Spending a weekend at Udayagiri
Our modern day life is so full of activities that some time we need to take a break from all this, otherwise this immense pressure of daily life will suck the life force out of our body. To avoid this we need to take breaks from our day to day life and need to re energize our body and mind for the life ahead. Traveling to some place gives us the opportunity to enjoy life. But everyone has his/her own motive for traveling; some travel for pleasure, relaxation, some for research, some for pilgrimage.
But in our busy schedule it’s difficult to make long holiday plans all the time, that’s why now people often think about the short holidays like traveling to a nearby destination during the weekends. Udayagiri is just like one of the above mentioned places. “Udaya” means rising and “giri” means rock or hill so Udayagiri means “Hill of sunrise”. Near 6k.m West in the district of Jajpur of Bhubaneswar in Orissa, the caves of Udayagiri are one of the earliest groups of Jain rock-cut shelters and are known worldwide. Udayagiri also has a unique place in history,for rock-cut architecture, art and religion.
It’s a hill, which consist of 18 caves, the largest and the most beautiful, Rani Gumpha, caves like Chota Hathi Gumpha, Jaya Vijaya Gumpha, Ganesh Gumpha, and many more and all these caves are very important historically. The city was the capital of Langula Gajapati, who was the chief of the Gajapatis of Orissa. In the year 1512, the town came under the rule of Krishna Deva Raya, the ruler of the Vijayanagar dynasty. During his reign the entire city was fortified with walls all around.
Coming down a flight of steps in front of Cave 17 of Udayagiri people will find another hill with caves named “Khandagiri” meaning “broken hills”. It has 15 caves and the most popular of them all is Ananta cave which depicts, carved figures of women, athletes, geese carrying flowers and, elephants. Khandagiri offers a splendid view of the Bhuvaneswar city. Traveling in Udayagiri is very easy as it has many ways of transportation,you have bus, auto, and state govt transportation along with private cars to enjoy each and every place, and its calmness attracts many people. So no doubt it is a great place to visit during weekends.