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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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Trysts with Swifts

My tryst with Swifts seemed to continue, even on our trip to Morachi Chincholi......

My regular readers will remember that the first time I saw swifts in large numbers was when I had been to Omkareshwar - We had then seen swifts nests in the rocks lining the river Narmada......

I got  a closer look at the house-swift's nest on my trip to Binsar, where we were lucky to see a mother swift in her nest with her swiftlets.....

And now, on our trip to Morachi Chincholi, we stopped by a river to dip our feet in the cool water, and what do I see, but a group of swifts flying hither and thither, and under a bridge, a cluster of their nests!! What a sight! I was happy to show off my knowledge, and we began clicking photos.... Of course, we couldn't get any closer thanks to the water, and this is the best I could do!




Hoping that my tryst with swifts continues in the future too... and not just with swifts, but with other birds too!!
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Comments

  1. UshaJuly 7, 2010 at 2:50 PM

    Hey! Saw some swifts here yesterday and I also quickly showed off my knowledge :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. P.N. SubramanianJuly 7, 2010 at 6:43 PM

    Life is like that. All good wishes.

    ReplyDelete
  3. MridulaJuly 7, 2010 at 8:42 PM

    It is still very beautiful. And I usually get to see the other Swift, the Maruti Swift!

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJuly 7, 2010 at 9:54 PM

    Oh.. that must have been beautiful..

    ReplyDelete
  5. IndraniJuly 8, 2010 at 11:15 AM

    Oh! To see them so close! How lucky!

    ReplyDelete
  6. RashmieJuly 8, 2010 at 1:17 PM

    it must have been exciting! Nice short post :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. rahul kumar singhJuly 8, 2010 at 2:57 PM

    To see them so close! How lucky

    ReplyDelete
  8. Indian BazaarsJuly 14, 2010 at 7:39 AM

    This is really interesting! Never seen this before.

    ReplyDelete

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