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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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Featured on 'Pocket Cultures'

Navaratri is over, and it's time again to get back to our normal lives.... and what better way to start my other posts, than to announce that I have been featured on the site 'Pocket Cultures'!


As the name suggests, Pocket Cultures is all about cultures. The site has contributors from all over the world, writing about their own cultures, thus giving an interesting insight into places from people who live there! They divide their posts into 3 categories - Blogs of the World, where they feature blogs from different countries, Topics of the World, which consist of posts by collaborators about world cultures, and finally, People of the World, which also has  a section called 'My partner is a foreigner', about cross cultural encounters. Anyone can contribute to this section. Sounds interesting, doesn't it? So go right ahead and check it out!

Comments

  1. SoulSpaceOctober 20, 2010 at 7:28 AM

    sooper!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. UshaOctober 20, 2010 at 8:22 AM

    This is excellent!

    ReplyDelete
  3. NatashaOctober 20, 2010 at 8:59 AM

    Congratulations, Anu.

    Your blog has never let me comment, so I do hope this one publishes.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anuradha ShankarOctober 20, 2010 at 9:01 AM

    Thanks, Sowmya, Usha and Rayna! and Rayna, I dont know why thats happening... a couple of others have also mentioned it.... shall try to sort it out soon!

    ReplyDelete
  5. IndraniOctober 20, 2010 at 10:10 AM

    Congrats Anu!
    Well done. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. AartiOctober 20, 2010 at 12:20 PM

    sooper cool, Anu... :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. subu.psOctober 21, 2010 at 12:27 PM

    Congrats anu!! You deserve it.
    Between thanks for your comment on my blog too. Well what is the name of the bike related book that u mentioned in the comment?

    ReplyDelete
  8. indicaspeciesOctober 22, 2010 at 12:35 PM

    Congratulations Anu.

    ReplyDelete
  9. flowergirlOctober 23, 2010 at 1:34 PM

    Wonderful Anu! I enjoyed the navaratri posts!

    ReplyDelete
  10. ArtiOctober 23, 2010 at 7:01 PM

    Well Done Anu!
    Your posts on Navratri were Informative and very interstesting too!!
    Congrats once again!!
    I have been facing some difficulty in posting a comment...

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sankara Subramanian COctober 24, 2010 at 1:11 PM

    This is great news! Congratulations! It always feels good to be featured!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Ladakh TouriamOctober 25, 2010 at 11:37 AM

    This is really very informative blog....Good work

    ReplyDelete
  13. BindhuOctober 25, 2010 at 11:16 PM

    Good show, Anu. Keep it up. :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anuradha ShankarOctober 28, 2010 at 10:25 PM

    Thanks everyone! It feels great to be appreciated!

    ReplyDelete

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