Pushpagiri (

Odia Odia, also spelled Oriya or Odiya, may refer to: * Odia people in Odisha, India * Odia language, an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family * Odia alphabet, a writing system used for the Odia languag ...

: ପୁଷ୍ପଗିରି) was an ancient Indian

mahavihara Mahavihara () is the Sanskrit and Pali term for a great vihara (centre of learning or Buddhist monastery) and is used to describe a monastic complex of viharas. Mahaviharas of India A range of monasteries grew up in ancient Magadha (modern Bihar ...

or monastic complex located atop Langudi Hill (or Hills) in Jajpur district of

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

, India. Pushpagiri was mentioned in the writings of the Chinese traveller

Xuanzang Xuanzang (, ; 602–664), born Chen Hui / Chen Yi (), also known as Hiuen Tsang, was a 7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making contributions to Chinese Buddhism, the travelogue of ...

() and some other ancient sources. Until the 1990s, it was hypothesised to be one or all of the

Lalitgiri Lalitagiri () (also known as Nalitagiri) is a major Buddhist complex in the Indian state of Odisha. The complex is home to stupas, 'esoteric' Buddha images, and monasteries ( viharas), which is the oldest site in the region. Significant finds at ...

Ratnagiri Ratnagiri (IAST:Ratnāgirī ; �ət̪n̪aːɡiɾiː is a port city on the Arabian Sea coast in Ratnagiri District in the southwestern part of Maharashtra, India. The district is a part of Konkan division of Maharashtra. The city is known for ...

- Udayagiri group of monastic sites, also located in Jajpur district. These sites contain ruins of many buildings,

stupa A stupa ( sa, स्तूप, lit=heap, ) is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics (such as ''śarīra'' – typically the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns) that is used as a place of meditation. In Buddhism, circumamb ...

s of various sizes, sculptures (many now removed to museums), and other artifacts. However, archaeological excavations conducted at Langudi Hills during 1996-2006 resulted in the discovery of another site, with inscriptions describing the local monastery as ''puṣpa sabhar giriya'', and identified by the excavators as Pushpagiri. This has now become the general view among scholars. The site has now been made accessible for tourism. The visit of Xuanzang indicates that Pushpagiri was an important Buddhist site in ancient India. Along with

Nalanda Nalanda (, ) was a renowned ''mahavihara'' (Buddhist monastic university) in ancient Magadha (modern-day Bihar), India.Vikramashila Vikramashila (Sanskrit: विक्रमशिला, IAST: , Bengali:- বিক্রমশিলা, Romanisation:- Bikrômôśilā ) was one of the three most important Buddhist monasteries in India during the Pala Empire, along with N ...

Odantapuri Odantapuri (also called Odantapura or Uddandapura) was a prominent Buddhist Mahavihara in what is now Bihar Sharif in Bihar, India. It is believed to have been established by the Pala ruler Gopala I in the 8th century. It is considered the second ...

Takshashila Taxila or Takshashila (; sa, तक्षशिला; pi, ; , ; , ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan. Located in the Taxila Tehsil of Rawalpindi District, it lies approximately northwest of the Islamabad–Rawalpindi metropolitan area and ...

and

Vallabhi Vallabhi (or Valabhi or Valabhipur, modern Vala; Devanāgarī: वल्लभी) is an ancient city located in the Saurashtra peninsula of Gujarat, near Bhavnagar in western India. It is also known as Vallabhipura and was the capital of the ...

, it is believed to be a major ancient centre of learning. It flourished between 3rd and 11th centuries CE.

Historical mentions

The Chinese traveler Xuanzang (c. 602–644) describes a

sangharama Sangharama (Sanskrit: संघराम ''Saṃgharāma'') refers to a "temple" or "monastery." It is the place, including its garden or grove, where the Sangha, the Buddhist monastic community dwells. A famous sangharāma was that of Kukkutaram ...

(monastery) named ''Pu-se-p'o-k'i-li'' in the south-west region of a country, whose name is variously transliterated as ''U-Cha'' or ''Wu-T-U''. Scholars such as

Stanislas Julien Stanislas Aignan Julien (13 April 179714 February 1873) was a French sinologist who served as the Chair of Chinese at the Collège de France for over 40 years and was one of the most academically respected sinologists in French scholarship. Ju ...

and

Samuel Beal Samuel Beal (27 November 1825, in Devonport, Devon – 20 August 1889, in Greens Norton, Northamptonshire) was an Oriental scholar, and the first Englishman to translate directly from the Chinese the early records of Buddhism, thus illuminatin ...

restored ''Pu-se-po-k'i-li'' as "Pushpagiri", and name of the country as ''Ota'' or "Udra". Scholars identify this country as Odra in present-day Odisha. Xuanzang describes the monastery as follows: A 3rd century inscription of the

Andhra Ikshvaku The Ikshvaku (IAST: Ikṣvāku) dynasty ruled in the eastern Krishna River valley of India, from their capital at Vijayapuri (modern Nagarjunakonda in Andhra Pradesh) during approximately 3rd and 4th centuries CE. The Ikshvakus are also kno ...

king Vira-purusha-datta, found at

Nagarjunakonda Nagarjunakonda (IAST: Nāgārjunikoṇḍa, meaning Nagarjuna Hill) is a historical town, now an island located near Nagarjuna Sagar in Palnadu district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, near the state border with Telangana. It is one of ...

(in present-day Andhra Pradesh), mentions that an upasika named Bodhisiri made numerous endowments to Buddhist establishments. One of these included sponsoring the erection of a stone

mandapa A mandapa or mantapa () is a pillared hall or pavilion for public rituals in Indian architecture, especially featured in Hindu temple architecture. Mandapas are described as "open" or "closed" depending on whether they have walls. In temples, ...

at "Puphagiri". According to Thomas E. Donaldson, this is likely same as the Pushpagiri mentioned in Xuanzang's records ("Puphagiri" being the

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or ''Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhism ...

form of the Sanskrit "Pushpagiri), and was located in the present-day Odisha.

Pratapaditya Pal Pratapaditya Pal is an Indian scholar of Southeast Asian and Himalayan art and culture, specializing particularly in the history of art of India, Nepal and Tibet. He has served as a curator of South Asian art at several prominent US museums incl ...

notes that if this identification is true, the site in Odisha must have been established by at least 3rd century. However, some other scholars, such as

Dineshchandra Sircar Dineshchandra Sircar (1907–1985), also known as D. C. Sircar or D. C. Sarkar, was an epigraphist, historian, numismatist and folklorist, known particularly in India and Bangladesh for his work deciphering inscriptions. He was the Chief E ...

and B. S. L. Hanumantha Rao, identify this "Puphagiri" with

Pushpagiri Temple Complex Pushpagiri Temple Complex is a temple complex located in Kadapa district in Andhra Pradesh, India. Founded around 7th Century CE, it houses some of the oldest temple congregations in the region. There are multiple legends associated with the or ...

in the present-day

Cuddapah District Kadapa district (officially: YSR district; formerly: Cuddapah district) is one of the twenty six districts in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. On 19 August 2005 nomenclature of “Cuddapah” has been changed as “Kadapa” by the Governm ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

. The 9th century Buddhist monk Prajna, after spending 18 years in various places including

Nalanda Nalanda (, ) was a renowned ''mahavihara'' (Buddhist monastic university) in ancient Magadha (modern-day Bihar), India. A few scholars, such as Prabhat Mukherjee, identify this monastery with Pushpagiri.

Identification

In the 20th century, a number of scholars identified the Pushpagiri mentioned in Xuanzang's records with various sites in present-day Odisha.

Ramaprasad Chanda Ramaprasad Chanda (15 August 1873 – 28 May 1942) was an Indian anthropologist, historian and archaeologist from Bengal. A pioneer in his field in South Asia, Chanda's lasting legacy is the Varendra Research Museum, he established in Rajshahi ( ...

(1930) of the

Archaeological Survey of India The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural historical monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexande ...

believed that either Udayagiri or

could be the historical Pushpagiri. Based on archaeological finds, K. C. Panigrahi (1961) hypothesized that Udayagiri, Lalitgiri and

formed a common complex, which was called Pushpagiri. As the crow flies, Ratnagiri and Udaygiri are about apart, and both about from Lalitgiri. N. K. Sahu (1958) placed Pushpagiri somewhere in the

Phulbani Phulbani is a municipality and administrative headquarters of Kandhamal district in the state of Odisha in India. History It is named after the lady 'Phulardei' who was sacrificed by the local inhabitants as an act of religious ritual to Mother ...

- Ghumsur region, based on geographical descriptions in Xuanzang's works. In 1985, the

(ASI) started excavation at Lalitgiri to confirm its relation to Pushpagiri. The excavation led to several important archaeological discoveries, but none of these confirmed the identification of Lalitgiri with Pushpagiri.

Langudi Hill excavations

In the 1990s, college lecturer Harish Chandra Prusty discovered a Buddhist site on the Langudi Hill in Jajpur district. This is some distant from Udaygiri, the closest of the "triangle" sites, further up the river. In 1993, he and Pradeep Mohanty described the Langudi site in an article published in the ''Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute''. In 1996, the Orissa Institute of Maritime and South East Asia Studies and the Odisha state's archaeology department started exploring the site. Between 1996 and 2006, the Institute carried out excavations of an area stretching over . A fragmented

Brahmi Brahmi (; ; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Brāhmī'') is a writing system of ancient South Asia. "Until the late nineteenth century, the script of the Aśokan (non-Kharosthi) inscriptions and its immediate derivatives was referred to by various names such ...

inscription discovered at the site names the site as ''puṣpa sabhar giriya'' ("flower-filled hill"), identified by the excavators as Pushpagiri. In 2000, an excavation conducted by the institute, under the supervision of archaeologist Debraj Pradhan, resulted in the discovery of a large

as well as several other archaeological artifacts. The artifacts included pillars, a fragmentary Brahmi inscription, terracota seals and

Northern Black Polished Ware The Northern Black Polished Ware culture (abbreviated NBPW or NBP) is an urban Iron Age Indian culture of the Indian Subcontinent, lasting c. 700–200 BCE (proto NBPW between 1200 and 700 BCE), succeeding the Painted Grey Ware culture and Blac ...

. Debraj Pradhan believed the stupa to have been erected by the

Mauryan The Maurya Empire, or the Mauryan Empire, was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in the Indian subcontinent based in Magadha, having been founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 322 BCE, and existing in loose-knit fashion until ...

emperor

Ashoka Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, ...

(304–232 BCE): Although Xuanzang suggests that Odra had 10 stupas erected by Ashoka, this is the only one to have been discovered so far. According to

B. N. Mukherjee Bratindra Nath Mukherjee (1 January 1932 – 4 April 2013) was an Indian historian, numismatist, epigraphist and iconographist, known for his scholarship in central Asian languages such as Sogdian. He was a Carmichael Professor of Ancient Indi ...

Calcutta University The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a public collegiate state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered one of best state research university all over India every year, C ...

, who deciphered the Brahmi inscription, the stupa may have been erected by "a lay Buddhist worshipper called Ashoka". By 2007, 34 rock-cut stupas of various sizes had been discovered on the northern part of the hill. A number of Buddhist rock-cut sculptures were discovered on the southern

spur A spur is a metal tool designed to be worn in pairs on the heels of riding boots for the purpose of directing a horse or other animal to move forward or laterally while riding. It is usually used to refine the riding aids (commands) and to back ...

of the hill, including sculptures of Dhyani Buddhas in various postures. According to D. K. Dimri, the superintendent of the ASI's Orissa circle, the archaeological finds at the site cover a period between 1st century CE and 9th century CE, and suggest the existence of a major Buddhist monastic establishment. In 2007, the ASI took over the excavated site. File:Pushpagiri (Langudi Hill) - Jajpur - Odisha - Buddhist site - Ancient Stupa.jpg , Ruins of the large stupa with a square base File:Pushpagiri (Langudi Hill) - Jajpur - Odisha - Buddhist site - Rock-Cut Stupas.JPG , Rock-cut stupas File:Pushpagiri (Langudi Hill) - Jajpur - Odisha - Buddhist site - Stone inscription written in Pali.jpg , Pali stone inscription

Tourism

In 2005, the Odisha State Government began developing the Langudi Hills site as a tourist place by constructing roads and other facilities. There are other Buddhist attractions around Langudi hills. Kaima hill, in its immediate vicinity, contains a unique rock-cut elephant surrounded by four monolithic

khondalite Khondalite is a foliated metamorphic rock. In India, it is also called ''Bezwada Gneiss'' and ''Kailasa Gneiss''. It was named after the Khond tribe of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh because well-formed examples of the rock were found in the inha ...

pillars; this dates from the

period in the 3rd century, BCE. Deuli, a hill situated in the confluence of the

Brahmani Brahmani (Sanskrit: ब्रह्माणी, IAST: Brahmāṇī) or Brahmi (Sanskrit: ब्राह्मी, IAST: Brāhmī), is one of the seven Hindu mother goddesses known as Sapta Matrikas. She is a form of Saraswati and is considered ...

and Kimiria rivers, has preserved five rock-cut Buddhist chambers inside caves. Additional Buddhist sites have been discovered at Bajragiri, Sarapur and Paikrapur. The Langudi sites are perhaps the largest historic Buddhist complex in India. Langudi can be approached from

Jaraka Jaraka is a town in Dharmasala Block of Jajpur district in Odisha, India and is located on the banks of Brahmani River. It is one of the fastest-growing areas in the district. Geography It is located on the banks of River Brahmani and is divid ...

and Chandikhol on the National Highway 5, and is easily accessible from the urban centres of

Cuttack Cuttack (, or officially Kataka ) in Odia is the former capital and the second largest city in the Indian state of Odisha. It is the headquarters of the Cuttack district. The name of the city is an anglicised form of ''Kataka'' which literall ...

and

Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar (; ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. The region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as ''Ekamra Kshetra'' (area (''kshetra'') adorned with mango trees (''ekamra'')). Bhubaneswar is ...

. The best months to visit the place are during October to February which are the cooler months.

References

{{Authority control Buddhist sites in Odisha Buddhist monasteries in India Buddhist pilgrimage sites in India Ancient universities of the Indian subcontinent Buddhist universities and colleges Buildings and structures in Jajpur district Defunct Buddhist monasteries Education in Odisha Former Buddhist temples Former populated places in India Ruins in India Stupas in India 3rd-century Buddhist temples Educational institutions established in the 3rd century 3rd-century establishments in India 11th-century disestablishments in India Archaeological monuments in Odisha Buddhism in Odisha