Pushpagiri Vihara
Puspagiri | |
---|---|
Religion | |
Affiliation | Buddhism |
Status | Preserved |
Location | |
Location | India |
State | Odisha |
Geographic coordinates | 20°43′22″N 86°11′25″E / 20.722739°N 86.190338°E |
Buddha's Holy Sites |
Pushpagiri (Odia: ପୁଷ୍ପଗିରି) was an ancient Indian mahavihara or monastic complex located atop Langudi Hill (or Hills) in Jajpur district of Odisha, India. Pushpagiri was mentioned in the writings of the Chinese traveller Xuanzang (c. 602 – c. 664) and some other ancient sources. Until the 1990s, it was hypothesised to be one or all of the Lalitgiri-Ratnagiri-Udayagiri group of monastic sites, also located in Jajpur district. These sites contain ruins of many buildings, stupas of various sizes, sculptures (many now removed to museums), and other artifacts.
However, archaeological excavations conducted at Langudi Hills during 1996-2006 resulted in the discovery of another site, with inscriptions describing the local monastery as puṣpa sabhar giriya, and identified by the excavators as Pushpagiri. This has now become the general view among scholars. The site has now been made accessible for tourism.
The visit of Xuanzang indicates that Pushpagiri was an important Buddhist site in ancient India. Along with
Historical mentions
The Chinese traveler Xuanzang (c. 602–644) describes a sangharama (monastery) named Pu-se-p'o-k'i-li in the south-west region of a country, whose name is variously transliterated as U-Cha or Wu-T-U. Scholars such as Stanislas Julien and Samuel Beal restored Pu-se-po-k'i-li as "Pushpagiri", and name of the country as Ota or "Udra".[2][3] Scholars identify this country as Odra in present-day Odisha. Xuanzang describes the monastery as follows:[4]
In the south-west of the country was the Pu-sie-p'o-k'i-li monastery in a mountain; the stone top of this monastery exhibited supernatural lights and other miracles, sunshades placed by worshippers on it between the dome and the amalaka remained there like needles held by a magnet.
A 3rd century inscription of the
The 9th century Buddhist monk
Identification
In the 20th century, a number of scholars identified the Pushpagiri mentioned in Xuanzang's records with various sites in present-day Odisha. Ramaprasad Chanda (1930) of the Archaeological Survey of India believed that either Udayagiri or Lalitgiri could be the historical Pushpagiri.[10][11] Based on archaeological finds, K. C. Panigrahi (1961) hypothesized that Udayagiri, Lalitgiri and Ratnagiri formed a common complex, which was called Pushpagiri.[12] As the crow flies, Ratnagiri and Udaygiri are about 11 km (6.8 mi) apart, and both about 7 km (4.3 mi) from Lalitgiri. N. K. Sahu (1958) placed Pushpagiri somewhere in the Phulbani- Ghumsur region, based on geographical descriptions in Xuanzang's works.[13]
In 1985, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) started excavation at Lalitgiri to confirm its relation to Pushpagiri. The excavation led to several important archaeological discoveries, but none of these confirmed the identification of Lalitgiri with Pushpagiri.[14]
Langudi Hill excavations
In the 1990s, college lecturer Harish Chandra Prusty discovered a Buddhist site on the Langudi Hill in Jajpur district. This is some 18 km (11 mi) distant from Udaygiri, the closest of the "triangle" sites, further up the river. In 1993, he and Pradeep Mohanty described the Langudi site in an article published in the Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute.[15] In 1996, the Orissa Institute of Maritime and South East Asia Studies and the Odisha state's archaeology department started exploring the site.[14] Between 1996 and 2006, the Institute carried out excavations of an area stretching over 143 acres (0.58 km2).
A fragmented
By 2007, 34 rock-cut stupas of various sizes had been discovered on the northern part of the hill. A number of Buddhist rock-cut sculptures were discovered on the southern
-
Ruins of the large stupa with a square base
-
Rock-cut stupas
-
Pali stone inscription
Tourism
In 2005, the Odisha State Government began developing the Langudi Hills site as a tourist place by constructing roads and other facilities.[19]
There are other Buddhist attractions around Langudi hills. Kaima hill, in its immediate vicinity, contains a unique rock-cut elephant surrounded by four monolithic
Langudi can be approached from
References
- ISBN 9781317439066.
- ^ Hiuen Tsang (1885). Buddhist records of the Western World. Translated by Samuel Beal. J. R. Osgood. p. 204.
- ^ Thomas Watters (1905). Thomas William Rhys Davids; Stephen Wootton Bushell (eds.). On Yuan Chwang's travels in India, 629-645 A.D. London: Royal Asiatic Society. pp. 193–194.
- ^ ISBN 978-81-7017-406-6.
- ^ ISBN 9788185026510.
- ^ D. C. Sircar (1939). The Successors of the Sātavāhanas in Lower Deccan. University of Calcutta. p. 33.
- ^ B. S. L. Hanumantha Rao (1993). Religion in Andhra. Department of Archaeology and Museums, Government of A.P. p. 87.
- ^ Bimalendu Mohanty (14 May 2014). Odisha's contribution to Buddhism written in golden letters.
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ignored (help) - ^ Prabhat Mukherjee (1964). The Buddhist Remains of Orissa. Cuttack: Government of Orissa. p. 3.
- ^ The Brooklyn Museum Annual, Volume 8. Brooklyn Museum. 1966. p. 118.
- ^ Ramaprasad Chanda (1930). Exploration in Orissa. Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India No.44. Calcutta: Govt. of India, Central Publication Branch. p. 6.
- ^ Krishna Chandra Panigrahi (1961). Archaeological Remains at Bhubaneswar. Orient Longmans. p. 33.
- ^ N. K. Sahu (1958). Buddhism in Orissa. Utkal University. p. 50.
- ^ a b c "ASI hope for hill heritage – Conservation set to start at Orissa site". The Telegraph. 29 January 2007. Archived from the original on 15 February 2007.
- JSTOR 42936452.
- ^ U Mishra. "Religious Landscape of Orissa - From 5th to 12th centuries" (PDF). INFLIBNET. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
- ^ a b "Langudi : A newly discovered Buddhist site in Orissa". Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
- ^ Debi Patnaik (27 May 2000). "Ashoka stupa found in Orissa". rediff.com.
- ^ "Discovery of Buddhist stupa may turn remote hamlet into tourist hotspot". Buddhist Channel TV. 19 May 2005.