Bhubaneswar: More than a 100 students and their teachers from city-based Amrita Vidyalayam had a date with history Saturday at the famous Jain site of Udayagiri-Khandagiri as they explored the rock-cut caves and listened to the tales surrounding them.
Subhangi Mohanty, a student of Class IX, was fascinated by the stories behind the rocky wonderland. “I have come here several times in the past, but never had an opportunity to hear the interesting stories. I will definitely come again and join the walk,’’ she said.
The students and teachers were joined by 15 regular walkers at the 47th Monks, Caves and Kings (MCK).
Mayank Pattanaik, also of Class IX , termed the experience of the day as “wonderful’’ and “educative’’ while Saloni Priyadarshini from the same class said, “we are lucky to be part of the walk as the guide told the stories behind Emperor Kharavela, his empire and how once the Kalinga kingdom had a dominance over 40 per cent of the landmass of the sub-continent.’’
Dattatreya Pattanaik from Class VIII was happy that a large group got the opportunity to paint the cave scenes while another scanned the hilly terrain and learnt about the hill, the influence of Jain religion and other stories of Emperor Kharavela and his kingdom.
Mousumi Pattanaik, Principal, Amrita Vidyalayam, termed the experience of the entire team of students and teachers as “very special’’ .
“I had visited the caves four times in the past, but the information we gathered today was very interestingly told and all the students and teachers enjoyed their time especially at Udayagiri. Even on the Khandagiri Hills the priest beautifully explained the story of Goddess Barabhuja. We are definitely coming with more students in future,’’ she said.
Teachers Rupanwita Mishra, Pravati Nayak, Saloni Chauhan were of the opinion that the heritage walk at Udayagiri-Khandagiri was really an educative experience for the school students and especially for them with a little more interest acquired in history, anthropology, archaeology and culture.
Dr PVL Srinivas, Associate Professor in Department of Drama in Utkal University of Culture, who is a regular at all the three heritage walks across the city, said “it is nice to see the students of Amrita Vidyalayam joining the Monks, Caves and Kings and spending time for knowledge-gathering on our heritage site. The students sketching the caves also created beautiful works.’’ Dr Srinivas was part of the regular group of 15 walkers at the Twin Hills of Khandagiri and Udayagiri.
PNN
