Kurukshetra

Kurukshetra is the setting of the Mahabharata war and, within it, of Krishna's discourse to Arjuna that forms the Bhagavad Gita, which makes the whole plain a pilgrimage landscape rather than a single site. Brahma Sarovar, a vast rectangular tank said to be among the largest sacred tanks in Asia, is its centre, filling with bathers at solar eclipses when the merit is held to be greatest. Jyotisar, a few kilometres away, marks the traditional spot of the Gita with an old banyan. Museums cover the epic, science and archaeology, and the Gita Jayanti festival runs for days in winter.

What you actually see

• Brahma Sarovar - an enormous sacred tank with bathing ghats.
• Jyotisar - the traditional site of the Gita, under an old banyan.
• The museums - epic, archaeological and science collections in the town.
• Gita Jayanti - the winter festival filling the tank precinct.

When to go

October to March; Gita Jayanti falls in November or December and is the largest gathering. Solar eclipses draw immense crowds to the tank. Haryana summers are severe.

Honest expectations

The sites are spread across a plain and need transport between them. Much of what is shown is traditional identification rather than archaeology. The town is workaday outside festival periods.

Nearby

Delhi lies south; Chandigarh is north.