Bharat Mata Mandir

Instead of an idol, this Varanasi shrine to Bharat Mata, or Mother India, holds a large relief map of undivided, pre-independence India cut from Makrana marble and close to 10 metres across. It was built by the freedom fighter Babu Shiv Prasad Gupta and opened by Mahatma Gandhi, who remarked at the inauguration that the temple had no images of gods, only the map, and hoped it would serve people of every faith and caste, Harijans included.

The map is worked at a scale of roughly one inch to 6.4 miles and picks out mountain ranges, rivers, plains and even small islands, with inscriptions recalling the country's historic cities and events. Courtyards on each level look out towards the Ganga and its ghats. A poem written for the opening by Maithili Sharan Gupt, a pioneer of modern Hindi verse, is displayed on a board inside.