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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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Binsar - Part 10 - A 'swift' meeting

We were on our way to Bageshwar when suddenly we stopped behind a line of vehicles, only to find that the road was being repaired and that we would have to wait till the road roller and the other vehicles moved away! At first we spent some time looking here and there but were soon thirsty. Our store of water having just got over, we decided to see if we could find some water anywhere. Walking towards the place where the road was being laid, we found a small cluster of shops and asked for water. Unfortunately, no bottled water was available, but the people pointed us towards a tap which they said had drinking water. Samhith was too thirsty for me to protest, so we went ahead, and drank straight from the tap, a new experience for Samhith. He was surprised that the water was so cool and sweet, that he declared that the water was far better than the bottled ones, and I heartily agreed with him!

As we walked back towards the car, we saw a number of swifts flying to and fro, and paused to take a closer look. We had seen plenty of swifts from the moment we arrived in the mountains, but they were too fast for me to even get a good look at them! Having plenty of time on our hands, we decided to linger and take a closer look. While I tried to capture one swift sitting on a shelf inside a shop, Samhith was a bit more curious, and went inside a small tea shop and started looking around. When I called him out, he refused, and instead asked me to come in and see something!



The ‘something’ turned out to be a swift sitting on a nest over a bulb-holder! I was too thrilled for words and began clicking immediately……




I was so thrilled by the sight of the swift sitting on the nest, but soon it left again, and imagine my surprise when I saw swiftlets inside, opening their mouths wide in anticipation of the food their mother would bring when she returned!








By this time Samhith had wandered off, and he again called out to me excitedly, for he had seen another nest – in fact, the whole place was full of swifts nests! And on one of them sat a swift comfortably, not even frightened off by excited and curious people like us! Samhith too was surprised that the bird did not fly away like the others, and I explained to him that she was probably sitting on her eggs, waiting for them to hatch!






We were so engrossed in the swifts that we did not even realize that the road was no longer blocked! One of the villagers called out to us, saying that our vehicle was moving, and we abandoned the swifts and returned to the car!

When the car had stopped, we had been irritated at the unexpected delay, and bored. Never did we expect that it would bring us such a wonderful experience! Time did fly ‘swiftly’ indeed!


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Comments

  1. ShilpaMay 13, 2010 at 11:59 AM

    so sweet... esp the swiftlets taking food :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. MridulaMay 13, 2010 at 12:03 PM

    Just a beautiful post Anu, what an amazing experience. The nest looks so cute over the bulb and the chicks the ultimate prize for a photographer!

    ReplyDelete
  3. DinoMay 13, 2010 at 12:49 PM

    Oh,
    Really its a very interesting post.
    I like your post very much.
    Thanks
    Dinosaur Valley Inn

    ReplyDelete
  4. San Antonio HotelMay 13, 2010 at 12:57 PM

    Awesome Post,
    I like the concept of your post, please keep it up with your posts.
    Thanks
    San Antonio Hotel

    ReplyDelete
  5. LakshmiMay 13, 2010 at 1:50 PM

    what a lovely post..this is one of a kind experience

    ReplyDelete
  6. UshaMay 13, 2010 at 4:28 PM

    awesome! lovely pics and what an experience!

    ReplyDelete
  7. chitraMay 13, 2010 at 9:42 PM

    the delay on the road came as a blessing to all . We too got an opportunity to see all the cute Swifties.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ashley AshbeeMay 14, 2010 at 5:31 AM

    Aw what a sweet post... I love that the little swifts brought you so much joy. Birds do that for me too. These ones sure are cute! They're inventive little critters... making a camera into a nest-holder!

    Yes, I have always felt tap water tastes better than bottled!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anuradha ShankarMay 14, 2010 at 2:05 PM

    @Shilpa: you should have seen them! it was such a wonderful experience!

    @Mridula: thanks... and it was such a great surprise.....

    @Dino: thanks a lot....

    @San Anotonio hotel thanks a lot..... it was indeed a one of a kind experience...

    @Usha: thanks...thats why i missed talking to you... there were so many things to tell u...

    @Lydia: thanks so much!

    @Chitra: absolutely!

    @lovelable_homebody: thanks a lot.....

    ReplyDelete

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