Odisha State was known in the ancient time variously such as Kalinga, Odra, Odivisa, Utkala and Toshali. Odisha’s contribution to Buddhism, compared with other parts of our country, is next to none. Starting from a chance meeting of two merchants of Odisha, Tapasu and Bhallika who became the first lay disciples of the Buddha, Odisha became the cradle for the newly-emerging creed. Mentions of these two persons have been found in Vinayapitaka.
According to Anguttara-Nikaya, Buddha handed over tufts of his hair to the two merchants of Ukkala (Utkala) Tapasu and Bhallika, who deposited the hair-relic in a Chaitya (Kesha Stupa) built by them in their native town Asitanjana. From the Nikaya texts, it is also known that the Vassa and Bhanna peoples of Utkala, after hearing the discourse of Buddha delivered at Jetavana, accepted his teaching. From the writings of the Rock Edict-XIII of Asoka, it is known that Shramanas (Buddhist monks) were preaching Buddhism in Kalinga much before Emperor Asoka (c.272-36 B.C.) invaded Kalinga.
After the great Kalinga War in 261 BC, Mauryan Emperor Asoka observing the horrors of the war, out of profound remorse, gave up his ambition of military conquest (Digvijay) in favour of spiritual conquest (Dharmavijay). After this great war, Asoka embraced Buddhism being initiated by an Odia Buddhist monk Upagupta, and with great zeal started propagating Buddhism in every nook and corner of India and also in countries like Sri lanka, Indonesia, the Eastern Archipelago and the Far East. Within a span of fifteen years, it became a world religion.
It speaks well for Odisha that a religious creed being nurtured by it, rose to the stature of a world religion having passed through its very portals. Emperor Asoka had constructed a monastery known as Bhojakagiri Vihara, where his brother Tissa resided. Xuan-Zang (Hieun-Tsang), the famous Chinese traveler, who visited Odisha around 639 A.D., had seen nearly eleven stupas erected by Asoka. Odisha had well developed Buddhist cultural centres at Parimalagiri, Surabhigiri, Bhorasaila, Tamralipta and Chelitalo. Buddhist scholars of eminence like Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, Sarbagami, Dignaga and Dharmakirti stayed in these centres and wrote many books on Buddhist philosophy and ethics.
During the reign of Asoka and subsequently, the Hinayana sects, particularly the Theravadins, had their sway in Buddhism. Hinayana Buddhism continued to be in prominence till the 7th century AD. Prof N Dutta, an eminent scholar of Buddhism, has stressed that Mahayana Buddhism had originated from Kalinga in the 1st century AD. Taranath, the Tibetan historian, gives Odivisa (Odisha) the credit of being the earliest centre of Mahayana Buddhism. King Subhakaradeva-I of Odra presented an autographed Buddhist manuscript to Chinese Emperor Te-tsong. The manuscript and a letter were entrusted to the learned monk Prajna for a translation, who after wandering for eighteen years in various places including Nalanda settled in a monastery of Wu-ch’a (Odra) before going to China, which indicates the importance of Odishan monastic establishments.
Canonical Buddhism has had three distinct phases known as the ethical Hinayana, the philosophical Mahayana and the esoteric Tantrayana. Tantrayana had three offshoots, Vajrayana, Sahajayana and Kalachakrayana, which were propounded by Odishan Siddhas Indrabhuti, laksmikara, his sister, and Manjusree, respectively. All these three esoteric Buddhist Yanas or vehicles were ardently practised by Buddhist adepts in Odisha. Esoteric Buddhism travelled to China from Odisha. Buddhism was a living religion among the people of Odisha till the 15th century AD.
When Muslim invaders Vaktiyar Khilji attacked Nalanda, Vikramasila and adjacent areas and killed thousands of Buddhist Bhikshus, the greatest Mahayana centre of Odisha, Jagadalavihar, gave shelter to hundreds of Buddhist Bhikshus. In 1202 AD, Chancellor of Vikramasilavihara Sribhadra also took shelter in Odisha. The Muslim invaders did not dare to enter Odisha till the 16th century AD.
The great art historian Charles Fabrie had stated that Odisha had an unfathomable treasure trove of Buddhist art and architecture. Presently, it is dotted with nearly four thousand monuments and architectural sites.
The period from the 1st century AD to the 7th century AD can be regarded as the Golden Era of Buddhism. The Mahayana form of Buddhism was flourishing during this period. Mahayana in detail has been described in the Prajnaparamita literature. After a great deal of research, finality has been reached that Astasahasrika, the first volume of Prajnaparamita was written in Odisha. Therefore, Odisha was the birthplace of the Mahayana Buddhism. This fact has been written by Tibetan historian lama Taranath in his book Pagsam-Zon-Tsang.
From the 1st century AD, Chinese people were greatly attracted by the Mahayana Buddhism and hundreds of them came as pilgrims to the Buddhist centres of India, including those in Odisha. The three prominent Chinese travellers who have been immortal because of that travelogue are Fahiyan, Hieun-Tsang and It-Tsing. Emperor Harshavardhan, who was a Mahayana Buddhist, had conquered Odisha but did not do any harm to Hinayana Buddhist.
From the early 8th century AD, the Tantrayana form of Buddhism developed in Odisha. Here, Saraha propounded Buddhakapalatantra. Kambalapada and Padmavajra jointly propounded Hevajratantra. luipa, the famous Buddhist monk, propounded Samputatilaka. In the middle of the 8th century, King Indrabhuti of Sambala (Sambalpur) simplified all these forms into Vajrayana and his sister laxmikara founded Sahajayana.
King Indrabhuti’s adopted son was Padmasambhava. He is regarded as the second Buddha. He had married Princes Mandaraba of Jahore (Keonjhar). Guru Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) with the help of his wife had taken great penance and attained Siddhi in Sahajayana. It has been mentioned in a number of Buddhist scriptures of Nepal that Gautama Buddha had said that after a few centuries of his Parinirvana, Padmasambhava would take birth at Uddiyana (Odisha) and he would attain great height of sainthood. Guru Padmasambhava at the invitation of Shantirakshita (his brother-in-law) went to Tibet and established lamaism there. lamaism has spread in different parts of the Himalayan territory such as Sikkim, leh, ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh. He along with Shantirakshita had also established Sam-ye monastery in Tibet.
Starting from Hinayana Buddhism, Odisha was the birthplace of Mahayana Buddhism, Tantrayana Buddhism, Vajrayana Buddhism and Sahajayana Buddhism and has many Siddhas who had written Buddhist philosophy, literature, logic and ethics and illuminated the world. The contribution of Guru Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) has excelled everybody. Therefore, Odisha’s contribution to Buddhism is unparallel and is written in golden letters in history.
(Dr Mohanty is a former vice-chancellor of the Utkal University of Culture and vice-president of the Mahabodhi Society of India Mobile-9238300265)