Uddiyana Pitha (in Tantric Buddhism)

[Full title: Tantric Buddhism in Orissa (Introduction) (4): Uddiyana Pitha]

In the early tantras like Hevajra tantra and Sadhanamala, four pithas have been identified. But in the later period there is variation on the number of pithas mentioned in different texts (Donaldson 2000:9). However, Uddiyana/Oddiyana/Odra pitha finds mentions in all the texts. It is described as not only an important but also as one of the oldest pithas in the Kalika Purana (Snellgrove 1958:70). Uddaiyana being the prime centre of Tantrayana a large number of Siddhas emerged here. Lama Taranath corroborates this by giving a long list of Siddhas who flourished in Uddiyana. According to scholars, the Siddha scholars mentioned in Taranath’s book are said to have flourished in between 950 and 1200 CE. They also believe that it would be exaggerating to say that all the eighty four Siddhas originated in Orissa, but at the same time it won’t be an amplification to say that fact that most of them must have been composed in Uddiyana pitha (Das 1977:323). There is no accordance among the scholars about their location.

Certain annals of the T’ang dynasty of China, Hiuen-Tsang and Fa-hien locate Uddiyana in the Swat valley. Along with them certain scholars like Sircar, Bagchi, L.Waddell and many others identify and locate it at Udyana in the Swat Valley; M.Sylvain Levi places it somewhere in Kashgarh; N.N. Dasgupta identifies it with the Chittagong region of Bengal; R.M. Nath correlates it with Hojai in Nawgong district in Assam; B. Bhattacharya and M. Winternitz locate it in Bengal or Assam; whereas H.P. Sastri, N.K. Sahu, K.C. Panigrahi and N.K. Douglas identify Uddiyana with Orissa. L. Chandra identifies it with Kanchi in south India, which is a very different identification from the rest (Bhattacharya 1980:43-44). Sahu (1958) believes that the words Oda, Odra, Uddra, Odivisa and Oddiyana are used as synonym of Uddiyana. In the Sadhanamala, Uddiyana is also spelt as Odrayana. While in the Kalika Purana it is spelt either as Uddiyana or Odra.

Tribhuvana Mahadevi while accessing to the throne of the Bhaumakaras at Viraja compares herself to goddess Katyayani. Viraja has been identified with present Jajpur. Sahu further quotes Kubjika Tantra, where Viraja is mentioned as the goddess of Uddaiyana. While in the Brahansila the consort of Jagannath is the Goddess of Uddiyana. He further informs that Padmasambhava the son of Indrabhuti is associated with Viraja. In an inscription of twenty five lines, in Nail-headed character of the eight-ninth century CE, on the backside of an image of Jatamukuta Lokesvara (Maha Kurana) at Udaygiri in Jajpur district, Oadmasambhave and Tara along with other deities are invoked. It also states that a stupa with relic inside was set-up on that very spot where the Tathagata had dwelt. The stupa is believed to have contained the relics of Padmaprabha.

In the Saddharmapundarika there is a forecast saying that Lord Buddha assures Sariputta that in the distant future he would be reborn as a Buddha under the name of Padmaprabha and that he shall attain enlightenment at a place called Viraja.

Therefore, by doing so, an attempt has been made to prove logically that Viraja was in Uddiyana and Uddiyana is Orissa and that King Indrabhuti was King of Orissa that is same as Uddiyana or Odra-pith of which the main deities were Jagannath and Viraja.

In the later period, dating to around the fifteenth century CE from south India we get an epigraphical evidence, engraved during the reign of the king Virupaksha (1473) stating that a confusion caused by Oddiyana, i.e. Orissa, in the Deccan and the resulted pause on festivals in the Siva temple at Jambai in the south Arcot district for ten years. This solves beyond doubt the confusion that Oddiyana was Orissa and this incident is also mentioned in another inscription dated to the reign of Saluva Narsimha (Sahu 1958:154).

Sahu, Panigrahi along with few other scholars, with the help of archaeological evidences proved that Uddiyana pitha was located in the northeast and not northwest part of India. Gradually they found that, few Tantric images of any importance of such early date have been found from the Swat valley, although numerous images of the Gandhara style have been reported from this area. Almost all the tantric images associated with worship like Marichi, Kurukulla, Lokesvara, Vidhvapada-Vajravarahi etc are not found in the Swat valley (as identified with Uddiyana by some scholars). Whereas all these images have been reported from various parts of Orissa and they can be dated from the earliest times when Tantrism started. Most of the images are made according to the Sadhanas preserved in the Sadhnamala, Nispannayogavali and other Buddhist texts.