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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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Wishing for rain..... Skywatch Friday

Summer's here in no uncertain terms for its just too hot to manage, and the fan is just not enough! I went out to pick Samhith up from school, and the heat was too much to bear... Some people wore sunglasses and sleeveless kurtis, but perspired in the heat... some waited in the comfort of their AC cars,blocking the road and being a nuisance to others..... the kids came out from the cool comfort of the classroom to the glaring midday heat.... happy that the exams were over, but the heat getting to them, tiring them out within minutes......

Faced with such heat, we wished for rain.... hoping for an early and a good monsoon... we are already facing a water shortage this year... and if this heat continues, things can only get worse. In such a scenario, it is difficult to be cheerful and optimistic, so I tried to improve my mood by looking at some of my pics from the monsoon.... Here are a couple of photos taken at Sringeri in August 2009. 

The clouds make me wish they were right here, right now.... Wonder when I will see them again......

 





For more skies around the world, go to Skywatch Friday

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Comments

  1. chitraMarch 19, 2010 at 2:20 PM

    Here in Dindigul it is pretty hot but once inside the house , we feel better. Evening it gets slightly cooler as we have Sirumalai nearby. Here the climate ids dry and no sweat.

    Hope summer rains cools your place faster.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bhavesh ChhatbarMarch 19, 2010 at 3:57 PM

    I too wish for rain, but that will leave us with a lack of mangoes :(

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bhavesh ChhatbarMarch 19, 2010 at 3:57 PM

    And I love your new template!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. MridulaMarch 19, 2010 at 8:52 PM

    Beautiful skies.

    ReplyDelete
  5. sandeepMarch 19, 2010 at 10:25 PM

    thnx for reminding me abt this beautiful thing called monsoon. it somehow feels so far away :(

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anuradha ShankarMarch 20, 2010 at 9:59 AM

    @Chitra: sounds nice.... here its humid, so the nights are no better.. in spite of all the mountains nearby...... unfortunately, summer rains only worsen the problem... for one, it only gets even more humid, and as Bhavesh said in his comment, it spoils the mangoes :(.... so we have no choice but to wait for the monsoon.. till then its horrible

    @Bhavesh: absolutely!!! these summers are bearable only for the mangoes we get after.....
    and thanks.. glad u liked the template....

    @Mridula: it was beautiful there.. u should go sometime....

    @sandeep: very true... so far away... and that also if it comes on time.....

    ReplyDelete

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