India’s UNESCO tentative list rises to 78 with five new heritage entries
Babushahi Bureau/AIR
New Delhi, September 29, 2026: India’s UNESCO Tentative List has increased to 78 entries with the addition of five new sites and serial and transnational proposals, highlighting the country’s rich cultural, historical and architectural heritage.
The newly added entries include the Buddhist murals of the Bagh Cave Paintings, the Group of Temples of the Chambal Valley, the Gupta-era Udaigiri Caves and the tribal heritage of Ginnorgarh.
The additions also include another heritage proposal submitted under UNESCO’s Tentative List framework, taking India’s overall count to 78.
The Tentative List is an inventory of cultural and natural heritage sites that a country considers suitable for nomination to the UNESCO World Heritage List. Inclusion on the Tentative List is an important step in the process, but it does not mean that a site has been inscribed as a World Heritage Site.
The new entries bring attention to heritage traditions spanning Buddhist art, temple architecture, ancient rock-cut sites and tribal cultural history.
India currently has 43 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, while sites on the Tentative List remain under consideration for possible futur