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 ...
A bull which drove away invaders , three buffaloes said to be demons, a lake once said to have been filled with ghee and a temple once covered in lime to protect it – we couldn’t help but smile as we listened to these stories about Achalgarh. We had a day free at Mount Abu and were in the mood to explore, so we headed out for the tourist circuit, trusting our driver to take us to some interesting places. Achalgarh turned out to be the first on his list, and as we headed along roads with farms interspersed between the mountains, with scarcely a person to be seen anywhere, I wondered about the place we were going to. I had heard a bit about Achalgarh before we started, and knew that it had once been the capital of the area. The name indicated the presence of a fort, but our driver told me that there was no fort there. “ Bas, mandir hai, Madam ” he said. ”There is only a temple there.” I felt my enthusiasm droop at the idea of visiting yet another temple, but we had al...