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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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Faces in the Crowd - Temple vendor at Nashik

One of my resolutions this year is to post as often as I can. And to make it a bit easier for myself, I have decided to use some of the photos I have clicked, but never used. And some of these photos are of complete strangers - people I saw and clicked on my travels, but people I know little about. Hence the title, Faces in the Crowd.... And here is the first one.....





We saw her outside the Kala Ram Temple at Nashik, selling offerings for the deity. There was a time when I used to love the sugar offerings she sells - we used to call them 'batasha', but try as I might, I was unable to find the English word for them.  Anyway, I clicked a quick photo of her wares, and she called out to me "Mazha photu nahi kaadnar kaa? " (Won't you click my photograph too?) and so I did... and she posed too, pursing up her lips in a smile which grew much wider when I showed her the photo on the camera screen. 
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  1. chitraJanuary 6, 2013 at 6:03 PM

    Happy New Year!!. I also wish to post as often as possible I am not sure so didn't make any resolution

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    Replies
    1. Anuradha ShankarJanuary 7, 2013 at 8:30 AM

      Thanks Chitra. wish you too a wonderful year ahead! I dont usually make resolutions either, but I lagged behind so much on posting in 2012 that I felt drastic steps were needed to bring myself up to scratch!!! now lets see how long I manage to keep this up!

      Delete
  2. Vishal RathodJanuary 7, 2013 at 7:07 PM

    Great Resolution , nice start , click click click ....

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