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Odisha Part 11: Discovering the Jaina Heritage of Odisha at the caves of Udaygiri and Khandgiri

The Hindu and Buddhist history of Odisha , or rather, ancient Kalinga, is rather well known to everyone. Who hasn’t heard of the grand temples of Odisha – Puri, Lingaraj and Konark, or the great war of Kalinga which inspired Ashoka to convert to Buddhism? In contrast, very few know of the Jaina heritage of this region. This is quite a pity, since, just around 7 km from the city, is one of India’s most ancient inscriptions, which throws light on the Jaina heritage of Odisha. This inscription is the Hathigumpha inscription of Kharavela, in the hills of Udaygiri. Udaygiri and Khandgiri are two hills located opposite each other, and both are testaments to the rich Jaina heritage of Odisha. The caves at Udaygiri are older, while Khandgiri is relatively newer, but has lasted much longer, and continues to be a place of pilgrimage for Jains even today. These hills, from inscriptions and excavations of caves, shrines and rock beds, appear to have been a haven for Jaina monks, right from the ...
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Our favourite Ganesha this year

This one certainly has to be the best one we have seen so far... not the Ganesha, the decoration, of course!! I am talking about the Ganpati at Chembur Station.

The Ganesha himself is rather nice....


.... and the decoration is based on Mumbai roads.....



Of course, not the potholed roads of reality, but the smooth and traffic-less roads we dream will be a reality someday....

But the main attraction here is the Monorail.... which is right now making life for us miserable, with all the roads being dug up, but which will hopefully bring some respite for us when it is finally ready in the distant future....
As of now, the model of this monorail runs smoothly to and fro, thrilling each and every visitor to this Pandal...


Samhith insisted on staying put till the Monorail made a couple of journeys to and fro, leaving only when a huge crowd entered, and the attendant politely asked us to leave!!! But at least now he knows what the monorail will look like!!!

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  1. UshaSeptember 18, 2010 at 11:28 AM

    I remember the conversation with him about the monorail; this was in an auto on our way back to the building from his music class. And I remember thinking how he is the only person I know in Mumbai who is looking at all the digging positively :)

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  2. chitraSeptember 18, 2010 at 3:55 PM

    I am sure Samhith would have liked to stay in pandal for long.. So fascinating it looks. .All these festivals fills the mind with happiness.

    ReplyDelete
  3. MridulaSeptember 18, 2010 at 10:26 PM

    I can see that Samhith would have been fascinated by the monorail!

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousSeptember 18, 2010 at 11:11 PM

    Oh lovely theme!! thats a gorgeous Ganesha!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anuradha ShankarSeptember 19, 2010 at 3:03 PM

    @Usha: Oh yes, i remember that conversation. he is still in favour of all that digging, but cant understand why they cant repair our road too... its much worse now... but he actually understood what the monorail would look like only when he saw it...

    @Chitra: oh yes... he would love to stay there all day long, but so would all the other kids too :) and some of these pandals are quite crowded, so they push us out after a while...

    @Mridula: oh, he's absolutely fascinated... cant wait for it!

    @Patty: oh yes, it certainly was the best one we have seen this year :)

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