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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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My Blog on ‘Tales of the Wild’- the Jungle Lodges Blog!!!

Hey! Great news for all my readers!! My blog post on K.Gudi has been put up on the Jungle Lodges blog – Tales of the Wild. Check it out here.

Jungle Lodges and Resorts (JLR) are a chain of eco-friendly resorts in Karnataka (K.Gudi is one of their resorts). ‘Tales of the Wild’ marks their recent foray into blogging, and so far they have put up some extremely interesting posts, all based on wildlife, naturally!
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  1. Sujatha BagalMarch 12, 2009 at 9:55 PM

    Yay! Good for you Anu! Congratulations! Kabini is one of theirs too, right?

    ReplyDelete
  2. IndraniMarch 13, 2009 at 9:16 AM

    Hey Anu, I saw your K Gudi post... great travel recall!

    ReplyDelete

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