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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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Forest Fire

Before I complete my series of posts on Binsar, there is just one more thing I wanted to post. It does not concern any place of interest or any great experience, but an experience which was a first for me, and brought up a lot of thoughts….. I kept this one to the last, since I thought I would get out the ‘touristy’ stuff before coming to this……. I even wondered if I should put it up before I finally conclude the series, but then decided to, since it relates to the mountains intimately, and my trip too…. We were returning after our trip to Patal Bhuvaneshwar and Bageshwar, tired and worn out after a day spent on the road….and couldn’t wait to get back to the room and put our legs up. Suddenly, as we turned a curve on the mountain road, I saw something bright and shining, and wondered what it was. Our driver had missed it, and we left it, thinking that it must have been my imagination. After a few moments, however, as we rounded another curve, our eyes glimpsed a glow, and our driver ...
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Binsar - Part 11 - Nainital

We had a big decision to make as our last day at Binsar approached. Our train to Delhi was at night, and we had to check out by 10 AM! What was to be done all day long? On one hand, I wanted to buy something for everyone back home, for I hadn’t been anywhere near a shop in a week! On the other hand, I also wanted to visit some nice place, something which would wrap up my vacation in a memorable way! We thought of visiting the sun temple at Katarmal, but I wasn’t in the mood to walk, and a visit to the temple involved a bit of trekking….. I wondered about shopping at Almora, but decided that I couldn’t possibly spend the whole day there! Finally, we took our driver’s advice and headed to Nainital – we could at least go for a boat ride after a bit of shopping! The Naini lake as seen from the road While I am usually not very enthusiastic about hill stations, especially crowded ones, Nainital held an attraction for me – the fact that my parents had honeymooned here, almost 38 years...
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Skywatch Friday - Sunset on a stormy night

Watching the sunset was one of the best things about being in the log hut. Situated as we were, high above the roads, the sun seemed to set at almost eye level, though behind miles and miles of mountains, and was a beautiful sight, day after day...... Here are a series of photos I took of the sunset on one of those days when it looked like it would rain.... Though the gods refused to bless us with a shower of rain, the wind blew as if it would blow us all away, and seeing the sun set through the wind and darkening skies was a sight to see... I couldn't resist putting up all the pics I took that day! For more skies around the world, go to Sky Watch Friday
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Binsar - Part 10 - A 'swift' meeting

We were on our way to Bageshwar when suddenly we stopped behind a line of vehicles, only to find that the road was being repaired and that we would have to wait till the road roller and the other vehicles moved away! At first we spent some time looking here and there but were soon thirsty. Our store of water having just got over, we decided to see if we could find some water anywhere. Walking towards the place where the road was being laid, we found a small cluster of shops and asked for water. Unfortunately, no bottled water was available, but the people pointed us towards a tap which they said had drinking water. Samhith was too thirsty for me to protest, so we went ahead, and drank straight from the tap, a new experience for Samhith. He was surprised that the water was so cool and sweet, that he declared that the water was far better than the bottled ones, and I heartily agreed with him! As we walked back towards the car, we saw a number of swifts flying to and fro, and paused to...
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Binsar - Part 9 - A fishy story

The first river we spotted on out Binsar trip was the Kosi, which joined us a short way from Kathgodam. She accompanied us most of the way, weaving her way among the mountains, as we followed the winding road alongside. We were struck by how dry the river was, and the huge rocks and boulders which made up her bed, and Samhith kept looking for an opportunity to collect stones, but we couldn’t find a suitable place to do so, and moved on. The dry bed of the Kosi River  On our return journey too, we joined the river soon, and this time our driver asked us if we would like to stop by the river for a while. Thinking of this as another chance to collect stones, we agreed, and he stopped by a small hotel/restaurant, situated on a ridge over the river. There was a flight of steps leading down to the river and we proceeded towards it, expecting to see the river bed as usual. As we started down the steps , we were approached by a man who asked if we would like ‘fish pakoras ’. I re...
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