Udiana (kingdom)
Udiana[1] (also: Uḍḍiyāna, Uḍḍāyāna, Udyāna or 'Oḍḍiyāna', Sanskrit: ओड्डियान, उड्डियान, उड्डायान, उद्यान;[2] Tibetan: ཨུ་རྒྱན་, Wylie: u rgyan, Chinese: 烏萇; pinyin: Wūcháng, Mongolian: Үржин urkhin), a small region in early medieval India, is ascribed importance in the development and dissemination of Vajrayāna Buddhism.[3][4][5] Tibetan Buddhist traditions view it as a Beyul (Tibetan: སྦས་ཡུལ, Wylie: sbas-yul), a legendary heavenly place inaccessible to ordinary mortals. Padmasambhava, the eighth-century Buddhist master who was instrumental in the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet, was believed to have been born in Oddiyana.[6] The Dzogchen Siddha Garab Dorje is likewise attributed to this region.
It is ascribed importance in the development and dissemination of Vajrayāna Buddhism. The region was also an important place for the practice of Śaivite Hinduism. It is seen as the homeland of the Mahārtha (aka Krama Kalikula) lineage of Śaiva Tantra. The first Mahārtha Siddha, Jñānanetra Nātha (ज्ञाननेत्र नाथ), is said to have awakened and taught in this country.[7] It was also called as “the paradise of the Ḍākinīs”.[8]
Location
Swat
Many Western scholars have identified it as the
Udyāna (
The area is said to have supported some 500
While the 6th to 8th century Kabul Ganesh offers a memorial inscription, to Turk Shahis king Khingala of Oddiyana.[12]
The following Hindu Shahis are believed to belong to the Uḍi/Oḍi tribe, namely the people of Oddiyana whose rulers were already known at the time of the Kushan Empire (3rd century CE) and are recorded as early as the 4th century BCE.[13][14]
Odisha
An alternate theory places its location in what is now the modern Indian state of Odisha,[16][6] through a case founded upon "literary, archeological and iconographic evidence". Scholars championing this location contend that the name Oḍḍiyāna derives from the Dravidian Oṭṭiyan, denoting a native or indigenous person of Oḍra ("Odisha") or from Oṭṭiyam, Telugu for Oḍra. Oḍḍiyāna is also the Middle Indic form of Udyāna "garden," the name by which Xuanzang knew the region around Odisha.[17]
Confusion about the identity of Oddiyana is conflated with confusion about the identity of Indrabhuti as Donaldson (2001: p. 11) observes:
In his argument, P. C. Bagchi states that there are two distinct series of names in Tibetan: (1) O-rgyān, U-rgyān, O-ḍi-yā-na, and (2) O-ḍi-vi-śā, with the first series connected with Indrabhūti, i.e., Oḍiyăna and Uḍḍiyāna, while the second series falls back on Oḍi and Oḍiviśa, i.e., Uḍra (Odisha) and has nothing to do with Indrabhūti. N.K. Sahu objects, however, and points out that these two sets of names are seldom distinguished in Buddhist Tantra literature, and opines that the words Oḍa, Oḍra, Uḍra, Oḍiviśa and Oḍiyāna are all used as variants of Uḍḍiyāna. In the Sādhanamālā, he further points out, Uḍḍiyāna is also spelt as Oḍrayāna while in the Kālikā Purāṇa, as indicated earlier, it is spelt either Uḍḍiyāna or Oḍra. There is also evidence, Sahu continues, that Indrabhūti is the king of Odisha rather than of the Swāt valley. The Caturāsiti-siddha-Pravṛtti, for example, mentions him as the king of Oḍiviśa while Cordier, in his Bṣtān-ḥgyur catalogue, gives sufficient indications of his being the king of Orissa. Also, in his famous work Jñānasiddhi, king Indrabhūti opens it with an invocation to Lord Jagannātha, a deity intimately associated with Odisha and with no other area of India.[18]
One writer recently made a renewed attempt to identify Uddiyana with Orissa which he regards as "the cradle of Vajrayana Buddhism".[3] But this is improbable; the Chinese sources refer to Orissa as Wu-T'u or Ota or Wu-cha, while the Tibetans refer to Orissa as Odivisa which must be different from Urgyan or Wu-chang.[3] Moreover, Orissa became a centre of Täntrika Buddhism after the 7th century A.D., while the Swat valley was a centre of Tantric Buddhism long before 700 A.D.[3]
In ancient Indian literature the extreme north-western region of the country, especially Uddiyana,
Others
John Reynolds suggests that "perhaps Uddiyana is actually a name of a much wider geographical area than the Swat Valley alone, one embracing parts of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and even
In Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhist traditions see Oḍḍiyāna as a source of many of their tantric teachings. It is seen as having been a land where Buddhist tantra flourished. Many lineages of Tibetan Buddhism are traced to this region, including Dzogchen (which began with the great siddha
In Tibetan Buddhist literature, Oḍḍiyāna is described as being ruled by several kings each of whom were named Indrabhūti.[6]
Oḍḍiyāna is also often conflated or identified with Shambhala, a magical hidden land (beyul) land inhabited by ḍākinīs and inaccessible to or by ordinary mortals.[24]
In the 'Seven Line Prayer' (of Padmasambhava) revealed in Jigme Lingpa's terma of the Ngöndro of the Longchen Nyingthig and throughout the Longchen Nyingtig Ngondro, Oddiyana is rendered in the form Tibetan: ཨོ་རྒྱན, Wylie: o rgyan.
Further reading
- Khalid, Fazal (2014). The Uddiiyana Kingdom: The Forgotten Holy Land of Swat. Shoaib Sons Publishers & Booksellers, GT Road, Mingora, Swat, Pakistan.
- https://www.visitswatvalley.com/uddiyana/
Notes
- ^ Loewenthal, the Rew. I. (1864). "On the Antiquities of the Peshawar District". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. XXXII (I of 1863). C.B. Lewis, Beptist Mission Press, Calcutta: 17.
- Clarendon Press. p. 191.
उद्यान/ उद्-यान n. N. of a country in the north of India.
- ^ ISBN 978-81-208-0281-0.
- ^ a b c ‘Uḍḍiyāna and Kashmir’, pp 265-269 ‘The Śaiva Exegesis of Kashmir’, in Mélanges tantriques à la mémoire d’Hélène Brunner. Tantric Studies in Memory of Hélène Brunner, Collection Indologie 106, EFEO, Institut français de Pondichéry (IFP), ed. Dominic Goodall and André Padoux, 2007.)
- ^ ISBN 978-0-231-16241-8.
- ^ ISBN 9780198605607. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
- ^ Wallis, Christopher D. (2013). Tantra Illuminated: The Philosophy, History, and Practice of a Timeless Tradition. pp. 211-282. Mattamayura Press.
- ^ Shah, Bipin. "Ancient Uddayana-the land of Buddha at Rajgriha, prior to establishment of Patliputra in Ganges Doab". Research gate. Research gate. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
- ^ ISBN 9780486275864.
- S2CID 247897486.
- ISBN 978-0415356534.
- ^ From Persepolis to the Punjab: Exploring Ancient Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Elizabeth Errington, Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis, British Museum Press, 2007 p. 96
- ^ Rahman, Abdul (2002). "New Light on the Khingal, Turk and the Hindu Sahis" (PDF). Ancient Pakistan. XV: 37–42.
The Hindu Śāhis were therefore neither Bhattis, or Janjuas, nor Brahmans. They were simply Uḍis/Oḍis. It can now be seen that the term Hindu Śāhi is a misnomer and, based as it is merely upon religious discrimination, should be discarded and forgotten. The correct name is Uḍi or Oḍi Śāhi dynasty.
- ^ Meister, Michael W. (2005). "The Problem of Platform Extensions at Kafirkot North" (PDF). Ancient Pakistan. XVI: 41–48.
Rehman (2002: 41) makes a good case for calling the Hindu Śāhis by a more accurate name, "Uḍi Śāhis".
- ^ Rehman 1976, p. 187 and Pl. V B., "the horseman is shown wearing a turban-like head-gear with a small globule on the top".
- ISBN 978-81-208-0281-0.
One writer has recently made a renewed attempt to identify Uḍḍiyāna with Orissa which he regards as the "cradle of Tāntrika Buddhism". But this is improbable; the Chinese sources refer to Orissa as Wu-T'u or Ota or Wu-Cha, while the Tibetans refer to Orissa as Oḍivisa which must be different from Urgyan or Wu-Chang. Moreover, Orissa became a centre of Tāntrika Buddhism after the 7th century A.D.
- JSTOR 44145469.
- ISBN 978-81-7017-375-5 Source: [1](accessed: Tuesday February 2, 2010), p.11
- ^ John M. Reynolds: The Golden Letters. Snow Lion, Ithaca, New York 1996, S. 211–212.
- ^ Cfr. Herbert V. Guenther, Wholeness Lost and Wholeness Regained. Forgotten Tales of Individualism from Ancient Tibet. Albany, 1994,
- ^ Oḍḍiyāna: A New Interpretation. In: M. Aris, Aung San Suu Kyi: Tibetan Studies in Honour of Hugh Richardson. Warminster, 1980, S. 73–78.
- ^ Nyingma History
- ISBN 0-86171-199-8, p.460 History.
- ^ Bimalendu Mohanty; Varish Panigrahi (2016). "Guru Padmasambhava of Odiyana (Odisha): The Founder of Lamaism in Tibet" (PDF). Journal of Bhutan Studies. 34.
References
- Faxian, A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms (James Legge translation), Chapter 8. (Online at the University of Adelaide Library)
- Rehman, Abdur (January 1976). The Last Two Dynasties of the Sahis: An analysis of their history, archaeology, coinage and palaeography (Thesis). Australian National University.