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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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Videos of the fog

In my earlier post, I spoke of the fog and how we were thrilled by it. Here are a couple of videos I recorded, which show the extent of the fog and how the vehicles seem to appear from and dissappear into nothingness.... Go on, take a look at them.....
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Magnificent Munnar – Part II - A day in the hills

Munnar has enough magic keep one enthralled for at least 3 days. There are a number of places to see and lots of trekking routes to explore in all the four directions. We however had only a day with us, and had to make the most of it. We decided to take the route which would take us to the dams and lakes where we could spend the day boating, which Samhith enjoys immensely. As it happened, most other tourists seemed to have had the same thought, and every boating pier was full, and we had to return without a single boat ride. We had lots of fun in other ways though, but let us take things in sequence. The View From Mattupatti Dam We started for Mattupatti Dam, about 12 Kms away. Here, in the lake created by the dam, one can ride speedboats. However, the speedboats were few, and tourists too many, and we were told that we would have to wait for at least an hour. None of us is known for our patience, and we decided to move on, albeit with some reluctance. Outside the boathouse, we fou...
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Magnificent Munnar - Part I - Arrival

Munnar is one of the most beautiful hill stations of our country , one which makes the appellation of Kerala as ‘God’s own country’ come true. It is a land of mountains covered in every shade of green imaginable and unimaginable; of tea plantations which stretch over miles and miles of countryside, not sparing an inch of the mountains; of waterfalls which cascade down the mountains, their origins too high to be seen, their final destination unknown, but their force increasing by leaps and bounds of the water……. The beauties of Munnar are to be experienced, not enumerated. But the memory I shall always carry with me of this magical place is the fog - The fog which made the road ahead practically invisible; the fog which appeared out of nowhere, bringing with it the chill and the monsoon rain. But before I get carried away, I must begin at the beginning. The beginning was early in the morning on the 15th of August, our Independence Day, when we left our cosy beds to catch the first flig...
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A sudden trip to Munnar - Photos

“Let’s go to Coimbatore” said my husband, and like a dutiful wife, I agreed. But wait, that’s not where the story begins. The story begins earlier in the day, the 14th of August, when my sister-in-law was supposed to come on a visit to Bombay with her husband. We were all planning to go to Shirdi, and had made all the arrangements. Unfortunately, our plans went awry, when their plans were cancelled due to some persona problems. All of us were disappointed, but none more than my son, who simply refused to believe that his aunt was not turning up as expected. That’s when my husband returned from office and put forth his question. Coimbatore? …Now? …How? Questions flew fast and furious, but he had an answer for everything. We had a long weekend ahead, Independence Day on Friday the 15th, the weekend followed by the Parsi New Year on Tuesday. We could have five days in Coimbatore with Sandhya, just by taking a day off from school and office. Well, to cut things short, he booked tickets, a...
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Dandeli Jungle Lodges Review

I recently found a wonderful site: Review Stream , specialising in reviews of anything and everything. They not only invite you to write for them, they even pay you for it. I tried it out, writing a review for Jungle Lodges at Dandeli, and you know what ? They paid me 2 USD!!!!! Of course, it is still on paper, or rather on the net, but anyway, thats a lot more encouragement I have recived so far. I am attaching a link to my review so that you guys can check it out.... Hey, don't forget to vote for m review.. they might pay me more!!!!!! MY REVIEWS Jungle Lodges, Dandeli ReviewStream.com
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Vedic Rites to be performed during the Kashi Yatra

The purpose of a Kashi Yatra for most people is the performance of Vedic rites for their ancestors, and it was the same for us. My in-laws were performing all the rites, and we had nothing much to do. In fact, we weren’t allowed to accompany them to Gaya at all, as it is apparently considered inauspicious for those whose parents were alive to see the Akshaya Vatam and the Vishnu Padam. However, my curiosity about the rituals made me ask a number of questions which were thankfully answered in detail by two young people- the manager of the Kanchi Math at Kashi and the vadhyar or pundit who officiated at our rites. Both of them were extremely helpful, and it is entirely thanks to them that I have been able to write in such detail about Kashi as well as the surrounding places, even those we did not visit. At my request, I was given this list of the rites that are traditionally performed during a Kashi Yatra. I share this with all my readers in the hope that it may be of some use to them...
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