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Buddhist Monuments in South-Eastern India International Review of Social Research 2019; 9(1): 38–48 Research Article Sunil Kumar Patnaik* Buddhist Monuments in South-Eastern India: A Study of Forms and Patronage https://doi.org/10.2478/irsr-2019-0005 Received: March 1, 2019; Accepted: March 20, 2019 Introduction Abstract: The advent of Buddhism in India is usually dated The earliest stone monuments in India date from the back to 6th century BCE. Siddhartha Goutama, a Sakya Mauryan period (320-185 BCE), particularly from the Prince left for quest of truth and reality of life. He was epoch-making reign of emperor Asoka (272 -232 BCE). showered with the divine light of enlightenment, then, Mauryan Emperor Asoka earned his name and fame as instead of keeping it to himself, Gautama preferred to builder of Buddhist monuments throughout the empire enlighten others. The teachings preached and propounded only after the Kalinga (Ancient Odisha) War in 261 BCE. by Gautama Buddha were warmly accepted by a large Kalinga become one the epicenters of his activities and number of people and emerged as a new school of thought the importance of Kalinga in shaping and spreading the i.e. Buddhism which later turned into a major religion of Buddhist ideals was recognized. His domain engulfed the world and the Buddhist remains discovered through whole of India, including Afghanistan and sent out archaeological investigations help us to reconstruct our missionaries to the south as far as Sri Lanka and westward past. (Chakrabarti, 2006: 315) It is a well known fact that even into Syria and Egypt. He constructed up to eighty various the kings of different kingdoms like Magadha, thousand Buddhist monuments which include, pillars, Vaisali, the Sakayas, the Bullis, the Koliyas, the Mallas, rock-cut sculptures, stupas, chaityas and monasteries. the Moriyas and Kalinga (Ancient Odisha) sought for the This practice was followed by different dynasties like relics of the Buddha after the parinirvana. (Kern, 1989: 46) Kushans, Satvahanas, Vakatakas, Palas, Bhuaumakars The emperors, kings, traders and commoners extended etc. In India and outside where Buddhism did exist, or still patronage and built monuments, kept relics, offered exists, there are innumerable monuments representing gifts to pay ovation to the Master Teacher. This historical different phases of Buddhism and these help us visualize phenomenon is known from various forms of Buddhist the forms and patronage through the ages see Figure 1. monuments built across India. Odisha, a geographical It is apparent, however, from the sophistication, orbit of South Eastern India, is fortunate to have received the degree of perfection and the variety of the work a good deal of Buddhist monuments and relics. This paper that abruptly appears in the period of Asoka and then is intended to present an account of different forms of rapidly increases, that already in the earlier centuries Buddhist monuments that have been discovered so far, (though invisible to us, because committed to the such as Stupas, Chaitys, Monasteries under the possible perishable materials of ivory and wood) the torrent of patronage of Buddhism in this part of India from third Indian religious art must have been flowing strong. The century BCE to sixth-seventh century CE. craftsmen who wrought the elaborately decorated gates of the ‘Great Stupa’ at Sanchi and now shattered shrines Keywords: Kalinga, Archaeology, Stupa, Chaitya, of Bharhut, Bodhgaya, Lalitgiri, Langudi, Aragarh and Monastery, Trade, Religion, Art, Architecture Amaravati, skillfully adapted to the special requirements and special legends of Buddhism with the ancient motifs and traditional craft. Buddhist architectural vestiges in the Western Deccan goes back to the first century CE, and by the 6th –7 th century, Buddhist caves such as Ellorā, Aurangabad, *Corresponding author: Sunil Kumar Patnaik, Secretary Odishan Institute of Maritime & South-East Asian Studies (OIMSEAS), and Kānherī flourished due to the booming trade routes Government of Odisha, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. Pin.751014, connecting them to the seaports of Sopara, Kalyan, and Phone 091-9437100159, e-mail: [email protected]. Baruch, as well as the mainland trade centre of Ujjain1. © 2019 Sunil Kumar Patnaik published by Sciendo. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 License. Buddhist Monuments in South-Eastern India: A Study of Forms and Patronage 39 Fig. 1 Map of Early Buddhist Sites of India. Such a phenomenon was also seen in Eastern Indian Recent researches on the basis of material culture Coastal region stretching from Tamralipti in Lower Gangas have shown that several Buddhist establishments have with ports of Palur, Pithunda, Manikapatna Samapa been developed in post-Asokan period in Odishan region, Dantapura, Kalingapatnna, Salihundam, Ghantasila, particularly at Lalitgiri, Langudi, Radhanagar, Dhauli, Nagarjunakonda, Guntupalli, Bhattiprallu of Odisha and Jaugarh and Aragarh because of cultural interaction of Andhra region of South East India. Central Asia and Southeast Asia and Odisha (ancient At the earliest phase, the strategic geographical Kalinga) remained as the nucleus zone. The agriculturally location of Odisha helped it in rising to great heights in rich regions of Kalinga, Saurastra and Raichur with their respect of trade and commerce from pre- Buddhist period. potential as states is viewed as core regions of Mauryan Odisha (ancient Kalinga) served as a bridge between the Empire2. Further, Rock Edicts XV and XVI mention that trans-oceanic and inland trade of India, causing migration Kumaras were stationed at Taksasila, Ujjain and Toshali in of cultural traits along with trade and commerce. With the Kalinga which were the north-western, western and eastern rise of trade and commerce in the historical periods, it is headquarters3. This has been proved from the recent survey but obvious that the growth of urbanization leads building of the trade routes from Balkh and Bamiyan in Afaganisthan of various monuments. where the Silk Route met and then continued through north 40 Sunil Kumar Patnaik India in Ganga valley up to Tamralipti (Tamluk) and then inscriptions of Sanchi in central India, Bhattiprolu on connecting the Buddhist establishments of Odishan the Andhra coast and Mathura in north India. The stele region (Kalinga) like Langudi, Radhanagar, Lalitgiri, from Amaravati is significant as it graphically depicts the Dhauli, Aragarh, Jaugarh4 and passed through the South creation and legitimating of scared spots in an area as far Indian Buddhist establishments like Kalingapattinam, as far removed from the Buddha’s peregrinations as the Salihundam, Sankaram, Tathalkonda, Bhavikonda5 south–east coast and the linking of these to sacred spots Guntupalli, Nagarjunikonda and Amaravati. This is the in northern India. This stele dated to the Mauryan period reason why a number of said Buddhist establishments thus provided justification for the association of the site with monuments developed along the East Coast, Amaravati with sacred spots in the north such as Vaisali Ancient Odisha or Kalinga was a good producer of and Sravasti and perhaps also explains the prominent rice, bajra, cotton fabrics, samudra lona (salt), elephant, part played by monks and nuns in sponsoring religious silk, dukula (a kind of cloth), gems, pearls, oyster, architecture at the site11. perfumes, conch shells, ornaments, sugar, earthen Scholars like Thapar12 and Ray13 refer that, by the pottery. Diamond was probably one of the valuable first century BCE, much of the support for Buddhist commodities sold at Kalinganagar, the then capital city institutions (monasteries and pilgrimage centres) of Kalinga in 1st - 2nd century CE. The mention of all these were derived from craft guilds rather than royalty. The were found in the literary works viz, Jatakas, Arthasastra Buddhist institutions were the recipients of donations of Kautaliya, Mahabhasya of Patanjali, Charaka Samhita, resulting from competitive generosity between guilds, Samyaktta Nikaya and Indica of Meghasthanese6. lesser elite, and royalty which otherwise was an attempt A common assumption is that by the end of the reign to associate themselves with the divine. Ray remarks that of Asoka in the second century BCE, Buddhist monks the Buddhist institutions as more actively engaged in and nuns were established in monasteries throughout economic activities, serving as nodes and long-distance the Indian Sub-continent and that these monasteries, trade networks and managing agricultural production in located near cities, mostly on the river banks or hill the peripheries of developing states14. Schopen has also slopes relied on state and public support. The Buddhist refers that the monasteries even acted as moneylenders, texts at the same time credit merchants and trading building their endowments by lending to Buddhist groups with the setting up of religious shrines, as and non-Buddhists alike15.The fact is that the political for example, in the case merchant Anathapindaka’s consolidation under Satavahanas and Ikshavakus and purchase of Jetavana park, for the Buddha and his the prosperity resulting from trade was the growth of a monks for monastic establishment. This is a theme large number of religious complexes which were mostly that finds representation at several early Buddhist sites Buddhist in character. If we look into Odishan context, such as Bharhut, Bodhgaya, Sannathi, Amaravati etc. it is certain that the settlement at Radhanagar of 3rd - 2nd In the
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