Orissa Review July - 2010

Panchasakha and Their Cosmological Theory

Sasanka Sekhar Panda

The theory of the universe, or in other words Brahma, the God wished to create. He became explanation of the uncaused cause has ever been compassionate and his bliss percolated out as the the first problem in every religion. Like the Sabda´. This idea of compassion reminds us of Puranas and Tantric texts, the Panchasakha the development of Karuna in Mahayana literature also abounds with it. Buddhism. Buddha was then meditated upon as the Lord of Mercy. The Panchasakha starts with the eternal question of ³who was there when all this The Panchasakha and other Vaisnavas of phenomenal universe was not´. The problem of Orissa become one with the Vajrayanists in the Prime Mover is still beyond our reach and maintaining this Sunya as a Supreme Being- the can only be explained negatively-´ He is not this, Sunya Purusa, who appears to be the same as not this-"neti neti´. The Prajnaparamita Vajrasattva. Hrdayagarbha, a later Buddhist scripture Dasa in his ³Sunya describes Sunyata as ³neti neti´. Therefore, it Samhita´ states- ³You have well asked me of seems that there is a lot of similarities between the esoteric mystery. The Sunya Purusa is just a the Panchasakha ideology of Sunyata and that prisoner in Sunya, and creating all illusions. He of the Buddhists. The concept of Sunyata, being remains quite indifferent to them. But at the same the most characterstic ideology behind , time, he is very kind to all and he also resides in formulated by the Panchasakhas can be no doubt all the created things. Moreover, he is well versed the continuation of the Vajrayana idea of the void in crafty devices and so is the author of all sorts accepted by Vaisnavism after identifying it with of performances.1 Another member of the the Vedantic idea of Nirguna Brahma. Panchasakha group, Dasa in his Virata The factor of compassion (the second Gita and Chaitanya Dasa (a contemporary of the factor which necessitates the function of world Panchasakhas) in his Visnugarbha Purana have creation the first factor being the factor of conflict also described about the Sunya Purusa. or imperfection) in which and Almost all the writings of many other Achytananda Dasa think that compassion moved Vaisnavas of Orissa are replete with similar brilliant God to creation. ³after crores of years, description of the Sunya Purusa, who is compassion came to me and I wished a creation´ sometimes called Virata Purusa, Nirakara and or ³when all was submerged in the Sunya Adi Brahma.

97 Orissa Review July - 2010

The same ideas may also be traced in the Buddhas- Vairocana, Aksobhya, Ratnasambhava, description of the Vajrayanists. Amitabha and Amogha Siddhi. A Buddhist work, the ³ Jnanasiddhi´ of The tradition about the position of the Sambala king Indrabhuti, for example, states, ³He Panca-Dhyani Buddhas in the Mandalas and (Vajrasattva) is the Being without origin and end similar mystic diagrams, is also to be found in the all good the soul-substance of all, the literature. In the ³Visnugarbha Purana´ the six enlightened one included in him all the static and Visnus including Nirakara Visnu are given similar the dynamic.2 positions in the Sunya Mandala (N.N.Basu, in his ³Archaeological Survey of Mayurbhanj, PP. In the ³Sri Vajra-Mandalankara´ CL.XXXVII has also brought the identification quoted in the Jnanasiddhi, it is said, ³he eternally of five Visnus with the five Dhyani Buddhas). belongs to all the elements, to all the beings. He remains pervading all the bodies in the form of Even the colour scheme found in the the flow of consciousness.´ Buddhist pantheon is not missed, and in the He is immutable, unthinkable, pure, manner of the six Tathagatas these six Visnus are represented in different colours like white, passionless, perfect void like the sky, free from yellow, saffron, red, blue and green.4 Moreover, existence and non-existence.3 Example of this type as the five Tathagatas have their respective are abound in the Vajrayana works like Bodhisattvas, four of these Visnus have four Prajnopaya Viniscaya Siddhi, Advayavajra Brahmas of their own, who are credited with the Samgraha, Hevajra Tantra, Samputika etc. creation of eighty four worlds. The Sunya Purusa of the Jagannath cult as expressed in the Panchasakha literature in It may also be pointed out that the Orissa is an expression of µChidvilas´ embodying conception of the five Tathagatas is present in the Yogic speculation of the Jagannath cult, where thereby the conception of the Vajrasattva of five out of the six plexuses (Satcakra) of the human Tantric Buddhism. It may also be pointed out that body are presided over by five Devas, viz. both Sunya Purusa and Vajrasattva are alike Ganesa, Kamadeva, Brahma, Vishnu and Siva regarded as the non-dual state of Sunyata and and the sixth one by Anadi the analogue of Adi- Karuna and are characterized as the Primal Buddha. The noticeable fact is that the five Devas Enlightened One-Adi Buddha or Adi Brahma. are represented with a number of accessories i.e The theory of five Dhyani Buddhas, the divine Saktis, Vahanas (Mounts), expounded in Tantric Buddhism has found a Bijamantras, colours, (Actions), striking exposition in ³Visnugarbha Purana´ of Pranas and vital winds almost in the manner of Chaitanya Dasa where it has been given a novel the Five Tathagatas (Dhyani Buddhas). Vaisnavite setting. The minor differences existing between This great philosopher conceives of six the accessorial schemes of the Dhyani Buddhas Visnus one of whom known as Nirakara Visnu and the Devas are very probably due to the is characterized as the shapeless and figureless assimilative nature of the Jagannath cult itself (as Sunya and hence is the same as Vajrasattva, expounded in the Pancasakha literature). while the other five who are emanations of Alekha In this way one can find a lot of similarities Purusa do undoubtedly resemble the five Dhyani between the cult of Jagannath and Buddhism the

98 Orissa Review July - 2010 reasons for which are critically analysed and (page-26) This tooth-relic is worshipped even discussed in the following manner. now-a-days in the shrine at Kandy (Srilanka). The great Jagannath cult of Orissa has Therefore there are ample evidences to belief the story of king Guhasiva and his sacred tooth-relic. become symbol of universal brotherhood where King Guhasiva was ruling Kalinga in the 4th most of the important religious movements century A.D.8 occurred in India have amalgamated. In a long course of time and passing through many changes As the antiquity of Jagannath as a Hindu and religious cross currents of variegated nature god is yet to be traced back to the 4th century the deity has obtained its present form. A.D archaeologically and epigraphically, it can be presumed that the story of the Kalinga invasion Archaeologically as well as epigraphically of Yavana Raktavahu in 323 A.D9 (as narrated in the historical importance of in connection to the Jagannath temple records Madalapanji) has Purusottama cann¶t be established prior to the a striking similarity to the Kalinga invasion of 7th century A.D. For the first time the names of Khiradhara. Both invasions took place in the 4th Purusottama (Jagannath) and his elder brother century A.D.. Therefore, it seems that the story Balabhadra (Balaram) occurred in the Neulpur of Jagannath being taken away to some unknown grant (copper-plate inscription) of the Bhauma place for safety by the the then Kalingan king king Sivakaradeva. The Brahmdeo temple Sobhanadeva due to the invasion of Yavana inscription, dated in the Kalachuri era 840 (1088 Raktavahu is a clever representation of the 5 A.D) can be taken as the first epigraphic Dathavamsa story of Khiradhara¶s invasion of evidence where the earliest mention of the Kalinga and the shiefting of the tooth-relic to Purusottam Ksetra occurs. Srilanka by the son-in-law and daughter of the It has been known from Dathavamsa then Kalingan king Guhasiva. that Khema, one of the disciples of the Buddha It is more probable that Madalapanji took the tooth-relic from his funeral pyre and (which is a much later work) has borrowed the gave it to king Brahmadatta of Kalinga who story from Dathavamsa. constructed a shrine for it in Dantapura, his capital city. The Mahaparinibbana Sutta of Digha Nothing is known with certainty regarding nd Nikaya also refers to this event.6 Scholars like the history of Orissa in between the 2 century th N.L. Dey thinks Puri to be Dantapura, the ancient A.D and the 6 century A.D. This period is known seat of the Kalingan capital.7 In this connection as a dark period in the history of Orissa. the story relating to Guhasiva, another king of Mr.James Fergusson is of the opinion that Kalinga can be taken into account, who was a the Jagannath temple of Puri now occupies the devout worshipper of this tooth-relic. He faced site where there former stood the shrine containing attack from a neighbouring king Khiradhara, fell the tooth-relic.10 The present temple was built by in the battle and as instructed by him before his King Chodagangadeva (12th century A.D). But death, the tooth-relic was taken away to Srilanka Madalapanji attributes the construction of the for safety by his son-in-law Dantakumara and first Purusottama temple to Yayati Kesari (can be daughter Hemamala.. As mentioned by the taken as Yayati II of the 2nd quarter of the 11th scholar D.K.Ganguli in his book ³The Historical century A.D). This Yayati belonged to the Geography & Dynastic History of Orissa´ Somavamsi Kesari dynasty. This king came from

99 Orissa Review July - 2010 the Daksina Kosala region (modern western ruled, and where the Buddhist Tantric Philosopher Orissa). King Yayati is said to have started the Nagarjuna lived. Therefore, there is every construction which king Chodagangdeva finished. possibility of this tribal deity, Seorinarayan, being The cult of the wooden post was influenced by the Buddhist rituals. prevalent in Western Orissa (Daksina Kosala) Buddhist influence on the Savaras since circa 500 A.D and is still practiced together (aborigines) was not only confined to the western with the rituals of renewal (Navakalevara). part of Orissa, but also present in the north-east. H.Kulke, A.Eschmann and G.C.Tripathi11 are of About the 5th-6th century A.D, the present districts the opinion that king Yayati took this cult to Puri, of Balasore and Keonjhar happened to be the as wooden gods are not known to . seats of the Mahayanists, who used to worship Therefore, many scholars12 are believing that their deities in association with the Savaras. For Jagannath was originally a tribal deity. K.C. Mishra example, in Sitabhinji (Keonjhar District) there is of the opinion that Jagannath was brought to are some monuments of that period where the Puri from Seorinarayan, which lies near to the Savaras act as the main priests.13 Therefore, as historical site of Sirpur (Chhattisgarh.), the seat goddess Parna Savari was highly regarded in the of the ancient capital of Daksina Kosala, from Mahayana School of Buddhism,14 the God where the Panduvamsi kings were ruling. Savarinarayana (Seorinarayan) can either be taken Jagannath, originally being a tribal deity is also as a tribal deity or a deity of the Mahayana corroborated by traditions, where He is said to School, worshipped by the tribals (Savaras) of be worshipped by a tribal chief, named Daksina Kosala region, who was taken to Puri Viswavasu. by king Yayati only in the 11th century A.D, and Saraladasa, the author of Odia was soon taken into the Hindu fold. Mahabharat, a famous Oriya poet belonging to It seems more probable that the followers the early 15th century is also of the opinion that of the Jagannath Cult borrowed the Jagannath was brought to Puri from (Bathing Festival) and (Car Festival) Savarinarayana (Seorinarayan). Therefore it from the Buddhists which are said to be prevailing seems that the existing deity Jagannath was as Buddhist festivals in Khotan and Pataliputra, brought to Puri from Seorinarayan where it was as testified by the Chinese pilgrim Fa Hien. There a tribal deity, by the Kesari ruler of Kosalotkala,Yayati Kesari-II, who originally is a stone sculpture where the ancient Car festival belonged to the Daksina Kosala region. is carved, Which is kept in the Orissa State Seorinarayan being very near to the historical site Museum. Sirpur it seems quite feasible that Seorinarayan As recorded by Fa Hien, the Car Festival was the chief tribal deity of the Daksina Kosala (Ratha Yatra) was celebrated by the Buddhists kingdom, and therefore, Yayati might have thought of Khotan on the 1st day ofAsadha. The pilgrim it wise to take the chief deity of his region along noticed a similar festival at Pataliputra, celebrated with him to Utkala, which he ruled in the later nearly the same day of the year in Asadha. As the period.(1st half of the 11th century, 1025-1040 Bhaumakara kings of Orissa had close cultural A.D.) ties with China, they might have borrowed this Daksina Kosala was a strong centre of tradition either from Khotan (which was situated Tantric Buddhism, where the great king Indrabhuti in the north-western part of India and was not far

100 Orissa Review July - 2010 off from the India-China trade route) or from the Car Festival to the garden house, the worship Pataliputra. is done by certain priests, who are said to be the In the ancient and early medieval periods descendants of the Savaras (aborigines), known there was a close cultural relation between Orissa as Daita-Pati. and Assam. The main deities, Jagannath and Scholar R.L.Mitra found the oldest work Kamaksya, respectively of Orissa and Assam with a fixed date, Dasavatara Carita by were established in the spots bearing the identical Ksemendra where Buddha has been replaced by name Nilachala. The Hindu Tantrik text Kalika Jagannath as an Avatara of Visnu. This work can Purana mentions Odra (Orissa) and Kamarupa be assigned to the 11th Century A.D. 15 (Assam) as two glorious seats of Tantrik cult. Therefore it seems more probable that The Buddhist Tantrik texts Hevajra Tantra16 and 17 the tribal-cum-Tantrik Buddhist deity Sadhanamala refer to Odiyana or Uddiyana Savarinarayana was taken away from Daksina (Orissa) and Kamaksya or Kamarupa (Assam) Kosala by king Yayati Kesari and was installed in as two primary centres of Vajrayana or Tantrik Puri in the present form. It is quite feasible that Buddhism. the tooth-relic of Buddha, which was worshipped Besides, other Tantra works entitled in a shrine in Dantapura was taken away to Rudrayamala18 and Kubjika Tantra19 15 also Srilanka in the 4th century A.D. mention both Assam and Orissa as principal seats Tradition everywhere accepts Jagannath of Tantricism. to be the same with the Buddha avatara, and The Vajrayana Goddess Tara in the tribal the image of that divinity has been accepted to be cult of Tara-Tarini suggest that there are Buddhist nothing more than a mystification of Buddhist elements. A small Boddhisattva image is monogram. The idea was first put forth by Mr. worshipped together along with the goddess Tara- Stevenson in a paper in the Journal of the Royal Tarini in the Garbhagrha. Tarini is also the name Asiatic Society of Great Britain,21 reiterated by of a tribal or semi-tribal goddess worshipped in Mr. Laidlay in his English version of the ³Travels the Keonjhar area.20 Twine Goddess Tara-Tarini of Fa Hien´,22 and subsequently fully has been taken into the Hindu fold. Therefore, it demonstrated by General Cunningham.23 Looking seems that the Hinduization was proceeded by moreover, to the history of Buddhism in other an incorporation of a tribal cult into Buddhism. parts of India, and the way in which the Buddhist The same thing might have happened to the tribal doctrine of the identity of the human soul with the deity Savarinarayana also. It might have been divinity was appropriated by some of the taken into the Tantrik Buddhist fold at first and Vedantists, the Buddhist belief of the sanctity of then into the Hindu fold as Purusottama in the the Bo tree made a part of the Hindu religion; the later period. Buddhist repugnance to animal sacrifices taken Therefore many tribal and Buddhist up by the Vaisnavas; and Buddhist emblem, traditions persist in the Jagannath cult till these Buddhist temples; Buddhist sacred places, and days. Buddhist practices appropriated to Hindu usages. It is impossible to resist the conclusion that Puri When the three wooden images are taken was a place of Buddhist sanctity, and gradually out in a procession in three cars every year during converted to Hinduism.

101 Orissa Review July - 2010

Jayadeva, (a 12h century poet), in his In many of the Tantrik centres Buddhist Dasavatara hymn, has also admitted Jagannath images are also found. A seated Buddha figure as the 9th incarnation of Visnu in place of the was observed by this scholar while on a tour to Buddha. Bipra Nilambara¶s Deula-Tola-Suanga, the famous Tantrik centre Ranipur-Jharial (Dist. has also discussed in the last chapter, an allegorical Balangir, in the historical Daksina Kosala region). representation of this metamorphosis.24 Most The furious-looking tribal deity, housed in the probably it was Ramanuja who gave the final touch temple of Narasimhanath hill (Dist. Bargarh-in the to the fusion of the Buddha and Visnu in the god- historical Daksina Kosala region) as observed by head of Jagannath, for which the Tantrik Buddhists the late scholar A.Eschmann of Heidelberg probably had already prepared an excellent University (Germany) is also a clear inter-mixture foundation. of Tantric Buddhist and tribal deity. Narasimha According to the Aisvarika School of hill, was the place where the Tantrik Buddhist Tantrika Buddhism the visible is created as a result philosopher Nagarjuna is believed to have lived. of the union between Adi Buddha and Adi Therefore, it is believed by this scholar Prajna, and this concept with some modification that if Jagannath was originally a tribal deity, is noticed in the speculative philosophy of the named, Savarinarayan of the Daksina Kosala Jagannath Cult.. The theory of the transformation region, there is every possibility of this deity to of the Buddha, the first jewel of the Buddhist Tri- have been influenced by the Tantrik Buddhism, Ratna, into Jagannath has its corroboration in the of which Daksina Kosala was a famous centre. literary tradition of the Dharma Cult (of Bengal) The Panchasakha poets of medieval also. Orissa, contemporary of Chaitanya (namely There are also similarities between the Balarama Dasa, Ananta Dasa, Yasovanta Dasa, cosmological theory of Orissa Vaisnavism (as Jagannath Dasa and Achyutananda Dasa) were expounded by the Panchasakha School along with at once Buddhists, Vaisnavites and Tantriks, still Chaitanya) and the Jagannath Cult, and the Sarva neither of the three wholly. The history of Vedic Sunyata doctrine of Buddhism. The cosmological and Tantrik ways with all their ratifications, and theory of the Panchasakha has many things in Buddhism with its later development into common with the Buddhist Philosophy of Vajrayana also show that they were all offshoots Voidness. of the same fundamental religious aspiration in man Buddhagupta, the of Lama Taranath and only differ in their approaches, again shaped is said to have visited many sacred places like by objective conditions. Jagannath and Jharikhanda.25 Therefore, it seems To think that Lord Jagannath is exclusively that, in his days also, Jagannath (Puri) was a Hindu, Tantric, tribal or Buddhist deity is to regarded as a place of pilgrimage by the followers uproot religion of it¶s environmental dynamics and of Tantrik Buddhism. fancy an assembly of values. The theory of five Dhyani Buddhas, In the post-10th century A.D. there was expounded in the Tantrik Buddhism has found a an attempt on the part of Brahmanism to absorb striking exposition in the Visnugarbha Purana the declining Buddhism in its fold while Buddhism of Chaitanya Dasa, where it has been given a was also making efforts to retain its identity by novel Vaisnavite setting. taking in, a part of Brahmanism, viz Tantricism.

102 Orissa Review July - 2010

From the Buddhist ruins discovered at Udayagiri, 3. Vide Jnanasiddhi, p.84. Lalitagiri, Ratnagiri and Baudh, we find traces of 4. Visnugarbha Purana, Ch.III. the influence of Tantrik cult in those days, which 5. H.K. Mahtab, History of Orissa, Voll. II, p.515. influenced Buddhism, Saivism and Vaisnavism at the same time. 6. Digha Nikaya-II, 167; Dathavamsa, p.38. 7. N.L. Dey, The Geographical Dictionary of Borrowing a term of the psycho-analysts, Ancient and Medieval India, p.53. let us conclude that there are also the universal 8. R.C. Mitra, Antiquities of Orissa, Vol.II, p.176 types in religious culture. Man¶s religious consciousness has universally bifurcated itself into 9. A stirling, An Account of Orissa Proper, pp.67-68. R.L. Mitra, The Antiquities of Orissa, Vol.II, pp.174- the two salient channels, those of pure wisdom 175. and worship. This µworship¶ counterpart has given birth to Tantra, to Purana and to the many other 10. Sir Apud M. Coomara Swami¶s Dathavamsa, p.99. later developments. The interesting suggestions 11. Kulke, Eschmann, Tripathi (Chap.X) The of the Tantra can be so clearly read in Buddhism, Formation of the Jagannath Triad, p.176. in Brahmanism, in Jainism and even in the Cult of 12. H. Kulke, A. Eschmann, G.C. Tripathi and K.C. the Blacks (of Africa). To deny that the Tantras Mishra. were not a homogeneous movement in Orissa is 13. K.C. Mishra, The Cult of Jagannath. to deny a universal and almost inevitable religious 14. Sadhamamala, Intro. P.XLVI. expression to her cultural history. The tendency 15. Kalika Purana, p.410. did exist in the land, even flourished side by side with other and often diverse tendencies. 16. P.C. Bagchi, Studies in the Tantras, I, P.38 (quoted) 17. Sadhanamala, Vol.II, p.37. Only it modified itself into new shapes and characters by coming in contact with others. And 18. Tantrasara, pp.521-522 (quoted) all these tendencies together moulded the religious 19. Pranatosani Tantra, p.234 (Quoted) culture of the people and integrated themselves 20. A. Eschmann ± (Article) Hinduisation of the round the institution of Jagannath. Tribal Deities in Orissa, p.91 (Book-Jagannath Tradition). Lord Jagannath can be taken as a symbol of the universal religious aspiration of the mankind, 21. Vol.VII, p.67. where all forms of religious experiments have 22. Ibid, p.21. assimilated themselves in a long course of the 23. Bhilsa Topes, pp.351 f. history. 24. M. Mansinha, History of Oriya Literature, p.88. References : 25. R.C. Mitra, Decline of Buddhism in India, p.99.

1. Sunya Samhita, Ch. VIII, Bhala Pacarilu gupta sandhi, Sunya Purusa sunyapure vandi, Sunya Purusa udasare rahe, Sunya purusa savu maya vyaye, Sunya purusa dayalu atai, Sunya purusa sarva ghate rahi. 2. Jnanasiddhi, p.84, the translation of the passage Sasanka Sekhar Panda lives at Qtr. No.VR-23, Unit±VI, is taken from Dr. S.B. Dasgupta, ³Introduction to Bhubaneswar-751001 and e-mail address : sasepa 56@ Tantric Buddhism´, p.88. yahoo.co.in.

103