November 5 – Crafts, Edicts and Caves

Paul was up quite early today and headed to the beach for some early morning photos.  There were children out playing and a fishing boat came in with it’s early morning haul.  There were locals there to meet the boat and to pick up a supply of fish.

The we headed our for our drive from Puri to Bhubhaneshwar (Capital of Odisha State and our last stop). 

We had a stop along a river to watch the laundry caste wash massive amounts of laundry in the river.

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Video of laundry.
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Then it was a quick drive to another little village where we saw a young man painting some amazing art.  The “Canvas” he was using was made of worn sari’s that had been pressed and glued and sanded down until it made a nice canvas.  

The drawings were sketched onto the canvas and hand painted.  

The paintings were highly detailed and very colorful and we were all in awe of the craftsmanship.  Steve and Valerie bought some pieces.

They also made art pieces on palm fronts with the drawings etched into the frond and then rubbed with a dark substance that filled the groves and allowed the etching to show.

They even had a few miscellaneous items such as bottles that were recycled into art.

We stopped to see the Edicts of Ashoka, the ancient Indian emperor Ashoka (260 BC) who issued 14 edicts on behavior.  The edicts are carved in stone and above the stone is a carved elephant. 

There were also some lovely gardens on the hill above the edicts.

Not too far down the road was an edict column.

And across the valley on a hilltop was the Dhauli Shanti Stupa (Peace Pagoda), built by Japanese monks in 1972.  We didn’t go up to visit but the stupa is Buddhist.

On the drive we went through a town where there are a lot of stone carvers.  We didn't stop but there a lot of stone carvings to see along the way.

We also stopped at the small village of Pipli to visit some of the fabric/applique shops.  They had umbrellas, purses, bags, cushions, mats and all manner of bright, festive fabric goods.  Paul bought a small satchel to replace the one he has that is unraveling. 

In the town of Bhubhaneshwat we saw lots of murals on some of the overpass structures. 

But the main sight today was a visit to the Udayagiri and Kandagiri Caves.  These are partly natural and partly man made caves in the sandstone mountain side.  They were built by the first Orissan ruler and served as a monastery for Jain monks.  Many of the cave entrances were highly decorate. 

We saw a number of langurs in the trees around the caves.

Our hotel for the next two nights is across the road from the beach.  We had nice views, a much nicer room and the hotel restaurant was very good.