The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c6.63

v1.c6.63

Where it was impossible to appropriate a Buddhist temple to Hindu worship, rival temples were erected in its close neighbourhood, and services and ceremonials were so moulded and adapted as to leave nothing to the former to maintain its pre-eminence in the estimation of the people.⁴⁴ The Hindu temples of Orissa and their superior sanctity are evidently due to this policy, for it is from the seventh century that we find the province noticed in Hindu writings, not as the abode of outcasts and barbarians as the *Mahābhārata* made it, but as the chosen home of the gods. The Purāṇas, which underwent an extensive system of tampering and interpolation, and were brought to their present shape between the 5th and the 10th centuries, bear evidence on this head. The *Brahma Purāṇa* devotes two chapters⁴⁵ to the praises of Bhuvaneśvara and Puri, which were selected by the gods Śiva and Viṣṇu for their residence. In the fourth book of the *Padma Purāṇa*,⁴⁶ Puri is extolled as the abode of Viṣṇu, and the holiest place on the face of the earth. The first and the second Books of the *Skanda Purāṇa*,⁴⁷ relate the story of Rājā Indradyumna, who, at the close of the first or Satya Yuga, brought Jagannātha to dwell amongst men on the Blue Hills of Puri (Nīlācala). A subsequent volume of that work (*Avanti Khaṇḍa*) describes some of the principal spots in that town which claim peculiar pre-eminence. In reply to a query of Durgā as to what place on earth was the most sacred, and the secret abode of Mahādeva, the *Śiva Purāṇa*⁴⁸ [10] makes her lord deliver the following reply: "O daughter of the king of mountains, O Devi, you have much adored me; I will, therefore, describe to you my Kṣetra on the earth for your gratification. In the grand Utkala Kṣetra, near the southern ocean, there lies a fine river that takes its source from the foot of the Vindhya mountain, and runs towards the east. From it has proceeded a charming stream by name Gandhāvatī, which is the very same with the Gaṅgā, and flows northwards here. On it sport flocks of geese and *Kāraṇḍavas* (wild ducks) amidst golden lotuses; and its waters destroy all sin, and unite with the southern ocean. On its bank stands a forest, sacred to me, which removes all kinds of sin. It is the holiest of all holy places and is known by the name of Ekāmra. It is filled with grandeur, and the six seasons are ever present there. O Pārvatī, that is my *Kṣetra*: it is as even as Kailāsa itself".