During the Bhaumakara’s reign

[Full title: Political and Religious History of Orissa (13): During the Bhaumakara’s reign]

The Bhaumakara’s ruled over an extensive part of Orissa, stretching from the modern districts of Balasore, Cuttack, Puri, Dhenkanal, to parts of Ganjam, Phulbani and Keonjhar. This period (736 to 910 CE) saw tremendous all round growth of Buddhism in Orissa. During this period magnificent monastery adorned with superb images of Buddha, Bodhisattva’s and their emancipations developed throughout the empire and Orissa became a great centre of Mahayana Buddhism. Apart from the Mahayana Buddhism, another important form of Buddhism came up called Tantric Buddhism, which is popularly known as Vajrayana cult, also received due patronage from the Buddhist Bhaumakara Kings and reached the zenith of its development during this period in Orissa (Panigrahi 1961:133). They gave royal patronage and made Buddhism as a part of state religion. The Bhuma kings like Asoka appointed top ranking religious officers who were designated as Mahamandalacharya and Paramaguru to take care of the religious matters in the country (Levi 1919-20: 363-64).

The Bhaumakara rulers were devout Buddhists, the family chief named Kshemankara who was also known as Lakshminkara used the epithet Parmaupasaka (a Buddhist) (Sircar 1947:103). From the Neulpur copper-plate of Subhakaradeva I, it is known that the first three rulers of the Bhuamakara dynasty used titles like Paramopasaka Kshemarikaradeva, Parmatathagatha Sivakaradeva I and Parmasaugata Subhakaradeva I (Banerji 1919-20: 1-8).

From the Tervandia copper-plate of Subhakara II it is known that Subhakara I was a Buddhist (Sircar 1949-50: 212). In spite of being a Buddhist we find in the seal of Subhakara I, a figure of Bull and the mount of Lord Siva (Joshi 1979:202). It is also known that the fourth Bhauma ruler Sivakara II is a Saugatasraya, who was a Parmasaugata. The Bhaumakaras also set unusual examples of religious tolerance and co-existence, for in their family some were devout Buddhists on the other hand some were patrons of Vaishnavism and Saivism. There are even instances when the husband followed one religion and wife patronized another.

The Bhauma rulers, who were not Buddhist also made land grants for maintenance of Buddhist establishments. In two Talcher charters of Sivakaradeva III dated to the year 149 of the Bhauma era (885 CE) records that though Sivakaradeva III professed the epithet of Paramamahesvara, he granted two villages for meeting the expenses of the maintenance of the Buddhist temple dedicated to god Buddhabhattraka in Jayasrama vihara (Donaldson 2001:7). The Baudh copper-plate (DE 1951-52:216) of Tribhuvana Mahadevi-II, issued in 158 year of Bhaumakara era, records the erection of huge stone viharas by Subhakaradeva-I.

The Bhauma period is memorable for it was the period that saw the fusion of different cults and sects. Buddhism, Saivism, Vaishnavism and Saktism seem to have lost their separate entities and were bind together into a mixed form of religion. As a result this period brought into prominent relief the reciprocal influence of different religions upon one another (Das 1978:156). Although most of the Bhauma rulers were Buddhist, yet almost all of them believed, encouraged and practised Varnasrama system and made donations to Brahmins (Subudhi 1978:121).

The Dhenkanal copper-plate of Tribhuvana Mahadevi I states that, “The Bhauma Kings whole heartedly spend the treasures of their vast kingdom on religious works in order to enlighten their country and others, who decorated the earth by construction in unbroken continuity of various temples, mathas, monasteries and sanctuaries, which were like staircase to ascend the city of Purandara” (Donaldson 2001:7, Satapathy 2000:33). During this period beautiful sculptures of the Mahayana pantheons were carved, which is evident from the large number of sculptures found in the ruins of Ratnagiri, Udaygiri and Lalitgiri.

Sivakara I is said to have sent a mission to Te-tsang (in 795 CE), the Emperor of China to present him the autographed manuscript Gandhavyuha, the last section of the Buddhist treatise Avatamsaka dealing with the practice of yoga, of Buddhisahava Samantabhadra. For this work Prajana, a scholar on Mahayana was instructed (Das 1978:147). Prajana had studies and acquired knowledge in north India and in Madhyades, he resided in Nalanda and visited many sacred places. After eighteen years of learning, he settled in a monastery in Orissa to study yoga. He next moved to China, where in 788 CE he made a translation of the (Mahayanabodhi) Sat-paramita-sutra. In the Chinese annals also we get reference to this incident. It states that, “in 795 CE the Chinese emperor Te-tsang received as a token of homage an autograph manuscript addressed to him by the king of Wu-Cha (Odra or Orissa) in southern India who were the followers of Mahayana Buddhism and whose name, translated into Chinese was “the fortunate monarch who does what is pure, the lion” (Sircar 1947:104).

According to Chinese sources a former king of Odra named Subhakarasimha, is credited for introducing Tantrayana Buddhism in China at the beginning of the eight century. He arrived at the Chinese capital in 716 CE at the invitation of T'ang-Hsuan-tsung, where he was welcomed as a renowned monk and was given the title of “Teacher of the Country”. He had taken with him numerous texts which included the Mahaivairocanabhisambodhi, which he translated into Chinese in 725 CE, and an iconographic copybook by his own hand, of the deities for the mandalas of the Sarvatathagata-tattvasamgraha, the latter is now surviving in Japan and is known as the Gobushinkan.

Mahayana Buddhism could not maintain its popularity for a long time in Orissa. When various elements of faith, manifold ceremonies, rights and rituals as well as mystic practices like mudras, mandalas, abhiseka, samadhi, mantras etc were incorporated into Mahayana Buddhism it lost its established ideals and moral values and consequently lost its paramount position in the society (Majumdar 1966:406). In due course of time Mahayana Buddhism got divided into two distinct schools known as Mantrayana and Paramitayana. The Mantrayana later on developed as the Tantric Buddhism or Vajrayana cult (Panigrahi 1981:133). Later on the Vajrayana cult which originated in Uddiyana spread to other countries like Tibet, Nepal and China (Das 1981:6). As in most of the centres in Orissa, by about ninth century CE the Mahayana doctrine gradually transformed itself in to Vajrayana. With the rise of Mahayana Buddhism and Vajrayana Buddhism under the patronage of the Bhaumakara kings, a large number of religious institutions developed in different parts of Orissa i.e. Jajpur, Ratnagiri, Khadipada, Ayodhya, Kaupari, Chauduar, Banesvarnasi, Banpur, Boudh, Lalitgiri, Udaygiri, Talcher, etc. The overwhelming number of such images found from different parts of the state proves that Vajrayana found the most favoured environment and conditions for growth, in the land of Orissa; which also played a significant part in the development of the new code of belief later.

From the above discussion it is proved that Buddhism both in Mahayana and Vajrayana form accomplished great progress and prosperity under the patronage of the Bhaumakara kings. The Bhauma rule can therefore be rightly called as the most remarkable period in the history of Buddhism in Orissa. The Bhauma rule came to an end by the middle of the tenth century CE and with the decline of the Bhaumakaras, Buddhism in Orissa also suffered.