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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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The advent of the creepy - crawlies....

Its pouring out there as I write these words, the windows tightly shut to prevent my computer getting wet! No words today, just pictures...... taken a couple of days back.. Yes, now that the rains have begun, I have started carrying my camera along as we wait for Samhith's bus, managing somehow to click pictures of creepy crawlies, juggling with my mobile and camera in one hand and an umbrella in the other, not to mention trying to stop Samhith from running off into the rain!

Here's our first visitor - a beetle scuttling off in the water......



And these aren't visitors - these are permanent residents - centipedes - but they look a bit more attractive in the rains (If u can call them attractive, that is..)



And if you were wondering how many of these were around, here's a glimpse... that's just one small patch of the wall!!!



And here are a few mushrooms... they grow and disappear miraculously soon!



That's all for now, but the monsoon has just begun... and more creatures are sure to appear soon!
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Comments

  1. Shyam Govind - International SEO expertJune 24, 2010 at 8:38 AM

    yikes !!

    I'm sorry but centipedes and other crawly creatures are not something I love to see...

    But yes, the monsoon has been great till now. I loving every bit of it...

    sitting at my french window, having a hot cup of chai with pakodas and a good book to read... Aaahhh heaven !! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. AswathiBabuJune 24, 2010 at 9:50 AM

    Anu
    very nice post...mentioning these creatures which are also part of our life...

    ReplyDelete
  3. NishaJune 24, 2010 at 10:47 AM

    Anu,
    On rains I agree with shyamgovind here.
    Thanks for sharing these creepy creatures. I generally freak out seeing them. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. mumbai pausedJune 24, 2010 at 11:14 AM

    I used to live in a room bordering the Malad Creek some years back. And there was a treasure trove of creepy crawly life on my window sill every day. Pretty scary.

    ReplyDelete
  5. UshaJune 24, 2010 at 11:43 AM

    eek! Anu!seriously gross pics!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lavanya SriramJune 24, 2010 at 12:49 PM

    Juggling with too many things (mobie, umbrella and samhith) and u stil manage to capture these ? I end up dropping my mobile most times even without a camera around :)

    but centipedes and other crawly ones are not my fav too !

    ReplyDelete
  7. MridulaJune 24, 2010 at 3:20 PM

    Anu at the moment I won't mind them if I got some rain along with it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. chitraJune 24, 2010 at 9:51 PM

    This post reminds me of the bite once I got from a centipede.it was really painful

    ReplyDelete
  9. UnknownJune 25, 2010 at 9:22 AM

    What a wonderful insight into the monsoon season!

    ReplyDelete
  10. P.N. SubramanianJune 27, 2010 at 2:09 PM

    We are still waiting for the rains. The pictures are great.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Callie BradyJuly 20, 2010 at 1:31 PM

    Great photos! It's nice to see the rain since it's so hot and dry here now. My chickens would like some bugs but not beetles or centipedes.

    ReplyDelete

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