Famously, it also served as the prison of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, imprisoned there by his own son Aurangzeb, the last of the Great Mughals.  The old Shah Jahan would stare out of the palace window towards the Taj Mahal, which he had ordered built in memory of his wife Murg Mumtaz.

Herein lies the second of the Great Mughals.

Despite the stifling heat and discomfort in the train carriage, this young man was more than happy to pose for me – after fixing his hair.

Beautiful symmetry and ornate carvings grace the ceilings of the Jain Adinatha Temple in Ranakpur, Rajasthan.  See this ceiling in greater detail.

Jaisalmer is a desert city located in the Thar Desert of western Rajasthan.  Its proximity to the India-Pakistan border means there is a large military presence nearby, but the city itself is famed for its beautiful golden-brown sandstone.  Every building in the city seems to be made from it.

Jodhpur is famed not only for the trousers but also its blue houses, sometimes also called Brahmin houses because they are traditionally inhabited only by members of that caste.  The general view is that the blue wash was originally applied to help protect the houses against termites and other insects.  Rajasthan, India.

A Hindu pilgrim or sadhu (holy man), enjoys an evening game of chess on one of Varanasi’s riverside ghats.  Uttar Pradesh, India.

An elderly woman begs for alms at the Jagdish Temple in Udaipur.  Rajasthan, India.

The Golden Temple or Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar, India, is the supreme shrine in Sikhism.  Kept within the temple is the Sikh Holy Scripture.

In 1984, the temple complex was the site of a bloody battle between Indian soldiers and Sikh militants hiding inside.  The desecration of the shrine and the deaths of many civilians caused great anger amongst the Sikh community, leading to the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards.  Hundreds of Sikhs lost their lives in revenge killings in the days that followed Gandhi’s death.