Today children and adults alike find themselves in a world saturated with images. Educators are increasingly recognizing that visual literacy is a core twenty-first-century skill along with basic literacy, scientific and numerical literacy, and cross-disciplinary skills. About the Author Nachiket Chanchani is an associate professor in the Department of the History of Art at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA. He is the author of two books: Mountain Temples and Temple Mountains: Architecture, Religion, and Nature in the Central Himalayas (2019) and Amaruśataka and the Lives of Indian Love Poems (2022). His other writings have appeared in such refereed journals as Archives of Asian Art, Ars Orientalis, Artibus Asiae, Arts Asiatiques, History of Photography, RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics, and South Asian Studies. Nachiket also periodically writes on cultural policy for the editorial and opinion pages of The Hindu and the Indian Express newspapers. He has been involved with curatorial projects at many museums including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Art Institute of Chicago, Detroit Institute of Arts, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya in Mumbai, and the Assam State Museum in Guwahati. His research has been supported by the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (Amsterdam), Kunsthistorisches- Institut Max Planck Institute (Florence), Smithsonian Institution (Washington DC), Forum Transregionale Studien (Berlin), and other organizations. He is currently serving on several advisory boards and committees. What makes the Great Stupa at Sanchi significant? How were the caves at Ellora carved? Why is the Rudreshwara Temple in Palampet considered innovative? How old are the Khajuraho temples? Why are the Great Living Chola Temples named thus? Who built the many churches and convents of Goa? What makes the Taj Mahal one of the wonders of the world? Follow along as art historian Nachiket Chanchani takes a trip across the country to answer many questions like these about India’s innumerable works of art and architecture. Discover thirty-two monumental architectural complexes scattered in distant corners of the country, which serve as milestones in the history of India, from prehistory to the present, and learn how to interpret, recognize, appreciate, and understand history as real historians do through fun and easy activities. Start your journey by analyzing cave art in the Bhimbetka rock shelters from 8000 BCE, then use a sundial in the thirteenth-century Konark Sun Temple to tell the time, before finally building the Open Hand Monument in Le Corbusier’s post-Independence Capitol Complex. This innovative and richly illustrated book strives to inculcate visual literacy among readers of all ages by teaching them how to interpret, recognize, appreciate, and understand information presented through ensembles of buildings, objects, and symbols crafted in India over the ages. About the Author Nachiket Chanchani is an associate professor in the Department of the History of Art at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA. He is the author of two books: Mountain Temples and Temple Mountains: Architecture, Religion, and Nature in the Central Himalayas (2019) and Amarusataka and the Lives of Indian Love Poems (2022). His other writings have appeared in such refereed journals as Archives of Asian Art, Ars Orientalis, Artibus Asiae, Arts Asiatiques, History of Photography, RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics, and South Asian Studies. Nachiket also periodically writes on cultural policy for the editorial and opinion pages of The Hindu and the Indian Express newspapers. He has been involved with curatorial projects at many museums including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Art Institute of Chicago, Detroit Institute of Arts, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya in Mumbai, and the Assam State Museum in Guwahati. His research has been supported by the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (Amsterdam), Kunsthistorisches- Institut Max Planck Institute (Florence), Smithsonian Institution (Washington DC), Forum Transregionale Studien (Berlin), and other organizations. He is currently serving on several advisory boards and committees.