Singing steps.

The “singing steps” of Darasuram

The Airavatesvara Temple at Darasuram, near Kumbakonam, was built in the reign of Chola king Rajaraja II in the 12th century. It is one of the three Great Living Chola Temples, now a UNESCO World Heritage property. 

Among its remarkable architectural details are seven stone steps traditionally known as musical or singing steps. When appropriately struck, the steps can produce different pitches corresponding traditionally to the seven swaras:

Sa – Ri/Re – Ga – Ma – Pa – Dha – Ni

The idea that architecture itself could be made to sound is extraordinary.

There is also a lovely detail: the musical steps are associated with the entrance/bali-pitha area, rather than being an ordinary staircase designed simply for climbing. Modern visitors are generally prevented from striking them because of conservation concerns. 

What makes this particularly wonderful

The Cholas did not separate art, architecture, science, mathematics, music and spirituality into watertight compartments.

A temple could be:

a place of worship,

an architectural masterpiece,

a sculpture gallery,

a record of history,

a centre of music and dance,

and an astonishing demonstration of knowledge of materials and acoustics.

UNESCO itself describes the Great Living Chola Temples as embodying the Cholas' achievements in architecture, sculpture, painting, bronze casting and the arts, including music and dance. 

And I think this deserves its own little article in our India series. It would make a lovely subject after all the mountains and lakes:

“When Stone Began to Sing — The Musical Steps of Darasuram” 

School series 42.

 The Aravalli Hills — India's ancient mountain spine

The Aravalli Range is one of India's most fascinating mountain systems — not because it is very high, but because it is extraordinarily old. It is among the oldest fold mountain systems on Earth, formed billions of years ago and worn down by immense geological time.

It runs roughly southwest to northeast, from Gujarat through Rajasthan and Haryana towards Delhi, for about 700 km.

Unlike the Himalayas, the Aravallis are not young, towering mountains. They are the much-eroded remnants of a once far greater mountain system.

A range that has witnessed India's history

The Aravallis pass through landscapes associated with some of India's great historical episodes.

Mewar, Udaipur, Chittorgarh and Kumbhalgarh lie within or around the Aravalli landscape.

The hills provided natural protection to the kingdoms of Rajasthan. The rugged terrain was particularly important in the history of Maharana Pratap, whose struggle against the Mughal Empire is inseparable from the forests and hills of Mewar.

The famous Battle of Haldighati took place in an Aravalli pass.

The highest point

The highest summit of the entire Aravalli system is Guru Shikhar, at about 1,722 metres, near Mount Abu in Rajasthan.

Guru Shikhar

Mount Abu itself is an extraordinary contrast to the surrounding dry Rajasthan landscape — a relatively cool, green mountain retreat with forests, rocky formations and lakes.

An ecological barrier

The Aravallis have another extremely important role.

They form a natural ecological barrier between the Thar Desert and the more fertile regions to the east.

Their forests help:

slow desertification

recharge groundwater

regulate local climate

prevent soil erosion

provide habitats for wildlife

The range is therefore much more than a picturesque line of hills.

The hidden water story

Several rivers and streams originate in or around the Aravalli landscape.

The Banas, Luni and Sabarmati river systems are associated with the range, while numerous seasonal streams descend from its slopes.

In a region where water is precious, even these modest hills can determine where settlements and agriculture survive.

A treasure house of minerals

The Aravallis are also extraordinarily rich in minerals.

Historically they have yielded copper, zinc, lead, marble and other minerals.

The famous Khetri copper belt of Rajasthan lies in the Aravalli geological province.

The hills therefore have another story to tell — not just of forests and kingdoms, but of ancient rocks and human mining traditions.

Mountains of sacred traditions

The Aravallis also contain numerous sacred places.

Mount Abu is home to the remarkable Dilwara Jain temples, while many hills and caves across Rajasthan have long associations with Hindu and Jain traditions.

The landscape around Nathdwara, Eklingji and Ranakpur adds another layer of sacred geography to the range.

Wildlife

Despite centuries of human use, parts of the Aravallis still support:

leopard

sloth bear

striped hyena

nilgai

sambar

chital

wild boar

many species of birds

The Sariska landscape is particularly well known for its wildlife.

What makes the Aravallis special?

If the Himalayas tell us the story of young mountains still rising, the Aravallis tell us the story of deep geological time.

They have been mountains for unimaginably long periods, and erosion has gradually sculpted them into today's low, rugged hills.

So perhaps the most beautiful way to introduce them is:

The Himalayas are India's young giants.

The Aravallis are India's ancient survivors.

The Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats and Northeast hills — each with a completely different personality.

School series 41

The Eastern Ghats — the broken mountains of eastern India

The Eastern Ghats stretch roughly parallel to India's eastern coast, from Odisha in the north to Tamil Nadu in the south, with extensions and associated hill systems reaching into parts of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka.

But unlike the Western Ghats, they are not a continuous mountain chain.

The great rivers of peninsular India — the Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri — have cut through them over geological time. What remains is a remarkable succession of isolated hills, plateaus, valleys and forested ranges.

That gives the Eastern Ghats their special character: the mountains appear, disappear and reappear in different forms.

Ancient mountains.

Geologically, the Eastern Ghats are extremely old. Much of their underlying rock belongs to some of the ancient geological formations of the Indian Peninsula.

They have been worn down by immense stretches of erosion. That is why they generally lack the imposing continuous mountain walls characteristic of younger ranges.

Yet their age has given them another treasure — extraordinary geological and biological diversity.

The Nallamalas

One of the most impressive sections is the Nallamala Hills, extending through Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

These are heavily forested hills with deep valleys and gorges. The forests here are associated with the Nagarjunasagar–Srisailam landscape, one of India's important tiger habitats.

The Nallamalas are also culturally significant. Srisailam, associated with Lord Mallikarjuna, lies within this mountain country.

So here, as so often in India, mountain, forest, river and sacred geography meet.

The Seshachalam Hills

Further south are the Seshachalam Hills, around Tirupati.

These hills are particularly interesting because of their distinctive red sanders (red sandalwood) forests. Pterocarpus santalinus, the red sanders tree, is native to this region.

And the hills carry enormous spiritual significance: the sacred Tirumala hills form part of this landscape.

The seven hills of Tirumala are therefore not merely a temple setting — they are part of an ancient mountain ecosystem.

Araku and the northern Eastern Ghats

In Andhra Pradesh, the Eastern Ghats become wonderfully dramatic around Araku Valley and the Ananthagiri hills.

Here you find:

deep valleys

coffee plantations

waterfalls

dense forests

mist-covered hills

tribal settlements

strikingly varied landscapes

This is one of the places where the Eastern Ghats can feel almost Himalayan in atmosphere, although the elevations are far lower.

Odisha — mountains, forests and tribal cultures

In Odisha, the Eastern Ghats become closely associated with extensive forests and numerous indigenous communities.

The Koraput–Rayagada–Kandhamal region contains some of the most beautiful hill landscapes of eastern India.

The mountains here are not simply scenic. They are living cultural landscapes, with communities whose lives have traditionally been connected to forests, streams, hill agriculture and local biodiversity.

The southern hills

As the range moves into Tamil Nadu, it breaks into several fascinating hill systems:

Kolli Hills, Shevaroy Hills, Javadi Hills, Kalrayan Hills and Yelagiri are among them.

Some are popular hill stations; others remain relatively quiet forested landscapes.

The Kolli Hills, for instance, are famous for their steep winding roads, forests, waterfalls and ancient traditions.

A mountain range of rivers

Perhaps the most beautiful way to understand the Eastern Ghats is through their relationship with India's great rivers.

The rivers don't merely flow alongside the mountains.

They cut through them.

The Godavari and Krishna, among others, have carved passages through the ancient highlands on their journey towards the Bay of Bengal.

Thus the Eastern Ghats are almost like a broken backbone of eastern peninsular India, repeatedly interrupted by great rivers.

And the wildlife

The forests shelter elephants, leopards, sloth bears, gaur, deer, wild dogs and, in some landscapes, tigers.

The region is also exceptionally rich in birds, reptiles, amphibians and plants.

Some of its forests contain species found nowhere else.

And this is one reason the Eastern Ghats matter even when their mountains don't appear spectacularly high:

A mountain's importance is not measured by its height alone.

Eastern Ghats and Western Ghats — two very different personalities

The Western Ghats are more continuous, wetter and generally more dramatic as a mountain wall.

The Eastern Ghats are older, more fragmented and more varied.

The Western Ghats often give us the feeling of a great mountain barrier.

The Eastern Ghats give us something different:

a succession of hidden worlds — forested hills, river valleys, tribal country, sacred mountains, waterfalls and isolated plateaus.

Don't just "visit the Eastern Ghats"; discover the individual mountain worlds hidden inside them.

School series 40

 The Western Ghats — India’s Ancient Green Mountains.

The Western Ghats are very different from the Himalayas.

They do not have the drama of enormous snow peaks. Instead, they are old, weathered, deeply forested mountains, running almost continuously along India’s western side from Gujarat to Tamil Nadu.

And perhaps their greatest wonder is that they quietly control so much of India’s life.

A mountain range older than the Himalayas

The Western Ghats are among the world's ancient mountain systems. They rise steeply from the western coastal plains and run for roughly 1,600 kilometres through Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Their highest point is Anamudi in Kerala, about 2,695 metres — modest compared with the Himalayas, but magnificent in its own setting.

The range changes character as it travels south.

In Maharashtra, we know it as the Sahyadris — rugged escarpments, cliffs, plateaus and magnificent monsoon landscapes.

In Karnataka come the thick forests and grasslands of places such as Kudremukh, Coorg and the Brahmagiri ranges.

Farther south, the Nilgiris, Anamalais and Agasthyamalai ranges create an extraordinary mountainous landscape. Album in below link.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZboWQFnD5WDKKugFA

The mountains that make the monsoon

This is one of the Western Ghats' greatest invisible gifts.

Moisture-laden winds from the Arabian Sea strike the mountains and are forced upward. The air cools, clouds form and enormous quantities of rain fall on the western slopes.

That is why places such as the Konkan, Goa, coastal Karnataka and Kerala can be extraordinarily wet.

Cross the mountains, however, and the landscape can change dramatically.

The same mountain wall that gives Kerala its lush greenery also contributes to the relatively drier conditions of the Deccan interior.

So these mountains are not merely scenery.

They help decide where the rain falls.

A forest full of things found nowhere else

The Western Ghats are one of the world's great biodiversity hotspots.

There are plants and animals here found nowhere else on Earth.

The lion-tailed macaque, Nilgiri tahr, Malabar giant squirrel, and numerous species of frogs, birds, orchids and trees belong to this extraordinary biological world.

The mountains are particularly famous for amphibians. New frogs and other species continue to be discovered in the forests.

It is almost as though an ancient biological experiment has been continuing quietly in these mountains for millions of years.

And then — the shola forests

One of the most beautiful sights of the higher Western Ghats is the strange partnership between grassland and forest.

Patches of evergreen shola forest occupy sheltered valleys, while rolling grasslands cover the surrounding high ground.

From a distance they look like green velvet folded across the mountains.

These landscapes occur especially in the Nilgiris, Anamalais and high ranges of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

The mountains of coffee, spices and tea

The Western Ghats also enter our everyday lives.

Cardamom, pepper, coffee and tea thrive in different parts of these mountains.

Coorg's coffee plantations, Wayanad's forests, Munnar's tea-covered slopes and the spice-growing regions of Kerala all owe something to the special climate created by the Ghats.

It is fascinating to think that the morning cup of coffee or tea can have its origins in these ancient mountains.

Mountains filled with history

The Sahyadris also became natural fortresses.

Shivaji Maharaj and the Marathas understood the mountains extraordinarily well. Forts such as Raigad, Rajgad and Sinhagad were built into the landscape itself.

Steep cliffs, narrow passes, hidden valleys and forested slopes became part of a remarkable mountain strategy.

The Western Ghats therefore hold not only forests and wildlife but layers of human history.

Sacred mountains

The Ghats are filled with sacred landscapes — Sabarimala, Kollur, Sringeri, Kukke Subrahmanya, Talakaveri, Agasthyamalai and countless smaller shrines, sacred groves and temple forests.

Here the mountain is not merely beautiful.

It is sacred, protective and alive.

Perhaps the best way to explore the Western Ghats

Sahyadris of Maharashtra — forts, cliffs, monsoon and plateaus

Goa & Karnataka Ghats — forests, waterfalls and wildlife

Coorg & Brahmagiri — coffee, forests and sacred landscapes

Nilgiris — shola forests, grasslands and Toda culture

Anamalais & Munnar — tea, high mountains and wildlife

Periyar & Cardamom Hills — forests, elephants and spices

Agasthyamalai — one of the most ancient and biologically remarkable corners of the Ghats

School series 39

The North-East Hills — India’s Green Frontier

When we think of Indian mountains, the Himalayas of Kashmir, Himachal and Uttarakhand usually come first. But travel eastward and the mountains begin to change character.

The North-East is a world of hills wrapped in extraordinary greenery, deep forests, clouds, waterfalls and valleys. Here the mountains are not merely high peaks to be conquered. They are living landscapes — inhabited, cultivated and woven into the traditions of many different peoples.

The North-East includes Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya and Sikkim. The hills themselves belong to several interconnected mountain systems, including the eastern Himalayas and the Patkai, Naga, Mizo and Khasi-Jaintia ranges.

Arunachal Pradesh — where the Himalayas begin their great turn

Arunachal is perhaps the most dramatic of the North-East.

Snow-covered Himalayan mountains, deep river valleys, forests that seem almost untouched, and remote settlements make it feel like another India.

Tawang has its high mountains and monastery. Ziro has its beautiful valley and distinctive Apatani landscape. Mechuka feels almost hidden from the rest of the country. Namdapha descends from Himalayan heights into one of India's great forests.

And the people are as important as the scenery — Monpa, Apatani, Adi, Nyishi, Mishmi and many other communities have developed remarkably different ways of living in these mountains.

Meghalaya — mountains made of rain

Meghalaya is almost a world created by water.

The Khasi, Jaintia and Garo Hills rise from the surrounding plains, catching enormous quantities of monsoon rain. Waterfalls pour over cliffs, clouds drift through forests, and streams disappear into deep gorges.

And then there is something extraordinary:

living root bridges.

People of the Khasi region learned to guide the roots of rubber fig trees across streams and ravines, patiently creating bridges that continue to grow stronger with age.

Here, the forest is not simply something people live beside. It becomes part of their engineering, culture and everyday life.

Nagaland — mountains of many peoples

Nagaland is a land of ridges, valleys and mountain villages.

Its landscape is beautiful, but what makes it particularly fascinating is its extraordinary cultural diversity. The Naga peoples comprise numerous communities, each with its own traditions, dress, music and history.

The Dzüko Valley, shared by Nagaland and Manipur, is one of those landscapes that looks almost unreal — a broad green valley surrounded by mountains.

The hills here remind us that a mountain range can be more than geology. It can shape an entire civilisation.

Mizoram — the land of blue hills

Mizoram is famous for its parallel ranges of hills, covered in extraordinary greenery.

The slopes seem to roll endlessly into the distance, giving rise to the poetic description “land of the blue mountains.”

Mizoram is also closely associated with bamboo. The plant grows abundantly here and has traditionally been used for houses, baskets, tools and countless everyday purposes.

Aizawl itself is remarkable — a city climbing and spreading across steep hills rather than sitting on a flat plain.

Manipur — hills around a floating world

Manipur gives us another extraordinary combination: mountains surrounding a valley containing a floating lake.

Loktak Lake, with its floating masses of vegetation called phumdis, is one of India's most unusual landscapes.

Beyond the valley rise the Manipur hills, home to many communities and forests.

And Shirui Hills has its own botanical treasure — the Shirui lily, found naturally in this region.

Tripura — the smaller hills of the East

Tripura's hills are gentler than the great Himalayan ranges farther north, but they have their own character — forests, bamboo, valleys and tribal landscapes.

The Jampui Hills, rising in northern Tripura, are particularly beautiful.

Tripura reminds us that “mountain country” does not always mean snow peaks. Hills can be modest in height and still profoundly shape the life of a region.

And then comes Sikkim

Sikkim belongs naturally in this story even though it is geographically distinct from much of the North-East.

Here the mountains return to their great Himalayan scale.

Kanchenjunga dominates the landscape, while valleys, forests, monasteries and high-altitude lakes create an extraordinary succession of environments.

From subtropical forests to alpine meadows and snowfields, Sikkim compresses several worlds into a very small area.

What makes the North-East different?

Perhaps this:

The Himalayas here do not simply end. They transform.

The great snowy mountains gradually become heavily forested ranges, then folded green hills, then misty ridges disappearing into clouds.

And everywhere, mountains and people are closely connected.

The North-East therefore deserves to be explored not as one geographical region, but as a collection of fascinating mountain worlds:

Arunachal — the great eastern Himalayas

Sikkim — the high Himalayan world

Meghalaya — rain, caves and living forests

Nagaland — mountain cultures and valleys

Manipur — hills, valley and the floating Loktak

Mizoram — the blue hills

Tripura — forested eastern hills

School series 38

Arunachal Pradesh — Where India Meets the Sky

Arunachal Pradesh feels different from almost anywhere else in India.

Here the Himalayas do not merely form a spectacular backdrop. They shape the lives of the people who live among them. Mountains rise into clouds, rivers cut through deep valleys, forests seem endless, and tiny villages appear almost hidden in the green.

It is India's easternmost Himalayan frontier, and appropriately, the first rays of the sun touch Arunachal before much of the rest of India.

But its greatest wonder may not be its mountains.

It is its people.

More than a landscape, Arunachal is a meeting place of many ancient communities—Monpa, Apatani, Nyishi, Adi, Galo, Mishmi and many others. Their languages, houses, ornaments, festivals, farming traditions and relationship with the forest are remarkably diverse. A journey of a few hundred kilometres can feel like entering another cultural world.

And then there are the mountains.

Tawang sits high in the Himalayas, surrounded by enormous peaks and valleys. Its monastery, perched in this dramatic landscape, gives the place an extraordinary sense of stillness. The journey itself is part of the experience—winding roads, waterfalls, snowfields and high mountain passes.

Then comes Sela Pass, where the landscape can suddenly become almost surreal: snow, bare mountains, blue skies and the famous Sela Lake lying quietly amid them.

Further east, the character changes.

Ziro Valley is gentler—a beautiful green valley surrounded by hills, home to the Apatani people. Their traditional agricultural practices, especially their remarkable system of wetland rice cultivation combined with fish farming, show how closely human ingenuity can work with nature.

And deeper still are the forests.

Namdapha is one of India's great wildernesses, where tropical forests climb towards Himalayan heights. Few places demonstrate so dramatically how many different worlds can exist within one state.

There are also places that seem almost mythical: Mechuka, tucked away in a remote mountain valley; Dong, associated with India's earliest sunrise; the Siang and Lohit rivers; waterfalls, bamboo forests and villages reached only after long journeys.

What makes Arunachal memorable is therefore not one monument or one mountain.

It is the feeling of discovery.

A road disappears around a bend and suddenly there is a valley.

A forest opens and a village appears.

A river rushes below a suspension bridge.

Snow begins where the forest ends.

And people whose traditions have evolved in these mountains for generations welcome you into a world very different from the one you left behind.

Arunachal is not merely a place to see. It is a place to wonder about.

And perhaps that is the right way to revisit it—not as a state on a map, but as one of India's last great landscapes of mystery: mountains, forests, rivers and people living at the edge of the sky.

School series 37

Nepal — The Himalayan Kingdom of Sacred Mountains

Nepal is a small country in area, but enormous in Himalayan significance. Stretching from the Terai plains to the roof of the world, it contains some of the highest mountains on Earth.

The Himalayas

Nepal is home to Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain at 8,848.86 metres. But Everest is only one of many magnificent peaks. Kanchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu, Dhaulagiri, Manaslu and Annapurna are among the other great Himalayan mountains.

The mountains are not merely geographical features. They have long been associated with spirituality, meditation and the sacred.

Kathmandu — Valley of Temples

The Kathmandu Valley is an extraordinary cultural landscape containing Hindu temples and Buddhist stupas side by side.

Among its treasures are:

Pashupatinath, one of the most sacred Shiva temples

Boudhanath, one of the world's great Buddhist stupas

Swayambhunath, the famous hilltop "Monkey Temple"

Jal Narayana temple. A marvelous image of Narayana resting in the open just a tent like structure over open on all sides. For exceptional viewing. 

The ancient cities of Patan and Bhaktapur

Here Hinduism and Buddhism have lived alongside each other for centuries.

Lumbini — Birthplace of the Buddha

In southern Nepal lies Lumbini, traditionally regarded as the birthplace of Gautama Buddha.

It transforms Nepal from being merely the land of the Himalayas into a land associated with one of humanity's greatest spiritual teachers.

Pokhara — Mountains Reflected in Water

Pokhara offers another face of Nepal.

The peaceful Phewa Lake reflects the Annapurna range, while waterfalls, caves and mountain trails surround the city.

It is one of those places where the grandeur of the Himalayas becomes almost gentle.

Rivers and Valleys

Nepal's great rivers—including the Koshi, Gandaki and Karnali—cut through the Himalayas and eventually flow into India.

The deep gorges and valleys created by these rivers are as remarkable as the mountains themselves.

A Land of Many Peoples

Nepal is culturally diverse, with numerous ethnic communities, languages, traditions and festivals.

Sherpa culture is particularly associated with the high Himalayas and Everest region, while the Newar heritage of Kathmandu Valley has produced remarkable architecture, sculpture and craftsmanship.

Nepal in One Thought

Nepal is where the world's highest mountains meet some of Asia's oldest spiritual traditions.

In Nepal, the Himalayas do not merely rise above the land; they seem to rise into the realm of the sacred.

Sikkim — The Himalayan Garden

If Nepal is the great Himalayan realm, Sikkim feels like a Himalayan garden.

A small state tucked between Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet, Sikkim is famous for its mountains, monasteries, forests, waterfalls and spectacular views of Kanchenjunga.

Kanchenjunga — The Sacred Giant

The defining presence of Sikkim is Kanchenjunga, rising to 8,586 metres.

It is the world's third-highest mountain and is deeply revered by the people of Sikkim.

The mountain is not simply admired from afar. It forms part of the spiritual identity of the state.

Gangtok

Gangtok, the capital, sits on a mountain ridge surrounded by forests and valleys.

It combines modern Sikkim with its Buddhist heritage and is an ideal starting point for exploring the state.

Monasteries of Sikkim

Sikkim has a rich Buddhist heritage.

Rumtek Monastery is one of its most important monasteries and an important centre of the Karma Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.

Other monasteries, including Pemayangtse and Tashiding, sit in extraordinarily beautiful mountain settings.

Here the monasteries do not feel separate from nature. They seem almost to grow out of the mountains.

Tsomgo Lake

High in the mountains lies Tsomgo Lake, also called Changu Lake.

Its waters change character with the seasons, and the surrounding snow-covered landscape gives it an almost otherworldly appearance.

Yumthang — The Valley of Flowers

Yumthang Valley is often called the Valley of Flowers of Sikkim.

During spring, rhododendrons and other alpine flowers transform the valley into a spectacular natural garden.

And then there is Khecheopalri Lake, regarded as sacred by both Buddhists and Hindus.

A State of Forests

Sikkim is remarkably rich in biodiversity for such a small state.

Its landscape changes dramatically with altitude—from subtropical vegetation to temperate forests and finally alpine landscapes.

Rhododendrons, orchids and other Himalayan plants flourish here.

A Meeting of Cultures

Sikkim's history has been shaped by Lepcha, Bhutia and Nepali communities.

Their traditions, languages, food, festivals and religious practices have given the state a distinctive cultural identity.

Sikkim in One Thought

Sikkim is where the Himalayas seem to slow down—where great mountains, quiet monasteries, sacred lakes and flowering valleys exist in extraordinary harmony.

Nepal and Sikkim — Two Himalayan Stories

There is a lovely contrast between them:

Nepal — vast Himalayan ranges, Everest, ancient Kathmandu, Lumbini and great trekking routes.

Sikkim — Kanchenjunga, monasteries, forests, lakes, orchids and peaceful mountain valleys.

Both remind us of something wonderful:

The Himalayas are not one landscape. They are a thousand landscapes, each with its own character, culture and sacred story.