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Five Raths, Mahabalipuram, India, 1986

Lacy tree branches cast their shadows on the Five Raths, seventh century Dravidian shrines to Hindu gods each carved from a single, massive granite boulder. The temples, located in Mahabalipuram in southern India, are, from left to right: The Ganesha Rath, the Durga cell, the Arjana Rath, the Bhima Rath, and the Dharmaraja Rath. The monuments were named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1984.

(Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, the National Geographic book, Our World's Heritage , 1986)

Photograph by James P. Blair