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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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A short break from the routine…


School closed for the year, and has begun again, bringing with it the prospect of changes and something new. The vacation in between was too short to be considered a real vacation, for it was just a week long. But we made the most of it, packing into the short week a few days of relaxation in a pleasant place far away from the madding crowd, as well as a couple of days as part of the crowd, visiting relatives galore and eating like there was no tomorrow!

You can look forward to reams of writing about my vacation, as well as lots of photos, for I used up 2GB of memory clicking away to glory! However, the beginning of the new term has ensured that I have little time to write, so it will take some time to put down all that I want to.

Let me begin by telling all of you where I went for the vacation. Our first stop was Delhi, where I have hordes of relatives, whom I haven’t visited for over 10 years! After spending half a day rushing from one house to another, we managed to reach Old Delhi station in time to catch the Ranikhet express to Kathgodam. From there, we hired a car for the three and a half hour journey to Binsar, or rather more accurately, the Club Mahindra Valley Resort at Binsar, where we spent 5 days in bliss, enjoying the serenity and visiting just a couple of places. Our return journey brought us back to Delhi, this time to the house of a cousin, where we spent the day chatting and catching up, while Samhith got to know his cousins, who look and behave incredibly like him! We also caught up with another cousin who joined us there, and it was a riot with 5 kids between the ages of 6 and 8 let loose, having the time of their lives! Dropping all other plans, we let the kids enjoy themselves, and rushed directly to the station to catch our train back, bringing a memorable vacation to a close.

While I collate the thoughts I jotted down during my trip into a semblance of order, take a look at the slideshow of my photographs….. or for a more leisurely stroll, go to the album. 



Comments

  1. AnonymousApril 7, 2010 at 12:04 PM

    Itz good to know you had good time on a 'short vacation'

    Some of the photos really awesome.

    Keep up, good going

    Jay :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. MridulaApril 7, 2010 at 4:11 PM

    Good to hear about your vacation. Waiting for the pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  3. lotus ladyApril 8, 2010 at 8:18 AM

    clicking away to glory it is, wow how many pictures :)Wow, you guys are going to lots of cool places, we should do such trips together sometimes.

    padma.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anuradha ShankarApril 9, 2010 at 1:34 PM

    @Jay: thanks....

    @Mridula: thanks....see the pics on picasa meanwhile...

    @Padma: thanks... would love to do it together..... but times wouldnt match, at least right now..... lets see how things go.....

    ReplyDelete

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