Journal

India, as the oldpainters saw it

Five paintings, one journey, from Kerala to the mountains. Scroll down.

One · Kerala

Kerala beginswith a legend

The story goes that Parashurama threw his axe into the sea, and the water drew back to leave the land between the hills and the coast. That land is Kerala, and it is where every one of our journeys begins.

Two · Kathakali

Some stories aredanced, not told

A swan carries word of King Nala's love to Princess Damayanti. Two centuries on, Kathakali still brings their story to the stage, as the Nalacharitham.

Three · The Ganges

Then north,to the river

At Varanasi the city comes down to the Ganges in long flights of stone steps, the ghats, where people have bathed and prayed for centuries. The steps Thomas Daniell painted are still there.

Four · Agra

Throughthe gateway

In Agra a great red sandstone gateway opens onto the Taj Mahal, the white marble tomb Shah Jahan built for Mumtaz Mahal.

Five · The Himalaya

And up intothe mountains

From Sikkim and the hills of Darjeeling, Kanchenjunga rises above everything around it, the third-highest mountain on Earth. On a clear morning it fills the northern sky.