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 ...
Christmas and New Year – the season of joy, the season of good cheer – also the season of holidays and hotels full of tourist families looking for a place to celebrate. Bookings for the season need to be made months in advance, and tickets need to be booked as early as possible. In short, to just have a trouble free fortnight, arrangements need to be made well ahead of time, with enough foresight to anticipate all possible problems. Deciding where to go is one of the biggest problems, for wherever one ends up, the chances of a whole lot of others landing up is also quite certain. Of course, with a five year old, going to out-of-the-way places is not really possible, and this year, we decided on Ooty and the Jungle lodges at K.Gudi. While the former was full of the normal tourist crowd, we managed to enjoy the weather and truly chill out. The latter however, was wonderful, being in the back of beyond, and meeting no others apart from the 10 other families at the resort being at peace w...