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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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Faces in the Crowd - Children at Work

We saw these boys on the way to Wayanad, but this scene could have been anywhere in India.



Two boys, hard at work, cleaning a pump, outside a garage. Its always sad to see young children in rags, working, at an age when they should be at school, or playing. Its worse when they are right outside a college, to which, in all possibility, people pay lakhs to get their kids into, and then the said kids waste away their time learning little if nothing, throwing away their parents' hard earned money in frivolous pursuits. Could there be a higher contrast?

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Comments

  1. IndraniSeptember 15, 2013 at 1:09 PM

    Hmmm... tough life!
    Nicely framed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. MridulaSeptember 15, 2013 at 2:14 PM

    Life anywhere you go it roughly remains the same :(

    ReplyDelete
  3. kebhariSeptember 16, 2013 at 2:18 PM

    Children worked life is very dangerous.

    ReplyDelete
  4. ChitraxeeSeptember 16, 2013 at 2:57 PM

    We invite you to Aviva's #BloggerContest. To read our T&C and participate, click on http://bit.ly/134qouZ !

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nomad Travel InsuranceSeptember 17, 2013 at 9:59 AM

    Thanks for sharing your one of a kind adventure. :)

    ReplyDelete

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