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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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Book Review: Beyond Pipes and Dreams, The life of Vitthal Balkrishna Gandhi, by Leena Gandhi Tewari

Beyond pipes and dreams is the story of Vitthal Balkrishna Gandhi, authored by his granddaughter, Leena Gandhi Tewari. Image courtesy: Flipkart.com
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Water Birds at Gokarna

Driving through Gokarna i n the monsoon, the last thing we expected to see were birds. Therefore, when, in the middle of nowhere, when Samhith excitedly shouted,  "Amma!! Flamingo!!" I didnt really believe him. I didn't believe my eyes either, when, a little way off, there was indeed a bird, which, from a distance, did look like a flamingo. We requested our auto driver to take us closer, without disturbing the birds, which, to our relief. he did, with a smile, here is what we saw....
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Om Beach, Gokarna - A Photoblog and some thoughts

I sit by the shore, enjoying the solitude it offers me, only the mountains, the rocks and the water, for company....
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Faces in the Crowd - Some unusual sellers of wares for Diwali

Happy Diwali everyone!!!! The roads are filled with people selling earthen lamps, kandeels, and firecrackers. But here are some traders selling some unusual wares for Diwali.... Brooms are considered to be a part of Lakshmi, since she only enters clean homes. There are some who pray to brooms at this time of the year, a sort of prelude to cleaning their homes! Gives a different thought to the festival, doesnt it?
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Happy Deepavali! Remembering the celebration at Shegaon

As I sit at home , typing this, the night resounds with the bursting of firecrackers. All around me are brightly lit windows, gaily decorated with string lights. In the midst of this Diwali Celebration, my thoughts go back to last year, when, on this very festival, I was surrounded not by bright lights and sound, but by the soft glow of oil lamps galore....
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A Weekend with Lego

Imagine … huge boxes of Lego bricks, all separated by colour, ready for building, to be scooped to the floor, to build what you have in mind. Wouldn’t you call that a Lego enthusiast’s idea of heaven? For us, this vision of heaven becomes a reality, every time a Lego event arrives at a Mall near us! Our first experience was two years ago, when we attended the Lego Fire Truck building event, and we had another fantastic time last week at the Lego Train building event, both at HighStreet Phoenix Mall at Parel, Mumbai , held in association with Hamleys and Funskool . The  small scale model of the train
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Book Review: Rough Passage to the Bodhi Tree, by Shiv K. Kumar

The story of the Buddha normally begins with the story of his birth… sometimes even before, with the omens which heralded the birth of a great soul. Shiv K. Kumar, however begins his story of the Buddha with Siddhartha choosing to participate in an open competition to win the hand of the princess Yashodhara. In doing so, he makes it quite clear that he wants us to see Siddhartha, not just as  someone destined for greatness, to forget for a moment that we already know of his journey to enlightenment, and see him as a human, confused by what he sees around him, yet not hesitating to do what he thinks is right. 
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