Meghalaya's root bridge in initial list for World Heritage Site

NEW DELHI: By adding three cultural sites to the tentative list of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites (WHS), India is reflecting its rich heritage and history as well as cultural and civilizational values.

The sites are the Geoglyphs of the Konkan region in Maharashtra, Meghalaya's JingKieng Jri, a living root bridge, and Sri Veerabhadra Temple and Monolithic Bull (Nandi) from Andhra Pradesh, making a total of 49 sites in the tentative list.

A product of human endeavour and effort, JingKieng Jri, is an aerial bridge, created by weaving and using roots of Indian Rubber tree. While the creation of such bridges may take 10 to 15 years, their life span is 500 years. These bridges built by the Jaintia and Khasi tribes personify human-environment confluence.

In case any of the sites among the 49 is selected as a WHS, India will better its existing total of 40 sites, which include the Ajanta Caves, Buddhist monuments at Sanchi, the Harappan city of Dholavira, Elephanta Caves, Ellora Caves, Konark's Sun Temple, Taj Mahal and Jaipur's Jantar Mantar among others.

For making it to the list, there are several conditions to be fulfilled. Specifying them, an official said: "The monument must be unique in some way, should have historical value and architectural merit. It must have natural heritage like Kaziranga National Park, Manas Wildlife Sanctuary, Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers National Parks, etc." (IANS)

Also Read:   Meghalaya's living root bridges make it to the tentative UNESCO list

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