UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Intangible cultural heritage

Deepavali was inscribed on 10 December 2025 at the 20th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, held at the Red Fort, New Delhi, the first time India hosted this Committee. It became India's sixteenth element on UNESCO's intangible heritage lists, under the domain 'social practices, rituals and festive events'.

The Kumbh Mela, described by UNESCO as the largest peaceful congregation of pilgrims on earth, was inscribed in 2017, so statement 1 is correct. It is held in rotation at four river sites: Haridwar (Ganga), Prayagraj (confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati), Ujjain (Shipra) and Nashik (Godavari), so statement 2 is correct.

The Buddhist chanting of Ladakh was inscribed in 2012, so statement 1 is correct. Kutiyattam is the ancient Sanskrit theatre of Kerala, performed in temple theatres (koothambalams), so statement 2 is correct. The Sangeet Natak Akademi, under the Ministry of Culture, is the nodal body that prepares India's nominations (it prepared the Deepavali file) and maintains the National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage, so statement 3 is correct.

The Red Fort Complex covers the Red Fort (Lal Qila) of Shahjahanabad, built from 1639 to 1648, and the adjoining Salimgarh Fort, built in 1546 by Islam Shah Suri (Salim Shah), son of Sher Shah, on an island of the Yamuna. A bridge links the two. The Purana Qila, Tughlaqabad and the Jama Masjid are separate monuments outside the property.

The roughly thirty Ajanta caves, Buddhist monasteries (viharas) and prayer halls (chaityas) from about the 2nd century BCE to the 5th–6th century CE, are cut into a horseshoe- shaped scarp of basalt above the Waghora river in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad) district of Maharashtra. The site was inscribed in 1983 along with Ellora, the Agra Fort and the Taj Mahal.

India's first four World Heritage properties, all inscribed in 1983, were the Ajanta Caves, the Ellora Caves, the Agra Fort and the Taj Mahal, so statement 1 is correct. The Elephanta Caves off Mumbai were inscribed later, in 1987, the same year as Pattadakal and the Great Living Chola Temples (first Brihadisvara). Statement 2 is wrong.

The serial property Hill Forts of Rajasthan, inscribed in 2013, has six components: Chittorgarh, Kumbhalgarh, Ranthambore, Gagron, Amber and Jaisalmer. Of the forts listed, only Kumbhalgarh is a component. Mehrangarh (Jodhpur), Junagarh (Bikaner) and Taragarh (Ajmer) are famous Rajput forts but are not part of the property.

The Qutb property (inscribed 1993) includes the Qutb Minar, the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque, the Alai Darwaza and the unfinished Alai Minar of Alauddin Khalji, the Gupta-period Iron Pillar, and the tombs of Iltutmish, Alauddin Khalji and Imam Zamin. The tomb of Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq stands at Tughlaqabad, several kilometres away, and is not part of it.

Garba was the latest inclusion among these (c). Garba of Gujarat was added to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list in December 2023, as India's 15th element. Option (b) is wrong: Durga Puja in Kolkata was added earlier, in 2021. Option (d) is wrong: Kumbh Mela was added in 2017. Option (a) is wrong: Chhau dance, of Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal, was added in 2010. So Garba is the most recent of the four.

Notice the later addition: Deepavali, inscribed in December 2025 at the session hosted in New Delhi. Other Indian elements include Yoga, Vedic chanting, Ramlila, Kalbelia and Navroz. Do not confuse this list with the World Heritage list of sites.

Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.

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