To provide asymmetric propagation of light, we propose a graded index photonic crystal (GRIN PC) based waveguide configuration that is formed by introducing line and point defects as well as intentional perturbations inside the structure. The designed system utilizes isotropic materials and is purely reciprocal, linear, and time-independent, since neither magneto-optical materials are used nor time-reversal symmetry is broken. The numerical results show that the proposed scheme based on the spatial-inversion symmetry breaking has different forward (with a peak value of 49.8%) and backward transmissions (4.11% at most) as well as relatively small round-trip transmission (at most 7.11%) in a large operational bandwidth of 52.6 nm. The signal contrast ratio of the designed configuration is above 0.80 in the telecom wavelengths of 1523.5-1576.1 nm. An experimental measurement is also conducted in the microwave regime: A strong asymmetric propagation characteristic is observed within the frequency interval of 12.8 GHz-13.3 GHz. The numerical and experimental results confirm the asymmetric transmission behavior of the proposed GRIN PC waveguide. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.