The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c5.s12.83

c5.s12.83

Udaṇḍapura—The town of Bihar in the district of Patna. It was also called Daṇḍapura and Odantapurî or Udantapura. The name of Bihâra (town) occurs in the *Dvâviṃśa Avadâna* (Dr. R. Mitra’s *Sanskrit Buddhist Literature of Nepal*, p. 88). It was for some time the capital of the Pâla Râjâs of Bengal (*Arch. S. Rep.*, vol. VIII, p. 75). Here still exist the ruins of a fort called the Gaḍ, the palace of the Pâla Râjâs, while the building called the Nowrattan was the abode of the Muḥammadan Âmil. Gopâla, the founder of the Pâla dynasty (according to Mr. V. A. Smith, 815-60 A.D.), built a great Buddhist monastery in Udaṇḍapura, his capital, Pâṭaliputra being then in ruins. The celebrated Vikramaśilâ-vihâra was constructed by king Dharmapâla, son of Gopâla, in the province of Bihar on the top of a hill situated on the right bank of the Ganges in the middle of the eighth century A.D. (see my *Vikramaśilâ Monastery* in *JASB.*, 1909, p. 1). On the solitary hill immediately to the north-west of the town of Bihar was situated a celebrated vihara with a sandal-wood figure of Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, which was visited by Hiuen Tsiang in the seventh century. According to the Aiśvarika or Theistic sect of Northern Buddhism, Âdi Buddha is the supreme god; he created by means of *dhyâna* or meditation the five Dhyâni-Buddhas, viz., Vairochana (of white colour), Akṣobhya (blue), Ratnasambhava (yellow), Amitâbha (red) and Amoghasiddha (green). Each of the five Buddhas created a divine son called Bodhisattva. Amitâbha Buddha created, by means of *dhyâna*, Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva or Siṃha-nâtha-Lokeśvara (whose figure may be mistaken for the figure of Mahâdeva), also called Padmapâṇi. He was entrusted with the creation and he created Brahmâ, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara and delegated to them the power of creation, preservation and destruction (Hodgson’s *Literature and Religion of the Buddhists*, pp. 60, 61). See Nepâla and Uravilva. Titarawa, seven miles to the south-east of Bihar, also contained a Buddhist monastery, the ruins of which may still be observed. Bihar remained the seat of local government till 1541 A.D., when Sher Shah removed the seat of government to Patna, in consequence of which Bihar became deserted and fell into ruins (Elliot’s *History of India*, vol. IV, p. 477). The Id-dargâ and the tomb of Maḳhdum Shâh also called Sheriff-uddîn Ahmedi Phia, who died in 1380, were constructed in the town of Bihar in 1569 A.D., as it appears from an inscription (*JASB.*, 1839, p. 350).