Telangana

Raw marinated mutton layered with part-cooked basmati rice and cooked together on dum, the best-known dish of Hyderabad.

Broken wheat, lentils and meat cooked for hours and pounded to a smooth, rich porridge; GI-tagged and eaten across Hyderabad in Ramzan.

Long green chillies in a tangy gravy of peanuts, sesame, coconut and tamarind; the classic side dish for Hyderabadi biryani.

Small brinjals cooked whole in a rich, tangy gravy of peanuts, sesame, coconut and tamarind.

Bread fried in ghee, soaked in saffron-cardamom syrup and finished with thickened milk and nuts; Hyderabad's favourite wedding dessert.

Dried apricots soaked and stewed into a glossy, sweet compote, served with cream or custard at Hyderabadi weddings.

Thin slices of marinated mutton cooked on a heated slab of stone, a speciality of old Hyderabad.

Mutton and chana dal cooked together with bottle gourd and tamarind, a sour-spiced stew served with bagara khana.

Toor dal soured with tamarind and tomato and tempered with garlic, red chillies and curry leaves; an everyday Hyderabadi dal.

Rice cooked with whole spices, fried onions and mint; the fragrant everyday rice of Hyderabad, served with dalcha or salan.

A Hyderabadi weekend breakfast of soft masoor-dal khichdi with a sour tamarind sauce (khatta) and spiced minced meat.

A smooth, tangy tomato curry tempered with garlic and curry leaves and served topped with halved boiled eggs.

A vigorous dance of the Kakatiya age, once performed by warriors before Lord Shiva before going to battle, and revived in the twentieth century.

The circle dance and songs of Telangana's women around a tower of seasonal flowers, performed every evening of the nine-day Bathukamma festival.

The dance of the Raj Gond people of Adilabad, performed by men in tall peacock-feather headgear during the Dandari festival around Diwali.

The dance of Banjara (Lambadi) women of Telangana, known for its mirror-work skirts, heavy silver jewellery and graceful circling movements.

A folk ballad theatre of the Kuruma and Golla (Yadava) communities, telling stories of deities such as Mallanna to the beat of the small oggu drum.

Telangana's state festival of flowers, celebrated by women for nine days during Navratri. Flowers are stacked in conical layers, worshipped with songs, and immersed in lakes.

A festival of the Goddess Mahankali celebrated in Hyderabad and Secunderabad in the month of Ashadha. Women carry bonam, rice cooked with milk and jaggery in decorated pots, as an offering.

A Shakti Peetha at Alampur, Jogulamba Gadwal district, where Sati's teeth is said to have fallen. The Goddess is worshipped here as Jogulamba.

One of India's oldest and largest mosques, begun in 1617 under the Qutb Shahi dynasty.

The four-minaret monument at the heart of old Hyderabad, built in 1591 by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, the founder of the city.

A hilltop fort on the western edge of Hyderabad that grew from an early mud fort into the capital of the Qutb Shahi kings.

A thirteenth-century Shiva temple of the Kakatiyas at Palampet, known for its sculpture and light floating bricks, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The ruins of the Kakatiya capital at Warangal, with its carved stone gateways, and the star-shaped Thousand Pillar Temple at nearby Hanamkonda.

A major Rama temple on the banks of the Godavari, linked with the seventeenth-century saint-poet Bhakta Ramadas.

One of India's national museums, built around the vast art collection of Mir Yousuf Ali Khan, Salar Jung III, on the banks of the Musi in Hyderabad.

A forest village in Mulugu district where the Koya tribal goddesses Sammakka and Saralamma are honoured at a huge fair held once every two years.

13th-century temple built with 'floating' bricks.