Heritage Tourism

Wanderlust is the basic nature of human being. India is a vivid kaleidoscope of landscapes. Travel and tourism posit human freedom, they usually reemphasize our inherited right to visit places, to meet people and their culture, witness the great cultural heritage in the form of monument and also to take in exotic cultures with a free spirit. A tourist also makes inroads into human hearts in territories beyond his borders. It is an established phenomenon that tourism is a very productive and profitable industry all over the world. It has various facets and multi-dimensional factors behind it. It also generates various occupational opportunities as well as economic pursuits. The tariffs and related objects with tourism definitely help a place for its overall development. Ultimately tourism industry is definitely a boosting engine for the overall economic development. The present treatise is based on empirical observation on a heritage site of West Bengal, known as Bishnupur - which is signatured by great cultural heritage of architectural monuments, and had been developed by Malla dynasty. The cultural heritage of Bishnupur which signals splendours of beauty, attracts a good number of tourists even from abroad and incidentally this tourist spot is identified with the abode of folk artistes and artisan groups and their products have a tremendous market which also boost tourism industry. Bishnupur being a site of heritage tourism has emerged as one of the potential areas of tourism development. One can appreciate the cultural items of Bishnupur including the remembrance of its heritage - the Malla dynasty - through its temple architecture, terracotta engraving on the walls of the temples, etc. that clearly reflect the tangible links between past and present and also future. The artisans' products of Bishnupur are an additional attraction, for a tourist and often myths and legends, etc. are depicted and disseminated through those artisans' products which also carry extra weight to show our diversified rich Indian culture with single tone of solidarity. This book will be of immense help to Government planners, Tourism department academicians and researchers for evaluation of a tourist spot with an anthropological perspective.