Gujarat

Steamed, fermented rice-and-chana-dal cakes with a mustard-seed tempering.

Soft, spiced flatbreads of wheat flour and fenugreek leaves that keep well for days, the travel food of Gujarati families.

A mixed winter vegetable dish slow-cooked with green garlic, coconut and fenugreek dumplings. It is eaten on Uttarayan.

Thin rolls of gram flour cooked in buttermilk, tempered with mustard seeds, sesame and curry leaves.

Spongy, steamed gram flour cakes, soaked in a sweet-sour tempering. Often confused with dhokla, which is made from a fermented rice and lentil batter.

A savoury baked cake of fermented rice and lentil batter with bottle gourd, crisp on the outside and soft inside.

A thin, gently sweet and sour curd and gram flour soup tempered with ghee, cloves and curry leaves.

Toor dal cooked thin with jaggery, kokum or tamarind, peanuts and whole spices, balancing sweet, sour and hot.

A quick tangy tomato curry topped with crunchy besan sev, a favourite of Kathiyawadi dhabas and homes.

Long, crisp strips of besan dough fried golden and eaten with papaya sambharo, fried green chillies and kadhi-style chutney.

Thin wheat crackers roasted slowly until crisp, with flavours such as methi, jeera or masala.

Steamed rolls of flour and fenugreek leaves, sliced and tempered with sesame and mustard seeds.

A circular devotional dance around a lamp or an image of the Goddess, danced through the nine nights of Navratri.

A lively Navratri dance in which pairs of dancers strike decorated wooden sticks in rhythm as they move in two circles.

A work dance from the Chorwad area of Saurashtra in which women beat the floor with long wooden poles while they sing.

An energetic drum dance of the Siddi community of Gujarat, whose ancestors came to India from East Africa.

A travelling folk theatre of Gujarat that mixes music, dance, comedy and social satire, traditionally performed in honour of the Goddess Amba.

The circular devotional dance of Gujarat around a lamp, danced through the nine nights of Navratri.

The Gujarati New Year, on the day after Diwali (Kartika Shukla Pratipada), when the Vikram Samvat year begins in Gujarat. People greet each other with "Saal Mubarak" and temples offer Annakut.

Gujarat dances through the nine nights of Navratri in circles around a lamp or image of the Goddess. UNESCO inscribed the Garba of Gujarat as intangible heritage of humanity in 2023.

Gujarat's Makar Sankranti, when the skies fill with kites. Ahmedabad hosts the International Kite Festival.

The first of the twelve Jyotirlingas, on the Arabian Sea coast. Destroyed and rebuilt many times, the present temple was rebuilt after Independence and opened in 1951.

The Jyotirlinga of Shiva as Nageshwar, lord of serpents, on the Saurashtra coast near Dwarka.

The western dham of the Char Dham, the temple of Krishna as king of Dwarka (Dwarkadhish), where the Gomti meets the Arabian Sea.

Krishna's city on the Arabian Sea: Dvaravati of the Sapta Puri, and home of the Dwarkadhish temple of the Char Dham.

A Shakti Peetha at near the Somnath temple, Prabhas Patan, where Sati's stomach is said to have fallen. The Goddess is worshipped here as Chandrabhaga.

A Shakti Peetha at Ambaji and Gabbar hill, Banaskantha district, where Sati's heart is said to have fallen. The Goddess is worshipped here as Amba.

A Shakti Peetha at Pavagadh hill, Panchmahal district, where Sati's toe of the right foot is said to have fallen. The Goddess is worshipped here as Mahakali.

The western matha founded by Adi Shankaracharya.

Over 800 Jain temples on the Shatrunjaya hill, sacred to Rishabhanatha, the first Tirthankara.

A sacred mountain with Jain temples linked with Neminatha, the 22nd Tirthankara, and Hindu shrines on its peaks.

The holiest fire temple of the Parsis, whose sacred fire has burned for over a thousand years.

A seaside temple of Lord Shiva at Prabhas Patan, revered as the first of the twelve Jyotirlingas.

The temple of Krishna as King of Dwarka, on the bank of the Gomti where it meets the sea. Dwarka is one of the Char Dham.

An 11th-century stepwell on the Saraswati river, carved with hundreds of sculptures, mostly of Vishnu's avatars.

A hill fort, temples, mosques and the remains of a pre-Mughal city at the foot and on top of Pavagadh hill.

The walled old city founded by Sultan Ahmad Shah in 1411, with carved wooden pol houses, mosques and temples. India's first World Heritage City.

One of the largest Harappan cities, on Khadir island in the Rann of Kachchh, famous for its water reservoirs.

Dry deciduous forest in Saurashtra, the only place in the world where Asiatic lions live in the wild.

A vast seasonal salt marsh that dries into a white desert in winter, home to craft villages and the Rann Utsav.

A 182-metre statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel near the Sardar Sarovar Dam, the tallest statue in the world.

Hill fortress, temples, mosques and a pre-Mughal city.

11th-century stepwell carved with hundreds of sculptures.

India's first World Heritage City, with its pols (traditional neighbourhoods).

Harappan city in the Rann of Kachchh with remarkable water management.

Circular devotional dance of Navratri.