OdishaLIVE Bureau
Defying intense fog, the heritage lovers of the city assembled at the 6th Monks, Caves and Kings at Udayagiri-Khandagiri Twin Hills. The students climbed the mountains to discover tales of a lost empire, emperors, queens, monks, dancers and the techniques with which the caves were built.
Tour guide Satyaswarup Mishra explained that these pre-historic caves at the Twin Hills, have received great royal patronage to become one of the best cave shelters for monks and even there were instances, where queens were also staying in the caves of Udayagiri and hence a cave got renamed as Rani Gumpha or Queen’s Cave.
Pratit Kumar Das of College of Engineering and Technology (CET), Ghatikia in Bhubaneswar, who came with two of his other friends, said “the way the caves were built with proper ventilation and the monks’ well-being in mind, shows the proper use of natural lights and air just like we are design in modern day structures.”
Besides the caves, visitors also asked several questions to the tour guide on the rock cutting tools of that period, doorkeepers with western outfits wearing boots, dancers performing at a royal hall with full costume on and the various war processions with elephants.
The rock art spotted in the Elephant Cave (Hati Gumpha) of the pre-historic age has hematite pigments, proving that it was engraved centuries ago. The pre-historic art on the rocks also proved that the caves were there much before, which would have been changed later with the rulers’ intervention. However, scientific dating of the rocks would exactly decipher the timeline.
The weekend heritage walk at Udayagiri-Khandagiri caves starts at 6.30 am every Saturday, whereas the Old Town circuit (Lingaraj, Bindusagar and nearby monuments) is scheduled every Sunday morning at 6.30 am, which starts from Mukteswar temple premises.
