During the Gupta period

[Full title: Political and Religious History of Orissa (8): During the Gupta period]

The Guptas were mainly Vaishnavites. Their reign brought back Brahmanical Hinduism in limelight that was fading due to the popularity of other religious sects. It is evident that Buddhist establishments existed, during the Gupta period which shows that the Gupta’s had supremacy over the southern part of Orissa up to the second half of the sixth century CE. After Samudragupta invaded Kosala in the middle of the fourth century CE which resulted to a cultural turmoil, giving rise to Vaishnavism in the conquered territories. Under the patronage of the Guptas and the Vakatakas, Vaishnavism gained a strong hold over South Kosala in the fifth century CE. It is remarkable to note that along with Saivism in the region, Buddhism and Jainism were popular in Pre-Sarabhapuriya period in Kalinga and Kosala (Tiwari 1985:126-29).

The Guptas were tolerant towards other religions. This period marked a new height in Buddhism. But till date, their direct over lordship in this region is not evident, except for the Sumandala copper plate grant (Sircar 1952:79-85) (in Dist. Ganjam) dated to the Gupta year 250 (569 CE). The grant mentions that, the Gupta’s had appointed one Prithivivigraha as the viceroy of southern part of Orissa and he remained in that position till the second half of the sixth century CE (Patnaik 2000:27).

The Gupta influence at the Buddhist sites is evident, especially on the basis of art and architecture reflecting on the monument and the sculptures. The excavated remains unearthed from Lalitgiri, Langudi, Udaygiri and Ratnagiri located in Cuttack and Jajpur districts, have provided ample evidences to prove Gupta influence, especially in the execution of the sculptures. Besides, the monastic establishments in these areas were in a flourishing state during this period. Gupta gold coin of the archer type was found from Lalitgiri belonging to Chandragupta II and Gupta Brahmi inscription (creed) was found engraved below the bases of three of the votive stupas discovered at Lalitgiri and highly stylized well carved pillars with creeper, kirtimukha design found in the excavations at Lalitgiri (Chauley 1999:445) attest to this period in Orissa. Further excavations carried out by Sambalpur University under the directorship of N.K.Sahu at Ganiapalli (Bargarh Dist) yielded two Buddha images and a monastic establishment of fifth century CE. One of the images in dhyana-mudra bears typical Gupta features. (Patnaik 2000:27).

According to Taranath during the reign of a king named Buddhapaksa, a vihara named Ratnagiri was built on a hill near the sea in Orissa. A famous library was maintained there with three sets of Mahayana and Hinayana Sastras etc., and there were eight great groups of dharma (Religious Schools) with five hundred monks. But the name Buddhapaksa is not mentioned in any other historical record. According to Taranath he was the king of Varanasi who flourished before Harsha (606-46 CE) long before the Pala king Gopala (750-70 CE).

Nalinatksha Dutt (Sahu 1958: vii) opines that Buddhapaksha was the nick-name of the Gupta king Narasimhagupta Baladitya (early sixth century CE), a name given to him by the Buddhists as a patron of Buddhism and an enemy of the Hunas who were anti-Buddhists. And the earliest inscription found at the site recording the Pratityasamutpadasutra occasionally combined with the Buddhist creed found from within a stupa can be paleographically dated to the later part of the Gupta period (Donaldson 2001:3).

The stupa standing on the highest prominence of the Ratnagiri hill was built on the ruins of an earlier structure belonging to the Gupta period. This is proved by the discovery of a stone slab from the debris near the stupa. This slab contains the Buddhist creed Pratitya samutpada sutta, which is inscribed in the characters of the Gupta period. This slab is now preserved in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. The fragment probably dates to the sixth century CE (Mukherjee 1984:1-2).

A number of copper plate grants have come to light, that were issued by the local rulers from different parts of ancient Kalinga during the Gupta period; which mention about construction of viharas, donations for construction and repair works of monasteries and donations to Buddhist institutions for fulfilling the day-to-day needs (Sahu 1958).

Jayrampur copper plate of Maharajadhiraja Gopchandra datable to the fifth-sixth century CE, states that Achyuta who was a subordinate king, granted a village named Svetabalika within the ancient district of Dandabhukti to the Mahayanist Bhikshu-sangha for construction of a vihara at Bodhipadraka (Jayrampur) in favour of Arya-Avalokitesvara, for performing the ceremonial worship by providing the required materials like bali, charu, gandha, puspa, pradipa etc., and for meeting the necessities of the Arya-Sangha like food, bed, seat, sick-diet, medicine and cleaning arrangements (Sahu, Mishra &Sahu 1991). This statement proves that Buddhist establishment existed at Jayarampur prior to the issue of the grant. It further reveals about the life of the students residing in the Buddhist monasteries, who, other than Buddhist philosophy, also studied Vedas and Smiriti-sastras (Bandyopadhyay 2004:5). This thoroughly speaks about the religious sects existing during that period.