The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c17.s1.124

v2.c17.s1.124

**Its history.** The history of the place may be noticed under three heads: (1) the Early Hindu period; (2) the Buddhist period; and (3) the post-Buddhist or the Vaiṣṇavite period. Of the first of these periods we possess nothing but a mass of legends utterly untrustworthy, and totally devoid of historical value. The second, dating from the advent of Buddhism in Orissa in the 5th century B.C. to its downfall in the 5th century A.D., or a period of a little over 900 years, has not the benefit of any systematic record, and the few facts traceable in Buddhist writing are obscure and unsatisfactory. Of the third period, the early history has been purposely mystified, but from the 7th century we have contemporary records of considerable value—the Palm-leaf Temple Annals.