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 ...
Hello everyone, I back from another vacation, this time to Karnataka. My son, Samhith’s birthday falls on 6th May, and we wanted to spend it at some temple. So, this time, we visited many temples in coastal Karnataka. Look out for many interesting posts on all the places we visited. To give you all an idea of the places you can all soon read about, here’s the tour programme we followed: Day1 : 3:00PM departure by Bombay- Mangalore bus. Day2 : 3:45 AM Arrival at Kumta. Car to Gokarna. Visit to Gokarna Mahabaleshwara Temple Performing the sacred rites for our ancestors. Evening- Trip to Sajjeshwara Linga Temple near Karwar Night halt at Gokarna Day3 : Dhareshwar Gunavanteshwar Idagunji Ganapathy Murudeshwar Kollur Mookambika Temple Annegudde Ganapathy Temple Udupi – Sri Krishna Temple Night Halt at Udupi Day4 : Viswaroopa Darshan and KsheerAbhishekam to Lord Krishna at Udupi Kundapura – Kundeshwara Temple Darshan and Pada Puja to Sringeri Acharya...