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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 Chedda Nagar Ganesha

This one is the Ganpati from our colony - The Chedda Nagar Ganpati.

While the decor is usually something quite...well, ...just decorative, this year, the young lot organizing the festival seem to have had some interesting ideas..... not really surprising, considering the kind of issues on at the moment.

The idea is a balance between development and the environment, as depicted by the scales behind the Ganesha


On the left is the typical skyline of Mumbai - with skyscrapers and factories, complete with the roads built over the sea..

On the right is a typical village scene....


All in all, a simple display, one which suggests no solutions, but better than the usual run of the mill decorations... Samhith loved the houses and the roads, and has come up with lots of ideas for Navaratri!!!

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Comments

  1. Shrinidhi HandeSeptember 15, 2010 at 11:11 AM

    Festival wishes...

    ReplyDelete
  2. ArtiSeptember 15, 2010 at 9:12 PM

    They really get creative and its so wonderful to see these themes, visit the pandals and be a part of the festivities ...
    Happy Ganesh Chaturthi:)

    ReplyDelete

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