On June 14 and 15 on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Guru Padmasambhava, an international conference was held at Paro in Bhutan. The conference was jointly organised by Daso Karma Ura, Director of Centre for Bhutan Studies and Gross National Happiness Research and Dr Arun Kapoor, President of Delhi-based Centre for Escalation of Peace.
From the Mahabodhi Society of India’s Odisha branch, myself and three others Dr Sourendra Mohapatra, Aryakumar Jnanendra and Prof Dukhisyam Pattanayak were invited to present papers and take part in deliberation on various aspects of life and deeds of Guru Padmasambhava. Scholars from other Indian States like Delhi, UP, Bihar, Sikkim and Himachal Pradesh and from outside India like Nepal, Tibet, Korea, Italy and Bhutan also participated in the event.
A book Padmasambhava of Uddiyana — Odisha edited by me and published by the K1IT Publishing House in 2012 has aroused interest of scholars working on Gum Padmasambhava in and abroad.
The four of us from Odisha presented papers on birthplace of Padmasabhava, his philosophy, the places of India including Odisha where he did his meditation. There is no disagreement among the scholars about the fact that Uddiyana is the birthplace of Padmasambhava, but there is controversy over the location of Uddiyana, whether it is the Odisha or the Swat Valley of Pakistan or elsewhere.
His earliest biography written by his second wife Dakini Yeshe Tsogyal states that he was the son of King lndrabhuti of Uddiyana. While scholars like Haraprasad Sbastri, NK Sahu, NK Douglas, Dr Umakanta Mishra argue that Uddiyana of the Tibetan sources is the same as Odisha, scholars like G Tucci, DC Sarkar, PC Bagehi locate Uddiyana in the Swat Valley of Pakistan.
We from Odisha fully subscribed to the former view and presented facts quoting inscriptions from Ratnagiri and many places of south India belonging to the 15* century where Uddiyaana has been mentioned as Odisha. We stressed on the fact that Indrabhuti was the king of Sambalpur of Odisha and his adopted son was Gum Padmasambhava, who had gone to Tibet in the 8* century and established lamaism there.
Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay addressing the participants said the Guru’s coming warded off evil spirit, brought peace to Bhutan by stopping the war. Padmasambhava’s introduction of Vajrayana Buddhism shaped dominant national characteristics and minds of the masses.
We from Odisha along with Subrata Das, a senior Foreign Service officer working at the Indian Embassy in Bhutan presented a filigree work of Konark wheel and an Uttariya to the Prime Minister, who said he has read my book on Padmasambhava and advised us to continue our work on the Guru. He also said he is aware of Bhutanese students studying at the KIIT University and the noble work done by KIIT and KISS founder Dr Achyuta Samanta.
Padmashree Prof GN Samten, Vice-Chancellor of Central University for Higher Tibetan Studies, Saranath was a key figure taking part in the conference. He said he had spent his childhood days at Chandragiri in Odisha.
Another very important person who made his presence felt was Padmashree Dr Dinesh Singh, former VC of Delhi University. He said there is a strong reason to believe that Uddiyana is present-day Odisha and Padmasambhava’s birthplace could be Odisha. Former Chief Justice of Bhutan l Sonam Tobgye took a prominent part in the discussion. During informal discussion, he said he has a good friend in Odisha who is former justice of Supreme Court of India Arijit Pasayat.
Former speaker of Bhutan Parliament and presently Vice-President of Mahabodhi Society of India Dasho Pasang Dorji said he has visited Odisha’s places of Buddhist pilgrimage several times.
We from Odisha were extremely happy by listening to the views about the Odias from others, both Indians and foreigners. We discussed among ourselves that our State has rich heritage and natural wealth, but still our State is unable to attract tourists in large numbers because perhaps as a race we lack entrepreneurship. Sooner we wake up, the better for us!
(Dr Mohanty is a former Vice-Chancellor, Utkal University of Culture, Mob: 9238300265)