The Intangibles in UNESCO Inscriptions: Case of Orchha, India and Mrauk-U, Myanmar

UNESCO World Heritage is a coveted tag for any State Party and is largely associated with tangible heritage that may be natural or cultural. The cultural heritage includes monuments, groups of monuments, and sites along with additional categories such as routes, canals, cultural landscapes, and cities. The addition of categories such as cultural landscapes and cities that are living has resulted in a greater emphasis on the intangible attributes in the world heritage inscriptions. Among the criteria for inscription, criteria (vi) are identified for recognising the intangible value of the property. Considering the cases of World Heritage Cities, a number of them are inscribed with the inclusion of criteria (vi) that recognise their strong spiritual or historic association with rituals, beliefs, ceremonies, and ideas that are tangibly linked with the property. However, it is always a challenge to establish criteria (vi) and to safeguard it as part of the management plan for the property. This chapter provides cases of two aspiring cities on the tentative list; the Historic Ensemble of Orchha on the Tentative List of India (since April 2019) and, Mrauk-U on the Tentative List of Myanmar (since 1996) to explain the challenges faced in articulating, establishing and managing the intangible attributes within the framework of the Operational Guidelines for World Heritage Nomination. In doing so, the author argues that the cultural landscape approach for nominating such sites is a more inclusive way of addressing the intangible attributes. Though these two historic ensembles date from different periods both are comparable in the Asian context, being settlements of similar scale planned in response to their natural settings. Most importantly, both cases represent a significant number of monuments which can be differentiated into two categories, those revered and associated with local beliefs of the community and the others as protected ruins. In this sense, both cases exemplify the role of intangible associational values in the sustainable management of such historic ensembles.