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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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Caterpillar at KGAF-2013

The Kala Ghoda Art Festival (KGAF) is an art and culture festival for us urban folk. However, here is a different sort of visitor we saw on the very first day...





A caterpillar!



We saw him on one of the boards near the stalls, and he attracted quite a bit of attention, especially since the stalls and installations were just being set up, and there were a number of people with huge cameras with nothing to do.



I have been unable to identify this caterpillar, so if any of you can enlighten me, it would help..

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  1. NishaFebruary 9, 2013 at 8:18 PM

    For one moment I thought it was real !!

    Was it a part of some workshop or people were just showing their creativity?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anuradha ShankarFebruary 9, 2013 at 8:57 PM

      It is real, Nisha! we saw it on one of the boards... i wondered if anyone would think it was an installation too!!

      Delete
  2. R Niranjan DasFebruary 11, 2013 at 6:19 PM

    Interesting visitor. Looks beautiful.

    http://rajniranjandas.blogspot.in/2013/02/welcome-to-benares.html

    ReplyDelete

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