Buddhism from the seventeenth century CE to present day

The history of Buddhism from seventeenth century onwards is not very much highlighted and is not free from controversy. However, Vasu (1911) has made an interesting account by arguing that the ‘Mahima Dharmis’ of Orissa were the Buddhist in disguise during this period. The following contents are a summary of the views of Vasu for the benefit of the readers.

Various religious books of Utkala belonging to the sixteenth, seventeenth and the eighteenth century, states that many crypto-Buddhists were then residing in various parts of the country. In the hills and the forests of the Gadajats, they cherished the loving memory of their religion and made no secret of it amongst themselves in the society, they passed for devout Vaisnavas.

On the basis of the census report of nineteenth century “In the seventeenth century Buddha Guptanatha wondered in various parts of India and found Buddhism flourishing in various parts of India. Then, it is lost altogether for two or three centuries; Buddhism was absolutely unknown in India” (Census report of Bengal 1901, Pt.I:203). But Vasu disproves this notion that Buddhism was lost in India for he on the basis of literary evidences has traced that Buddhism still lived in the memory of various poets in eighteenth century. The Buddhist in this phase never called themselves as Buddhists, nor did they ever designate their faith as Buddhism. In every page of history of their religion they are found to have called it simply ‘Dharma’ or at most ‘Saddharma’ and styled themselves as ‘Dharmin’ or ‘Saddharmin’. At the same time in Orissa the crypto-Buddhists called the creed they followed as ‘Mahima-dharmin’ and called themselves as ‘Mahima-dharmin’ (1911:151).

During the British rule they gained strength and tried to come out openly as Buddhists and tried to reassert themselves under the leadership of Bhima Bhoi. It was in 1875 during the twenty first year of the reign of Divya-Simha the king of Puri that the revival of Buddhism in the name of Mahima-dharma took place (Vasu 1911:160). It is said that Bhima Bhoi had heard a voice from heaven to the effect that with the revival of the Mahimadharma the hidden state of Jagannatha as Buddha would again be brought to light. To have this statement realised and firmly believing in it, he called upon his followers to come and join him. People joined him in thousands, fired with the zeal of devotion and godliness, went in war against the king of Puri.

This incident finds mention in the “Yocomati-Malika” (Vasu: 165). The war occurred in the twenty ninth anka of the reign of Divya Simha Deva of Puri, and it states that the most important part was played by Bhima Bhoi himself. It is said that he collected people from thirty villages and marched upon Puri.

Later on when Bhima Bhoi realised that his ambition was not going to come true and so declared among his followers that the avoidance from doing any harm to others was the first principle of the religion. So they should not commit sin by injuring others. He further announced that Jaganntha had already left Puri in the guise of Buddha and he now understood that it was not Buddha’s intention that his image to be brought to light again. So there was no need for the war to continue. Listening to this order of their leader the Mahimadharmins took to flight. Some of them were captured and imprisoned and some were transferred for life on charges of murder by the British government. The Mahimdharmins after this out of fear of persecution by the government took shelter in the hills and forests of the Gadajats of Utkala (Vasu 1911: 167-70).

Bhima Bhoi passed away after ten years of the above incident and after him his sons are occupying the gadi at Jaranda. In the various parts of the Gardajats one could meet the members of this community even at the time of Vasus fieldwork (Vasu 1911). But the chief gadi was at Jaranda near the Kapilasa hill in the Dhenkanal state. The other important place was Badamatha in the village of Olacinga within the Boudh territory. It is the local belief that after he had left the Nilachala, Jagannatha lived here as Buddha. Besides this, Mayurbhanj was also inter-spread with mathas of this sect. In the villages of Kulagi, Koipur, Jaypur, Purnapani, Kendari and Purnia in the subdivision of Bamanghati; at Merughati in Uparabhaga; in the village of Kesna in Panchpir, in upper-Dihi and in the village of Gandu in Joshipur; in Navapura; Purana Baripada, Jalapada and others in the Mayurbhanja proper, there were a large number of monasteries, big and small of this sect. These mathas are also to be found in a large number outside Mayurbhanj. In about twentytwentyfive villages in Keonjhar; Gadajats such as Dhenkanal, Boudh, Dasapalla, Talcher, Conapur, Gangpur, Palalahara, Sarangagada, Rayagada, Kalahandi and in almost of the Killajatas monasteries of this sect were found (Vasu 1911: 170-71).

The followers of this creed are divided into two divisions viz., Grhi (house holders) and Bhiksu or Sanneyasin. Vasu, on the basis of his research in this area states that “almost wherever any large numbers of followers of this sect have settled, they have settled together, a small but neat and clean matha will attract the notice of the passer-by. Among the Udasinas (those who are indifferent to the ups and downs of life) only the most advanced are entitled to be Mahanta i.e. the head of the monastery. Common Udasinas or Bhikshus find shelter in these monasteries. Amongst the members of this community, numbering not less twenty-five thousand, there are to be found people both of the higher and lower ranks of society” (Vasu 1911: 171).

In the Barmba, Tigaria and in the adjoining parts of Cuttack and in the Puri district also there is a cast called the Saraka, who meet once a year at Khandagiri to worship Buddhadeva or Chaturbhaja. The Sarakas (a Prakrit form of Sravakas) are a religious community transformed eventually into a cast like the Vairagi or the Yogi of Bengal. In the census of 1911 it is seen that 1833 of them returned to Orissa as simply Buddhists (Mitra 1959:101). H.P.Sastri (1911:28) in his introduction to “The Modern Buddhism and its followers in Orissa” states that in the state of Boudh according to the census report of 1933 (Census report of India, Vol. VII: 257-58) there were 1768 Buddhists who believed them-selves to be the offspring’s of Buddhist monks who renounced their vow of celibacy.

Thus, Vasu concludes that “the Mahimadharmins of the Gadajats of Orissa are simply Buddhists like other Buddhists of the Mahayana school; they are also passing their days in the firm belief and hope that Buddha will again be incarnated”

Buddhism gradually and slowly melted into Vaishnavism. Many scholars opine that Jagannath was a Buddhist deity. According to them the three deities are representations of the Triratha of the Buddhists and that the uncouth forms of the deities represented the Buddhist Stupas. Buddhist influence on the cult of Jagannath cannot be deviated. Jagannath in the local mythologies is regarded as the Buddhist incarnation of Vishnu. It is written in the Mandalapanji that when Asoka was the king, Jagannath was worshipped according to Buddhist rites. Whatever may be the truth of the statement, we cannot deny the fact that Jagannath was associated with Buddhism in its days of predominance. Even now Jagannath is decorated in Buddha vesha on a certain day in April as stated by R.L.Mitra (Mitra 1880).

Sarita Dash (2002: 13) while doing her research work on the Bauddhatantis of Maniabandha has also mentioned about the other Buddhists settlements still existing in Orissa. These people are popularly known as Buddhatantis. These Buddhatantis call themselves to be Sarakas (In historical context Sarakas refers to the identity of a Buddhist or Jaina householder).The earliest reference to this is found in the writing’s of Sterling’s Orissa, Published in 1904. This is further attested to in the historiographical cum religious literature of the Bauddhatantis of Maniabandha called ‘Buddha Padma Kalpatika’ (Patra 1949). Then it was Haraprasad Shastri who in 1911 wrote the introduction for N.N. Vasu’s book “Modern Buddhism and its followers in Orissa” he mentions about the Sarakas and their existence in Cuttack and Puri (Vasu 1911:22-23). Then Prabhat Kumar Mukherjee in 1940 mentioned that the Sarakas might have migrated to Orissa due to Mohammedans harassment in Bengal (Dash 2002:19).

According to the legend, the Sarakas arrived in the court of Prataprudra Deva (Sterling 1904:80-81) (1490-1538) in his twenty-eighth regnal year i.e. 1518 CE. They belonged to an ancient guild of weavers and came to Orissa from the Nandi village of Vardhaman. A debate was organized between them and the Brahmins in the royal court in which the Buddhists had to face defeat and as a result they were expelled from the area. Thereafter, they separated and sought refuge in remote and hilly parts of the country. Now a day’s these Bauddhatantis reside in the following areas of Orissa, Athgarh, Nuapatna, Abhimanpur and Maniabandha in Cuttack district; Mohammadpur and Balibisi in Jagatatsinghpur district and at Ragadi and Banki in Khurda district. According to Sadasiva Patra the Buddhatantis use the following surnames (Dash 2002:28-29): Patra, Chanda, Das, Paramanika, Mahapatra, Datta, Vardhana, Devta, Kara, Pala, Behera, Nandi besides it, two new surnames are being used i.e. Dalei and Naha. It was the recognition, help and development of Buddhism in other parts of the world in general and India in particular, which indirectly helped these Sarakas to come forth and proclaim themselves as Buddhists.

Today the image of Buddha can be seen installed in almost all the Saraka houses. On Buddhapurnima day all the Sarakas meet at a place and celebrate it with enthusiasm. They have even formed an ‘All Orissa Buddhist Association’ called ‘Rastriya Bauddha Sangha’ at Ragadi in Banki in Khurda district. They have their meetings annually (Dash 2002:55-56). Buddhist congregations are held in every Saraka settlement on every ashtami, the eight lunar days, which occurs four or five times in a month. In these congregations they discuss about Buddha and Buddhism. Nowadays, these Neo-Buddhists have also started making pilgrimages to ancient Buddhist sites like Dhauli, Lalitgiri, Udaygiri, Langudi, Ratnagiri etc.