History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c16: Chapter X
History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c16
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Contents
- v1.c16.2 — 4 parts
Chapter X
v1.c16.1
Yuan Chwang's description of the Northern part of the Eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal shows that in the first half of the 7th century A. D., Orissa or Kaliṅga was divided into three distinct parts; U-ch'a (Oḍra), Kong-yu-t'o (Koṅgoda or Kuṅgada) and Ki-ling-kia (Kaliṅga). Andhra and Kośala were quite distinct from them and have been described separately. Yuan Chwang's description further proves that Oḍra began in the Midnapur district and not in Balasore, as at present. According to him Oḍra lay 700 *li* or so in a south-westerly direction from Karṇasuvarṇa. Taking Karṇasuvarṇa as the capital of the kingdom of that name as the centre we can reach the northern part of the Midnapur district after covering 140 miles. In those days the road passed through the Birbhum district into Midnapur. Karṇasuvarṇa has been identified with Rāṅgāmāṭi in the Murshidabad district of Bengal.
v1.c16.2.1
Oḍra is clearly Northern Orissa, consisting of the modern districts of Midnapur, Balasore and Cuttack with that part of Puri which lies to the north of the marshes along the northern fringe of the Chilka lake. The description of the pilgrim is very short and does not agree with the present state of the country. For example, he states that the people are uncivilised, tall of stature and of a yellowish-black complexion. The average Oriya can hardly be called tall in stature and yellowish-black in complexion. He is usually dwarfish in stature and brownish black in complexion. The next remark of the Chinese pilgrim is quite accurate: "their words and language (pronunciation) differ from Central India." Watters translates this passage in a slightly different fashion: "The people were of violent ways, tall and of dark complexion, in speech and manners, different from the people of Mid-India." The pronunciation of the people of Orissa is still quite different from that of Bengal and Mahākośala or the Chhattisgarh division of the Central Provinces. The most marked difference is in the pronunciation of the semi-vowel, e.g., Ṛshi is pronounced Rushi. This is the beginning of the Southern fashion of the pronunciation of this letter. It is not possible to determine in what way the manners of the people of Orissa differed from those of the people of Bengal in the North and of those of Andhra in the South.
v1.c16.2.2
Yuan Chwang states that the people loved learning and were indefatigable students in those days, a characteristic which has lost ground in more recent times. In the middle of the 7th century, the majority of the inhabitants of the country were Buddhists. There were very nearly one hundred Buddhist monasteries and about ten thousand monks, all of whom were followers of the Mahāyāna. Deva temples or Hindu temples numbered nearly fifty, in which followers of different sects worshipped together. Yuan Chwang mentions a famous monastery called Pu-sie-p'o-k'i-li, i.e., Pushpagiri, which has not been satisfactorily identified as yet. Dr. L. A. Waddell's extremely unwise suggestions about modern Jajpur have not been accepted by the majority of scholars. This Pushpagiri appears to be the monastery, the ruins of which can be seen above the big undeciphered rock inscription at Udayagiri in the Cuttack district. Yuan Chwang states that "to the north-east of this tope in a hill-monastery was another tope like the preceding." This appears to refer to the ruins on Ratnagiri. The Chinese pilgrim mentions a city on the sea-shore in the south-east of this country named Che-li-fa-lo. This has been rendered into *Charitra* in Sanskrit and identified with Puri. In fact, with the exception of Puri there is no other city or port in South-Eastern Orissa with which it can be identified.
v1.c16.2.3
The city is described, "above twenty *li* in circuit, which was a thoroughfare and resting place for sea-going traders and strangers from distant lands. The city was naturally strong and it contained many rare commodities. Outside it were five monasteries close together, of lofty structure and with very artistic images." So far no Buddhist ruins have been discovered inside or in the neighbourhood of Puri. It is also strange that no mention is made of the shrine of Jagannātha which must have existed at this place in some form, because the present temple was built by Anantavarman Choḍagaṅga at the close of the 11th century A. D. No mention has been made also of the Jain temples and relics at Puri, numerous specimens of which are known to exist in the neighbourhood. Several Jain images were found by the present writer in the walls of the *Jagamohana* of the present temple at Puri. The Chinese pilgrim then proceeds to state that the island of Ceylon was 3,330 miles distant and that from *Charitra* on calm nights it was possible to see the brilliant light from the pearl on the top of the *stūpa* over Buddha’s Tooth in that country. Watters notes that in the life of Yuan Chwang it is stated that the Buddhists of Orissa were all Hīnayānists. This statement of Hwui-li is most probably a mistake, because in the 8th century the king and many of the monks were Buddhists.
v1.c16.2.4
The king Śubhakara copied with his own hands the Sanskrit text of the Mahāyānist treatise called Ta-fang-kuang-Fe-hua-yen-ching or chapter on the practice and prayer of the Bodhisattva Sāmantabhadra in the Mahāvaipulya-Buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra.¹
v1.c16.3
¹ Bunyiu Nanjio—A Catalogue of the Buddhist Tripitaka, Oxford, 1883, p. 34, No. 89.
v1.c16.4
The next division of the country was Kon-yu-t’o or Kung-gu-t’o, which is certainly the Koṅgoda or the Kuṅgada of the inscriptions. Yuan Chwang states that Koṅgoda was more than 200 miles from Wu-ch’a or Oṭa, i.e., Oḍra or Northern Orissa. This takes us to the region to the south of the Chilkā lake and not to the country around that lake, as Fergusson and Cunningham supposed in the last century. The Koṅgoda country begins to the south of the Chilkā lake near Chhatrapur. The capital of the country was above three miles in circuit. The country was hilly, bordering on the sea, and its people were tall and valorous. They were of a black complexion, and, though their written language was the same as that of India, their manner of speaking it was quite different. This is perfectly true, because in the Ganjam and Vizagapatam districts the influx of Telugu is of recent origin. The Ganjam plates of the time of Śaśāṅka of G. E. 300-619 A. D., show that the script of the Koṅgoda maṇḍala was of the Northern variety.² The inscriptions of the Śailodbhava dynasty prove the correctness of Yuan Chwang’s remarks. Another remark about Koṅgoda is also particularly correct. “As the town were naturally strong there was a gallant army which kept the neighbouring countries in awe and so there was no powerful enemy.” In the first half of the 7th century A. D., Śaśāṅka king of Gauḍa and his subordinate Sainyabhīta-Mādhavavarman of Koṅgoda had successfully defended the country against the aggression of Harshavardhana Śīlāditya of Thanesar, so that even in 643 A. D., the great Harsha was compelled to invade that country once more. Regarding the condition of religions Yuan Chwang states that Buddhism was not strong. There were more than one hundred Hindu temples while the Jains numbered more than ten thousand. Yuan Chwang’s silence about the government of the country proves that the country was still hostile to his patron, king Harshavardhana. Watters is wrong in supposing that it was included in the empire of Harsha. Yuan Chwang states that the circumference of Koṅgoda was slightly over 150 miles. This is also perfectly true. From later inscriptions it has been proved that Koṅgoda was a *maṇḍala* in the country of Tosalī. The country is described as very hilly and as containing a number of towns which stretched from the slopes of the hill to the edge of the sea. The Chinese pilgrim also refers to the trading activities of the people of Koṅgoda and states that the currency was *Kowri* shells and pearls. At that time the country produced very large black elephants similar to those to be found even now in the northern slopes of the Eastern Ghaṭs.
v1.c16.5
² Epi. Ind., Vol. VI., pp. 143-46.
v1.c16.6
From Koṅgoda, Yuan Chwang proceeded to Kaliṅga which he calls Ki-ling-kia. This province was nearly three hundred miles to the south-west of Koṅgoda. Even in the 7th century Kaliṅga was quite separate from Andhra or Telingana proper, which is mentioned and described separately by Yuan Chwang. Andhra or An-to-lo was about 150 miles south of Kośala or the Chhattisgarh division of the Central Provinces, while Kalinga was nearly 300 miles to the south-east of Kośala. The position indicated, therefore, is that of the country between the Godāvarī and the Penner for Andhra and Dhanakaṭaka, Ganjam and Vizagapatam for Kalinga and the Chhattisgarh and Bastar for Kośala.
v1.c16.7
Fragment of tympanum of arch and part of frieze—The King Elephant—Ananta Gumpha—Khandagiri, Puri District
v1.c16.8
The description of Kalinga is also exceedingly brief. The country was less than a thousand miles in circuit and contained long forests. This country also produced large dark elephants which were prized in the neighbouring countries. "The people were rude and headstrong in disposition, observant of good faith and fairness, fast and clear in speech; in their talk and manners, they differed somewhat from Mid-India." The last observation of the Chinese pilgrim is also particularly correct, because from the south of Ganjam people signify assent by a rolling movement of the head which signifies negation in Northern India. The exact boundaries of Kalinga are not given and the great rivers Godāvarī and Kṛṣṇa are not mentioned. It is quite possible that the Godāvarī was the southern limit of the province. It should be noted in this connection that the great rivers Godāvarī and Kṛṣṇa are altogether omitted in Yuan Chwang's account of Andhra also. There were very few Buddhists in the country. There were not more than ten Buddhist monasteries and five hundred monks who belonged to the Sthavira-vāda school of Mahāyāna. But there were more than one hundred Hindu temples, and adherents of different sects were numerous. In the case of Kaliṅga, Yuan Chwang does not mention the Nirgranthas or Jainas. The capital of the country was of the same size as the capitals of Oḍra and Koṅgoda, i. e., twenty li or three-and-half a mile in circumference. Older writers like Cunningham, wanted to identify the capital of Kaliṅga with modern Rājamahendri but Fergusson was correct in placing it near modern Kaliṅgapatam. The inscriptions of the early Eastern Gaṅgas prove that the Kaliṅganagara of their inscriptions was situated in the vicinity of Mukhaliṅgam and Śrī-Kurmam.
v1.c16.9
No account of Orissa would be complete without a reference to Mahākośala and Andhra, countries which bounded the three ancient divisions of Orissa on the south and west. Yuan Chwang’s description of Mahākośala or the Southern Kośala is very long on account of the association of that country with the great Buddhist scholar Nāgārjuna. He went to Southern Kośala by retracing his steps northwards for three hundred miles through dense jungles on both the slopes of the Eastern Ghats. He describes the country as being more than one thousand miles in circumference. It was surrounded by high mountains and consisted almost entirely of forests and marshes. The capital of this country was bigger in size than those of any of the three parts of Orissa, being forty li or six-and-a-half mile in circumference. The king of this country was a Kshatriya by birth but a follower of Buddhism. There were more than one hundred monasteries and about ten thousand Mahāyānist monks. Just outside the capital of the country there was an old Buddhist monastery with a stūpa built by Aśoka. The great Nāgārjuna was at one time a resident of this monastery. A king called Sha-to-p’o-ha or Sātavāhana was his contemporary. The Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna was one of the greatest scholars India has ever produced. He is regarded as the father of ancient Indian chemistry and medicine, and the works ascribed to him prove that in mediæval times he was regarded as one of the greatest exponents of *Mahāyāna* doctrines. He was a profound philosopher. He is generally regarded as a contemporary of the Great Kushān Emperor Kāṇishka I, who ascended the throne either in 78 or 120 A.D. Nāgārjuna is supposed to be one of the leaders of Northern Buddhism who persuaded Kāṇishka I to assemble the fourth *Mahāsangīti* or Great Council of Buddhist Monks at Jullundur or in Kashmir. During Nāgārjuna’s residence in this monastery another great Buddhist philosopher named Deva came to visit him. Unfortunately, for us, we do not know what was the capital of the country in the first half of the 7th century A. D., and the Chhattisgarh division and the Bastar State have been so imperfectly surveyed by archæologists that the location of the ancient capital is not possible for us even now. Fergusson wanted to locate this capital at Wairagaḍh which is mentioned as Vajiraghara in the Hāthigumphā inscription of Khāravela, king of Kaliṅga and as Vayirākara in certain rock inscriptions of Kuloṭṭunga Choḷa I. The Sanskrit equivalent of the term is Vajrākara or Vajragaḍh meaning “Diamond Mine” or the “Adamantine fort.” According to tradition, the Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna was born in Southern or Western India and, according to Tibetan authorities, he spent much of his time at Nālanda. He was the fourteenth or the thirteenth patriarch according to the apocryphal line of succession. His name is mentioned in the final verses of the *Laṅkāvatāra sūtra*. The kings Kāṇishka, Kilika, Vasumitra, Aśvaghosha, and Dharmagupta are mentioned in works assigned to Nāgārjuna. Twenty of these works are preserved in Tibetan and Chinese translations. Buddhists ascribe a very long life, five hundred and twenty-nine years, to Nāgārjuna Bodhisattva. He is mentioned in the Harshacharita of Bāṇabhaṭṭa as having obtained from a Nāga king in hell a wreath of pearls which was a very potent medicine for all sorts of poisons.
v1.c16.10
Yuan Chwang goes on to state that a rock-cut monastery was excavated for Nāgārjuna at Po-lo-mo-lo-ki-li by a king named Yin-Cheng who cut a path along the rock surface nearly two miles in length, communicating with the other monastery. The Po-lo-mo-lo-ki-li is no doubt the Bhramara-giri now in the Rewa State. The name was discovered by the present writer in an inscription dated 973 A. D., at Chandrehe, twenty-nine miles due south of Rewa town in the State of that name in the Baghelkhaṇḍ Agency.¹ Previous to the discovery of this inscription various theories had been propounded by different scholars about the locality of Bhramara hill. It has also been suggested that Bhramara is really another name for Pārvatī. Burgess proposed to identify this Bhramaragiri with Śrī-śaila on the Kṛshṇā river, though it was much beyond the limits of the country of Kośala. The Bhramaragiri, in the Rewa State, has not been properly explored as yet and further exploration may lead to the discovery of the remains of the five-storeyed monastery described by Yuan Chwang.
v1.c16.11
¹ Memoirs of the Archæological Survey of India, the Haihayas of Tripuri and their monuments, No. 20, p. 114.
v1.c16.12
The Andhra country can be located more definitely from the position of its capital Ping-chi-lo or Ping-ki-lo, which is evidently the Veṅgī of the inscriptions. At the time of Yuan Chwang’s visit it was the capital of the Eastern Chālukyas and remained so for more than three centuries, till at least 1070 A. D., when Rajendra Choḷa II left it, to be crowned as the Choḷa king Kulottuṅga I of Tanjore.
v1.c16.13
Short and meagre as the description is Yuan Chwang’s account of the three different divisions of ancient Orissa, Oḍra, Koṅgoda and Kaliṅga, serves to illustrate a very little known chapter of the history of that country. Recent research has thrown fresh light on the names and places mentioned by the Chinese pilgrims and made what was unintelligible to Beal and Watters perfectly clear to us.¹
v1.c16.14
¹ Compiled from Beal’s *Buddhist Records of the Western World*, Vol. II, pp. 204-17 and Watters’s on *Yuan Chwang’s Travels in India*, Vol. II, pp. 193-208.
Linked texts (1)
- Laṅkāvatārasūtra — Sanskrit