This New Addition To Heritage Walks Is A Hit Already

This New Addition To Heritage Walks Is A Hit Already

Bhubaneswar, December 9: Heritage lovers have got another reason to cheer as Ekamra Walks has added Khandagiri and Udaygiri in their spectacular heritage tour list. On Saturday, the authorities started the Monks, Caves and Kings Tour where walkers got an opportunity to know about the rich history of the twin cave hills.

Despite rainfall and cold waves, around 25 participants enthusiastically attended the tour at the famous Jain Shrine and even received early morning blessings from the monks.In 2016, Detour Odisha conducted the Heritage walk at Khandagiri and Udayagiri ‘Monks, Caves and Kings’ which received huge response, but it was never conducted again. Following the success of the weekly Ekamra Walks, walkers and visitors will now get to explore the twin hills through this heritage walk, to be conducted every Saturday.

Giving basic information about the hills, guide Satyaswarup Mishra nicely narrated the story behind the twin hills of Khandagiri and Udayagiri. He described about the beautiful caves, carvings on them, Emperor Kharavela’s stories, love for music and dance, patronage for propagation and popularization of culture, art, passion for war besides the tales of conquering a sizeable portion of the Indian peninsula.

The walk is free, but on reaching the twin hills, visitors will have to pay an entry fee as prescribed by ASI and also fees for having high-end cameras, while the phones and small cameras are exempted from the entry fee category. Normally for Indian adults, ASI is collecting Rs 15 per person and for foreign national Rs 200, per entry.Nichole Saad, Education Programme Manager with Wikimedia Foundation, who joined the first edition of heritage walk at the twin hills today, said “It was great. I got to learn a lot of things about Odisha and the carvings in the caves. It was nice to meet local people and a good opportunity to discuss with visitors attending the walk and learn more about the history and heritage of the city.”“I visited the city to attend meetings for Wikipedia Education Programme. This walk is also a great opportunity for the youth to learn about their own heritage and can add value to the open knowledge movement like Wikipedia, Wiki Voice and Commons so that people from all around the world will get to know about the heritage community of the city,” she added.Another participant Taranisen Pattnaik said, “I have been a regular participant of the Ekamra Walks conducted at Old town. The addition of the Jain Shrine and monument in the list of the heritage walk will give a new dimension. Such tours help to understand and explore the unknown facts associated with the historical sites.”