Madhya Pradesh

Steamed flattened rice with onion, fennel and a tangy spice mix called jeeravan, topped with sev. Indore’s everyday breakfast, often eaten with hot jalebi.

Wheat dough balls boiled, then baked and soaked in ghee, served with spiced dal. The feast dish of Malwa.

Grated sweet corn cooked in milk with green chillies and mustard seeds, a savoury snack from Indore.

Cubes of purple yam fried crisp and tossed with a tangy spice mix and lemon, a winter street snack of Indore.

Potato patties stuffed with sweet-spicy coconut, dry fruits and green chilli, fried crisp. An Indore speciality.

Soft urad dal vadas in thick, lightly sweet curd, topped with spice powders and sometimes tossed high in the air as they are served.

Not the lemonade of North India but a thick, sweet milk drink with saffron, cardamom and nuts, sold in Indore’s markets.

Crisp gram flour noodles spiced with cloves, black pepper and ajwain. A GI-tagged snack from Ratlam.

Fried khoya dumplings stuffed with dry fruits and soaked in sugar syrup, a rich sweet of Malwa.

Dark, thick jalebis made from khoya, fried in ghee and dipped in syrup. A sweet Jabalpur is known for.

Thin, brittle sheets of sesame and jaggery, beaten until flaky. The winter sweet of Morena in the Chambal region.

Crisp puris stuffed with spiced urad dal, eaten with a thin, tangy potato curry. A breakfast of Gwalior and the Chambal region.

A fast, joyful folk dance of Bundelkhand in which a woman dancer whirls to the beat of the dhol and nagadia while male singers and drummers answer her.

A Bundelkhand dance of congratulation, performed when a child is born, at weddings and when a wish has been fulfilled.

A graceful dance of Malwa women who balance earthen pots (matki) on their heads while dancing at weddings and festivals.

The musical folk theatre of Malwa, centred on Ujjain, in which actors sing the dialogue of popular stories on an open-air stage through the night.

A circle-and-line dance of the Gond, Baiga and other tribes of the Mandla and Dindori hills, performed in honour of the karma tree and the harvest.

A festival of the Bhil and Bhilala communities of western Madhya Pradesh held in weekly markets in the week before Holi, after the harvest, with music, dance and colourful dress.

The Jyotirlinga of Ujjain, where Shiva is worshipped as Mahakal and the linga faces south (dakshinamurti). It is also counted among the 18 Maha Shakti Peethas, the Goddess here being Mahakali.

A Jyotirlinga on an island in the Narmada said to be shaped like the sacred syllable Om.

Ancient Avantika: a Sapta Puri, a Kumbh Mela city (the Simhastha) and home of the Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga.

A Shakti Peetha at Trikut hill, Maihar, where Sati's necklace is said to have fallen. The Goddess is worshipped here as Sharada.

A Shakti Peetha at Amarkantak, Anuppur district, where Sati's right buttock is said to have fallen. The Goddess is worshipped here as Narmada.

A Shakti Peetha at Ujjain, where Sati's elbow is said to have fallen. The Goddess is worshipped here as Avanti.

A Shakti Peetha at Rangir, Sagar district, where Sati's thigh is said to have fallen. The Goddess is worshipped here as Harsiddhi.

The Great Stupa begun by Emperor Ashoka, with finely carved gateways; a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Hindu and Jain temples built under the Chandela rulers, famous for their soaring spires and finely carved sculpture.

The Great Stupa of Sanchi, begun in the time of Emperor Ashoka, with its richly carved stone gateways.

Natural rock shelters in the Vindhya hills with paintings made by people who lived there from the Stone Age onwards.

One of the twelve jyotirlingas of Shiva, in the ancient city of Ujjain on the Shipra river.

A hilltop fort with palaces and temples, long known as one of the strongest forts in India.

A ruined fort city on the edge of the Malwa plateau, with Afghan-style palaces, mosques and tombs among baobab trees.

The old Bundela capital on the Betwa river, with palaces, temples and a row of royal chhatris (cenotaphs).

Sal forests and open meadows in the Maikal hills, home to tigers and the hard-ground barasingha.

Madhya Pradesh’s only hill station, in the Satpura range, with waterfalls, gorges, caves and forest.

The Narmada flows through a gorge of white and coloured marble cliffs near Jabalpur.

Chandela-era Hindu and Jain temples famed for their sculpture.

The Great Stupa begun by Emperor Ashoka, with carved gateways.

Rock shelters with paintings from the Stone Age onwards.