Dhauli Giri is the hill south of Bhubaneswar associated with the Kalinga War and Ashoka’s turn toward Buddhism. The white peace pagoda is the visible landmark today, but the deeper interest lies in the Ashokan rock edicts and the landscape where imperial violence was later recast as moral memory.
It makes one of the best short excursions from Bhubaneswar. Go early or late for softer light, and leave time for both the views and the inscriptions; otherwise the visit can shrink into a quick photograph of the pagoda.