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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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Mud Wasp

What do you do when you see a wasp? Stay out of its way? What do you think we do? Click it of course!!!!



This black and yellow wasp, probably a mud wasp, was busy building its nest on our balcony door in our room at the Club Mahindra Coorg Resort. It was fascinating to see how a little blob of mud quickly turned into a nest, all ready for occupation.


Unfortunately, not everyone shares our fascination for such creatures, and predictably, neither did the resort staff. We returned from a walk to find the nest gone, the door wiped clean. All we could do, was wonder if the wasp had found a safer place to build its home.
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  1. sriOctober 2, 2013 at 1:51 PM

    hahah :) quit a challenge

    ReplyDelete
  2. Meghana HassanOctober 3, 2013 at 7:45 AM

    Beautifully captured...

    ReplyDelete
  3. P.N. SubramanianOctober 5, 2013 at 11:43 AM

    Wonderful! Some of the wasps could also be found in the unused plug points outside our houses. Incidentally coul you please dispense with word verification as I am straining my eyes (may be of old age)

    ReplyDelete

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