Take photos. Leave the wall alone.
Never carve, paint, scratch, stick anything on, or chip a piece off a heritage monument. The damage is permanent - and it's a crime.
'Was here' outlives you on that wall, and not in a good way.
Here's the science
- What happensCarving, painting, scratching, or chipping pieces off a protected monument
- HowDamage to historic stone and plaster can't be undone; Indian law treats harming a nationally protected monument as a punishable offence for exactly that reason
- SoPermanent, unrepairable loss of the monument - and criminal liability for whoever does it
1,00,000maximum fine, in rupees (AMASR Act 1958, s.30: up to 2 years' imprisonment, or a fine up to Rs 1,00,000, or both)
Official count - government recordIN
“destroys, removes, injures, alters, defaces, imperils or misuse a protected monument ... imprisonment which may extend to two years ... fine which may extend to one lakh rupees ... or both”
Applies to monuments of national importance under the AMASR Act (fine raised to one lakh rupees in 2010); state-protected and unprotected sites fall under separate laws.
Source: Section 30, The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 - Government of India (AMASR Act 1958), via Indian Kanoon(checked 2026-07-18)
And when we do it
Stone and plaster don't heal. Treat a monument as untouchable and it survives whole for the next generation - and you stay on the right side of the law.
You couldn't have known. Now you do.