relative costs:

• Budget meal: US$1
• Moderate restaurant meal: US$2-5
• Top-end restaurant meal: US$10 and up
• Budget room: US$3-10 (double)
• Mid-range hotel room: US$15-25 (double)
• Top-end hotel room: US$100-200

When to Go

India has such a wide range of climatic factors that it's impossible to pin down the best time to visit weather-wise with any certainty, though broadly speaking October to March tend to be the most pleasant months over much of the country. In the far south, the monsoonal weather pattern tends to make January to September more pleasant, while Sikkim and the areas of north-eastern India tend to be more palatable between March and August, and Kashmir and the mountainous regions of Himachal Pradesh are at their most accessible between May and September. The deserts of Rajasthan and the north-western Indian Himalayan region are at their best during the monsoon.

The trekking season in the Indian Himalaya runs roughly from April to November, though this varies widely depending on the trek, altitude and region. The ski season is between January and March. The dates of particular festivals which may determine the timing of your visit are listed in the Events section.

Warning

India and Pakistan continue to trade insults and, occasionally, bullets across the disputed Kashmiri border. Indian armed forces and Kashmiri separatists have also been involved in violent clashes in the state. Lonely Planet advises that travellers do not visit the western part of Jammu & Kashmir state, especially Jammu, Srinagar and the Kashmir Valley, and Kishtwar in the Zanskar region. Foreign travellers in this area have been targeted by Kashmiri separatist groups and several have been kidnapped or killed.

Civil unrest is also occurring in the north-eastern states. Terrorists in Assam have bombed trains, buses and bridges and there have been political killings in Nagaland and Manipur. Travellers require permits from the Indian government to visit the states of Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland in the north-east. In the Indian Himalaya, parts of Kullu District and Spiti District of Himachal Pradesh, and areas of Uttar Pradesh, also require authorisation. Other areas requiring permits include the Pakistan-India border region west of National Highway No 15 in Rajasthan, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and the Lakshadweep Islands.

Attractions

Delhi

Delhi is the capital of India, and it's also the travel hub of northern India. It's an excellent base for visiting Agra and the Taj Mahal, and the Rajasthani colour of Jaipur is less than five hours away. If you're heading north to the Himalaya or east to the ghats of Varanasi, you'll probably pass through Delhi. So you might as well grit your teeth, hold your breath and dive on in.

Agra

The Taj Mahal, described as the most extravagant monument ever built for love, has become the de facto tourist emblem of India. This poignant Moghul mausoleum was constructed by Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his second wife Mumtaz Mahal, whose death in childbirth in 1631 left the emperor so heartbroken that his hair is said to have turned grey overnight.

Construction of the Taj began in the same year and was not completed until 1653. In total, 20,000 people from India and central Asia worked on the building. The main architect is believed to have been Isa Khan, who was from Shiraz in Iran. Experts were also brought from Europe, which allowed the British to delude themselves for some time that such an exquisite building must certainly have been designed by a European.

The Taj stands on a raised marble platform in ornamental gardens on the bank of the Yamuna. Tall, purely decorative white minarets grace each corner of the platform - as the Taj Mahal is not a mosque, nobody is called to prayer from them. Twin red sandstone buildings frame the building; the one on the western side is a mosque, the identical one on the eastern side is purely for symmetry. It cannot be used as a mosque because it faces in the wrong direction.

The central Taj structure has four small domes surrounding the bulbous central dome. The tombs of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan are in a basement room. Above them in the main chamber are false tombs, a common practice in mausoleums of this type. Light is admitted into the central chamber by finely cut marble screens. The echo in this high domed chamber is superb, and there is always somebody there to demonstrate it.

Although the Taj is amazingly graceful from almost any angle, it's the close-up detail which is really astounding. Semiprecious stones are inlaid into the marble in beautiful patterns using a process known as pietra dura. The precision and care which went into the Taj Mahal's design and construction is just as impressive whether you view it from across the river or from arm's length. Note that the Taj is closed on Monday.

The city's other major attraction is the massive red sandstone Agra Fort, also on the bank of the Yamuna River. It was begun by Emperor Akbar in 1565, though additions were made up until the rule of his grandson, Shah Jahan. In Akbar's time the fort was principally a military structure, but during Shah Jahan's reign it had partially become a palace. The auricular fort's colossal double walls rise over 20m (66ft) in height and measure 2.5km (1.55mi) in circumference. They are encircled by a fetid moat and contain a maze of superb halls, mosques, chambers and gardens which form a small city within a city. Unfortunately not all buildings are open to visitors, including the white marble Pearl Mosque, regarded by some as the most beautiful mosque in India.

Other worthwhile Moghul gems include the Itimad-ud-daulah, many of whose design elements were used in the construction of the Taj, and Akbar's Mausoleum at Sikandra which blends Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and Christian motifs, much like the syncretic religious philosophy Akbar developed attempted to do.

Agra is near enough to Delhi - 200km (124mi) - to be done as a day trip. It's on the major tourist circuit so you can take your pick of transport; plane, bus, or train.

Udaipur

Lake Pichola is the city's centrepiece and it contains two delightful island palaces - Jagniwas and Jagmandir - that are the very definition of Rajput whimsy. The former is now an exquisite luxury hotel. The huge City Palace towers over the lake and is bedecked with balconies, towers and cupolas. It contains a museum, some fine gardens and several more luxury hotels. Other attractions include the gates to the old walled city and its lovely alleyways; the fine Indo-Aryan Jagdish Temple, dating from the mid-17th century; and the lakeside Bagore ki Haveli, once a royal guesthouse, but now a cultural centre.

Despite the long list of sights and attractions, the real joy of Udaipur is finding a pleasant lakeside guesthouse, scrambling up to the roof and watching the activity at the ghats, listening to the rhythmic `thwomp!' as washerwomen thrash the life out of their laundry, and sensing the gentle changes of light on the water as the slow days progress.

It's 663 (410mi) to Udaipur, so if comfort and speed are your main priorities catch any of the daily flights from Delhi. If getting there is half the fun, take a bus or train, and if really really getting there is your caper, take the very slow bus instead of the express. These are the ones that meander through various towns off the main highway, and take approximately forever to reach home base.

Varanasi

Varanasi has over 100 bathing and burning ghats but the Manikarnika Ghat is the most sacred of them all. This is the main burning ghat and one of the most auspicious places that a Hindu can be cremated. Corpses are handled by outcasts known as chandal, and they are carried through the alleyways of the old city to the holy Ganges on a bamboo stretcher swathed in cloth. You'll see huge piles of firewood stacked along the top of the ghat, each log carefully weighed on giant scales so that the price of cremation can be calculated. There are no problems watching cremations, since at Manikarnika death is simply business as usual, but leave your camera at your hotel.

The best ghat to hang out at and absorb the riverside activity is Dasaswamedh Ghat. Here you'll find a dense concentration of people who come to the edge of the Ganges not only for a ritual bath, but to do yoga, offer blessings, buy paan, sell flowers, get a massage, play cricket, have a swim, get a shave, and do their karma good by giving money to beggars. It's also the best place to arrange a boat trip since there's plenty of competition among boatmen.

Apart from the many ghats lining the river, the city's other highlights include the Golden Temple, built in a roofed quadrangle with stunning gilded towers; shopping at markets famous for their ornamental brasswork, lacquered toys, shawls, silks and sitars (yes, Ravi Shankar does live here); losing yourself in the impossibly narrow labyrinthine alleyways which snake back from the ghats; visiting the nearby Buddhist centre of Sarnath; and taking the compulsory dawn river trip slowly down the Ganges.

Varanasi is on the major tourist loop, about 577km (358mi) east of Agra, and 780km (485mi) southeast of Delhi, and can be eached by plane, bus or train.

Darjeeling

Among the town's highlights is the Passenger Ropeway, the first chairlift to be constructed in India, which connects Darjeeling with Singla Bazaar on the Little Ranjit River far below. It's a superb excursion, though not an obvious choice for vertigo sufferers. Unfortunately, the ropeway is not always in use - phone in advance to see when it's running. Nearby is the Zoological Park, which houses Siberian tigers and rare red pandas in less than ideal conditions. The animals are prey to Indian tourists who show-off by teasing and spitting at them mercilessly. The precious snow leopards are kept in a separate enclosure and get a much better deal. If you're interested in learning about the complex tea-producing process, call in at the Happy Valley Tea Estate; you can also savour some of the crop at the impressive Gymkhana Club, once the playpen of the Raj and now slouching reluctantly towards the 20th century.

Flying is the easiest and most comfortable way to reach Darjeeling, although this will still only get you to within 90km (56km) of the city. The airport is situated on the flat plains near Siliguri, at Bagdogra, but there is a connecting bus from the airport to Darjeeling. Several bus lines also operate out of Darjeeling.

Mumbai (Bombay)

Most travellers tend to stick around long enough only to reconfirm their plane tickets or organise transport to Goa, scared off by the city's reputation for squalor and the relatively high cost of accommodation. But Mumbai is a safe and charismatic city that fully rewards exploration. It has few 'sights', in the traditional sense of the word: instead is has a vital street life, decent nightlife, more bazaars than you could ever explore and personality by the bucketload.

Travellers tend to gravitate towards Colaba, which has plenty of budget and mid-range hotels. Although it's not a travellers ghetto, it does have a few of the disadvantages of other places where travellers congregate in large numbers: namely an environment artificially slanted towards foreign as much as Indian interests, and plenty of touts, vendors and taxi drivers of dubious morality. If you really want to pick up on the buzz of Mumbai, it's much better to stay in the Fort, where everyone is far too busy going about their business to take any notice of foreigners. The mid-range hotels lining Marine Drive are another good alternative.

Mumbai is the main international gateway into India, so flights in and out are thick on, and off, the ground. For some odd reason, though, most of them seem to arrive in the middle of the night, so be prepared for a dawn vigil. Buses zip in and out of the city constantly, and there is also a seriously chaotic railway system that can theoretically get you to any major destination in India. The distance between Mumbai and Delhi is 1407km (872mi).

Goa

Travellers in Goa still feel obliged to `hang out' meaningfully, be mellow and wear pretty silly tribal costumes, but the (in)famous hippies have now been replaced by backpackers, Indian visitors and a bevvy of bewildered package tourists on two-week jaunts from Europe. Although there's a palpable nostalgia for the days when the parties were always bigger, better and more authentic than they are now, Goa's current semi-resident Westerners are less inclined to rue the past, and more likely to be spending the low season (March-September) in New York, Amsterdam or Colombia.

It's a shame Goa comes burdened with a history of louche living, because there's so much more to it than sun, sand and psychedelia. The allure of Goa is that it remains quite distinct from the rest of India and is small enough to be grasped and explored in a way that other Indian states are not. It's not just the familiar remnants of European colonialism or the picture-book exoticism that make it seem so accessible, it's the prevalence of Roman Catholicism and a form of social and political progressiveness that Westerners feel they can relate to. Although Hindus outnumber Catholics, skirts far outnumber saris, and the people display a liberality and civility which you'll be hard pressed to find elsewhere in India.

There are flights direct from Delhi, 1912km (1185mi) away, and Mumbai just up the road, but you can also get there by bus. You'll need to do the bus route in stages; Delhi to Mumbai, Mumbai to Panaji. The good news is that private bus companies offer luxury/deluxe, superdeluxe, or - the Bollywoodish pièce de résistance - superdeluxe video buses. These video buses sound like fun, The Movie Show on wheels, until you realise that your beauty sleep will be punctuated by an endless injudicious stream of loud videos. Trains will get you to Delhi but, even with the recent conversion of the lines from metre to broad gauge, it will take 44 hours. The brand spanking new Konkan Railway connects Mangalore, further down the south coast, to Mumbai, passing through Goa enroute. The third option for getting to Goa is by boat although the catamaran only runs as far as Mumbai and then it's back to terra firma travels.

Madurai

Madurai is way, way down in the nether regions of India, a distance of 2507km (1554mi) from Delhi. Getting there requires perstistence. There are flights several times a week from Chennai, Calicut, and Mumbai. Buses also run from these (and several other) major cities in the south. Watch out for scams operating at the ticket agencies; sometimes a superdeluxe video ticket to a minor city will only get you dumped on a state bus. Double the price for twice the discomfort. If you're buying superdeluxe video tickets, stick to the major cities. Trains will also carry you around the major southern cities.

Off the Beaten Track

Activities

The number of trekkers visiting the Indian Himalaya is small compared to those tramping the tracks in Nepal, so if you want to peacefully experience the world's greatest mountain range, try trekking in Himachal Pradesh or Uttar Pradesh. The trekking season runs roughly between April and November, but this varies widely and some routes are only open for a couple of months each year. India's main trekking centres are Lahaul, Spiti and the Kullu and Kangra valleys in Himachal Pradesh; north of Rishikesh in northern Uttar Pradesh; Darjeeling in West Bengal; Yuksam in Sikkim; and Leh in Ladakh.

The ski season runs from January to March, and there are resorts at Narkanda in Himachal Pradesh and Auli in Uttar Pradesh. Facilities are rudimentary but that makes it all the more fun. There's usually one lift in working order and a place to hire gear. Après-ski consists of chapatis and a nice cup of ginger tea.

India is not renowned for its beaches, but there are popular beach centres with acceptable swimming in Goa, just across the Karnataka border in Gokarna and at Kovalam in Kerala. There are also beaches at Diu, and at Puri in Orissa. The Andaman & Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal have good beaches and boast India's only diving and snorkelling opportunities.

Camel treks can be arranged in the deserts around Jaisalmer and Pushkar in Rajasthan. Treks last anywhere between a few hours and a few days. The best season is between October and February. If camel trekking leaves you feeling scorched and sore, try white-water rafting on the Indus. Trips can be organised in Leh.

Getting There & Away

India's major international airports are Mumbai (Bombay) and Delhi, though there are plenty of international flights also arriving in Calcutta and Chennai (Madras). Flights from Europe tend to arrive in India in the early hours of the morning, which can be inconvenient if you don't have reserved accommodation or don't like tramping around unfamiliar cities in the dark. Delhi is the cheapest place to buy air tickets in India, followed by Calcutta and Mumbai. International flights to neighbouring countries can be very cheap: especially between Calcutta and Dhaka (Bangladesh), Delhi and Karachi (Pakistan) and Tiruchirappalli and Colombo (Sri Lanka). The departure tax on flights to Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal is approximately US$3, but to other countries it's US$10.

The most popular overland routes between India and Nepal are Birganj-Raxaul, Sunauli-Gorakhpur and Kakarbhitta-Siliguri. If you're heading from Kathmandu or Pokhara to Delhi or elsewhere in north-western India, then Sunauli is the most convenient entry point; to reach Calcutta or most of eastern India, Birganj is the best place to cross the border; and to get to Darjeeling, it's easiest to go via Kakarbhitta. It's fairly easy to travel between Calcutta and Dhaka overland. The only border crossing currently open between India and Pakistan is between Lahore and Amritsar. This crossing can be done either by train or by road. All other border crossings are by road only. A bus service between Lahore and Delhi, operating four times a week, is now up and running.

Getting Around

India's major domestic airline, the government-run Indian Airlines, has an extensive network. The country's international carrier, Air India, also operates domestically on the Mumbai (Bombay)-Delhi, Mumbai-Calcutta, Delhi-Calcutta and Mumbai-Chennai (Madras) routes. Deregulation has radically improved service and swollen the number of secondary operators, though several have gone belly up recently. Sahara Indian Airlines and Jet Airways are probably the most stable of the new competitors.

The Indian Railways system is deservedly legendary and Indian rail travel is unlike any other sort of travel on earth. At times rail travel can be uncomfortable and frustrating, but it is also an integral part of the Indian travel experience. You should try to pick up the key points of Indian train etiquette as quickly as possible, otherwise you'll find yourself hopelessly attempting to defend your own private space. There are a number of different classes and a number of different trains: you want express or mail trains, but try all the different classes just for the hell of it. The Indian reservation system is labyrinthine and worthy of anthropological study, but be patient because it's one of the few bureaucracies in the country that actually works. When booking tickets, take advantage of the tourist quota allotment if one exists. You'll find it easier to reserve a seat this way.

Buses vary widely from state to state, but there is often a choice of buses on the main routes - ordinary, express, semi-luxe, deluxe, deluxe air-con and even deluxe sleeper. Government buses are supplemented by private operators on many routes. Private buses tend to be faster, more expensive and more comfortable and can make a lot of sense on longer jaunts. Bus travel is generally crowded, cramped, slow and uncomfortable. This is the good news. The bad news is the rugby scrum you often need to negotiate in order to board, and the howling Hindi pop music which blares from the tinny speakers. Buses are the only way to get to Kashmir and the best way to get to Nepal from Uttar Pradesh; they are generally faster than trains in northern Bihar and in large areas of Rajasthan.

You can hire a car and driver very easily, but you need nerves of steel and excellent karma to consider driving yourself. Cars are usually rented on a daily basis and come with a limited number of km per day. You'll probably be responsible for the driver's expenses, so be sure to clarify how much this is to be each day before you set off. If you're planning a long trip, it's wise to go for a short spin with your prospective driver just in case you don't like his braking ability.

Motorcycling around India (especially on an Enfield Bullet) has become a popular pastime, though it's a hazardous endeavour and not for the amateur two-wheeler. Bicycles are a great way to get around towns and can usually be hired for a pittance. Long-distance touring, however, is not for the faint-hearted or the weak of knee. If you're thinking of bringing your own bike, think twice about bringing your state-of-the-art 10-speed unless you want it to be poked, probed and perved at every time you stop.

Local transport includes buses, taxis, auto-rickshaws, cycle-rickshaws and tongas (horse-drawn carriages). Taxis may have meters, but don't expect them to be working in more than a handful of cities. Three-wheeled auto-rickshaws are generally half the price of a taxi and allow much better passenger inhalation of diesel fumes. Cycle-rickshaws have all but disappeared from the centres of major Indian cities but are still an essential part of the transport network in smaller towns. Be sure to agree on a fare beforehand.

Recommended Reading

• Colonial literature includes Rudyard Kipling's Kim and Plain Tales from the Hills, and EM Forster's A Passage to India.
• The post-colonial Indian novel par excellence is Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, though Vikram Seth's suitcase-sized A Suitable Boy runs a close second. In the past decade, a swag of Indian authors writing in English have achieved international recognition. They include Rohinton Mistry, Shashi Tharoor and Arundhati Roy. The delightful novels of RK Narayan are evidence that Indian literary talent in English is nothing particularly new.
• Worthy travelogues include seminal texts like Eric Newby's Slowly Down the Ganges, Paul Theroux The Great Railway Bazaar and Alexander Frater's delightful Chasing the Monsoon. William Dalrymple explored Delhi in City of Djinns and Geoffrey Moorhouse took the plunge in Calcutta in Calcutta - a city revealed.
• Commentaries on India almost form a publishing sub-genre of their own, and provide travellers with some of the best insights. They include VS Naipaul's acerbic An Area of Darkness and India - A Wounded Civilisation and the more mature A Million Mutinies Now; James Cameron's insightful An Indian Summer; Mark Tully's No Full Stops In India; and John Keay's Into India.
• The two-volume Pelican History of India is a dry but comprehensive historical treatment. More readable accounts of specific chapters of Indian history include Christopher Hibbert's The Great Mutiny - India 1857, Plain Tales from the Raj edited by Charles Allen, Tariq Ali's The Nehrus & the Gandhis and the sensationalist potboiler Freedom at Midnight by Larry Collins & Dominique Lapierre.
• The Hindu holy books, The Upanishads and The Bhagavad Gita are available in English translations. Hinduism by KM Sen is a blissfully brief and to-the-point introduction to India's major religion. A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology & Religion will help unravel who's who in the Hindu cosmology. Anyone tempted to don a dhoti and go looking for spiritual salvation will save themselves a lot of heartache by reading Gita Mehta's witty Karma Kola.

• India
• South India
• Goa
• Delhi city guide
• Indian Himalaya
• Rajasthan
• India & Bangladesh travel atlas
• Trekking in the Indian Himalaya
• Hindi/Urdu phrasebook
• Bengali phrasebook
• For an insider's perceptive account of India's most colourful state, check out Royena Grewal's In Rajasthan, part of Lonely Planet's Journeys series.

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