Southern India brings you the vibrant images of the country's most ancient beginnings, but also of its brash and bustling modernity. The startling rockhewn cave temples of Ajanta and Ellora are a day's journey from mighty Mumbai, itself a high temple of the nation's dynamic commerce -- and exuberant cinema industry. Down the east coast, noble gopuram towers guard the Hindu shrines of Thanjavur and Madurai, mirrored inland by the skyscrapers of India's hi-tech revolution in Bangalore and Hyderabad. Not forgetting the west coast's gorgeous Goa, one of Asia's most coveted beach resorts.

Southern India brings you the vibrant images of the country's most ancient beginnings, but also of its brash and bustling modernity. The startling rockhewn cave temples of Ajanta and Ellora are a day's journey from mighty Mumbai, itself a high temple of the nation's dynamic commerce -- and exuberant cinema industry. Down the east coast, noble gopuram towers guard the Hindu shrines of Thanjavur and Madurai, mirrored inland by the skyscrapers of India's hi-tech revolution in Bangalore and Hyderabad. Not forgetting the west coast's gorgeous Goa, one of Asia's most coveted beach resorts.