The founding of the Maha Bodhi Society of India on May 31, 1891 is an outstanding event in the history of revival of Buddhism in India. On May 10, 2017, the 2561st Buddha Jayanti is being celebrated by Maha Bodhi Society of India throughout the country.
Present State Odisha is the heart land of ancient and powerful kingdom known as Kalinga, Utkala, Odra, Koshala and Kangoda. The people of Kalinga and other four kingdoms were brave, peace loving and prosperous. Kapila Samhita, an ancient scripture, mentions that of all the countries in world, India is the best and of all States, no States can match Utkala. In the Mahabharata which dates back to 9th century BC, mentions have been made of Kalinga, Odra and Utkala and the inhabitants were Odia. The flip side of the story is dominance of Brahmanism in the society where Brahmins had been exploiting the masses by misinterpreting the Vedic rituals. They were performing Yajna and indulging in cruel acts like animal sacrifices, announcing that those acts would please gods and goddesses.
Two merchants Tapasu and Bhallika while on their trading trip had the good fortune of meeting Tathagata in Uruvela forest, who was sitting under a tree. By then he had attended enlightenment (Bodhi) and realized the eternal truth of salvation. The two traders offered Tathagata some food which Tathagata accepted gladly. Tathagata revealed to these two traders his new found four noble-truth- (a) that life is full of sorrows and sufferings, (b) that, the suffering arises out of craving, (c) that, the suffering ends with the removal of craving and (d) that, there is a way to the end of suffering. These two merchants of Kalinga became the first lay disciples of Goutama Buddha in the world. Tathagata gave them a handful of his hair and his over grown nail. They were initiated to Dhamma directly by Mahakarunika Buddha himself. On the return to Kalinga, they spread the message of Buddha among the masses.
Buddhism started spreading in the nook and corner of Odisha. It appealed to people because there were no rituals, sacrifices, discrimination on the basis of caste and gender and more specifically the Buddha’s teachings that there cannot be any violence to animals or for that matter any living being.
Swami Vivekananda had said that Buddha is the spiritual voice of India. He further said, that “the unique element of Buddhism was the social element. Buddhism was the first to teach universal brotherhood of men. Buddha was the only Indian philosopher who did not recognize caste. He was the greatest preacher of equality of man.” It has been said by some that Buddha borrowed his religion from the Vedas, Upanishads and Kapilasutras which would be like sayings that Darwin borrowed his philosophy from the Bible and that Herbert Spenser got his philosophy from the treatises of mediaeval Theologician.
The eye catching beauty of this land and its rich resources had attracted the attention and created jealousy of the neighbouring kingdom, Magadha. Kings and chieftains were ruling the people of Kalinga. Emperor Asoka, the son of Bindusara, succeeded to the throne of Maurya Empire in 273 BC. He declared war on Kalinga and invaded it with a mighty force in the year 261 BC. No reasons have been stated in history for his attack of Kalinga. Prof Nabin Kumar Sahu, a well known historian of the country, in his Odia book, Odishare Bouddha Dharma, has stated that it is widely rumoured that there was a charming and most beautiful lady Karubaki belonging to fisherman caste. She was married to the prince of Kalinga. The praise of her beauty reached the ears of Asoka and he vowed to marry Karubaki. This lady was endowed with all virtuous qualities of women and simultaneously was expert in the art of war. It is said that after the war at her instance, Asoka embarrassed Buddhism after which Karubaki married Emperor Asoka. Interestingly in an Asokan inscription found in Allahabad it has been written that Asoka’s third queen was Karubaki. Her son was Tibar who was a devout Buddhist. The story of Karubaki may be the immediate cause of the Kalinga war.
During the Kalingan war, the people of Kalinga offered a gallant defense against the aggression. Yet the forces of Kalinga had to face defeat in spite of relentlessly fighting the battle with mighty army of Asoka resulting in an unprecedented carnage in the history of wars. The description of the Kalinga war is noticed in the Rock Edict XIII. But Asoka is silent about who was the king of Kalinga at that time and with whom he fought the war. He is also silent about the losses he suffered in terms of men and materials. The Kalinga war brought about an intense feeling of remorse and repentance in the mind of Asoka. He was initiated to Buddhism by an Odia Bhikshu Upagupta. Historian describes this as a great change and the emperor became Dharmasoka from Chandasoka. Emperor Asoka vowed to spread the message of Buddha throughout India and also in the foreign country. He took full advantage of the ports existing in the sea shore and river mouths of Kalinga for dispatching Buddhist monks from Kalinga to Ceylon and other countries to spread the message of Buddha.
Ven Dr K Sri Dhammananda Nayaka Thero, a great Buddhist scholar, states that during the reign of Emperor Asoka in India, Buddhism was introduced in Sri lanka by Mahinda, the son of Emperor Asoka. At that time, Sri lanka was under the rule of King Devanam Piyatissa. There was no other well established religion in the Island to oppose Buddhism. Hence the king and his subjects embarrassed the new faith whole heartedly. The culture and the civilization were very much influenced by the Indian way of life. Sanghamitra, daughter of Asoka, (wife of Prince Agnibrahma) sailed by ship from Tamralipti to Sri lanka. She ordained the chief queen of Tissa and organized the order of nuns. She was accompanied by eight Buddhist families of Kalinga who settled in Sri lanka and formed the nucleus for the development of Theravada Buddhism there. The Odishan Buddhist served as religious ambassador from India to Sri lanka and other South-Asian countries. Had Asoka not conquered Kalinga, Buddhism could not have spread so rapidly not only in different parts of India but in the different parts of the world. Illustrious historian, HG Wells, in his book ‘Outline of History’ has vividly described the role of Asoka in spreading Buddhism.
To conclude, Buddhism achieved the real glory with the active contribution of the people of Kalinga. The Kalinga war was the turning point in the history of India as emperor Asoka became a Buddhist only after the war. He became the pioneer for spreading Buddhism in different parts of World.
(Dr Mohanty is ex-Vice-Chancellor of Utkal University of Culture, Mob: 9238300265)