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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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A New Visitor to my Backyard - Long Tailed Shrike

I have been getting a bit bored of the bird photos I have been posting.... I have loads of them, but they are of the birds I see every day.. and I am losing my enthusiasm for them. I was just sitting at my desk looking at my bird photos and wondering which one to post today, when I heard a sound. Now, I have often run to the window at the slightest sound, wondering if it was a bird, but I have often been wrong, or just got a glimpse of a bird as it flew away before I could identify it. I was therefore not too excited or hopeful. However, there it was, perched on a tree on the other side of the jogging park. I could barely get a glimpse of the bird, but it seemed busy calling out, so I took out my camera and got clicking. This is what I saw...



I kept clicking till the bird finally tired of calling out, and flew away. It was then time to go unearth my bird books and try to identify it.


It turned out to be a Long Tailed Shrike, or Rufous Backed Shrike.


From what I could understand from the books and Wikipedia, the bird appears to be quite common all over the Indian Subcontinent, and prefers scrub and open habitats. I wonder what it was doing in the middle of the concrete jungle!! 


In any case, I clicked so many photographs, and am so thrilled to see a different bird for a change, that I am posting more of the photos.... as it warbled away ... perhaps searching for its mate? Trying to find its way back?






As I finish this post, I am still wondering what the bird was doing so far from its normal habitat, and hoping it finds its way back to where it came from. There is one thing I am thankful for, though.... it brightened up my day, and gave me something to write about!!
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Comments

  1. MridulaOctober 4, 2012 at 1:05 PM

    I know that feeling when we want to see different birds rather than the usual ones :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anuradha ShankarOctober 4, 2012 at 9:13 PM

      i guess you do :D and you get to see so many more than me!!!

      Delete
  2. IndraniOctober 4, 2012 at 8:14 PM

    Probably in a migrating mode.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anuradha ShankarOctober 4, 2012 at 9:13 PM

      hmm.. thats quite possible, Indrani! never thought of that!

      Delete
  3. IndraniOctober 4, 2012 at 8:14 PM

    Probably in a migrating mode.

    ReplyDelete
  4. chitraOctober 4, 2012 at 8:45 PM

    Nice poses you gt Anu..

    ReplyDelete

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