(also: ''Uḍḍiyāna'', ''Uḍḍāyāna'' or ''Udyāna'',
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
: ओड्डियान, उड्डियान, उड्डायान, उद्यान; , , mn, Үржин ''urkhin''), was a small region in early
medieval India
Medieval India refers to a long period of Post-classical history of the Indian subcontinent between the "ancient period" and "modern period". It is usually regarded as running approximately from the breakup of the Gupta Empire in the 6th cent ...
, in present-day
Swat District
Swat District (, ps, سوات ولسوالۍ, ) is a district in the Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. With a population of 2,309,570 per the 2017 national census, Swat is the 15th-largest district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa prov ...
of modern-day Pakistan.
[‘Uḍḍiyāna and Kashmir’, pp 265-269 ‘The Śaiva Exegesis of Kashmir’, in Mélanges tantriques à la mémoire d’Hélène Brunner. Tantric Studies in Memory of Hélène Brunner, Collection Indologie 106, EFEO, Institut français de Pondichéry (IFP), ed. Dominic Goodall and André Padoux, 2007.)] An alternate theory places its location in what is now the modern
Indian state
India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions.
History
Pre-indepen ...
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 ...
, though this is improbable.
It is ascribed importance in the development and dissemination of
Vajrayāna Buddhism. It was also called as “the paradise of the
Ḍākinīs”.
Tibetan Buddhist
Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...
traditions view it as a
Beyul
According to the beliefs of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, Beyul () are hidden valleys often encompassing hundreds of square kilometers, which Padmasambhava blessed as refuges. Tertöns may reveal them from terma at specific and appropr ...
(Tibetan: སྦས་ཡུལ, Wylie: sbas-yul), a legendary heavenly place inaccessible to ordinary mortals.
Padmasambhava
Padmasambhava ("Born from a Lotus"), also known as Guru Rinpoche (Precious Guru) and the Lotus from Oḍḍiyāna, was a tantric Buddhist Vajra master from India who may have taught Vajrayana in Tibet (circa 8th – 9th centuries)... According ...
, the eighth-century Buddhist master who was instrumental in the
introduction of Buddhism to Tibet, was believed to have been born in Oddiyana.
The
Dzogchen
Dzogchen (, "Great Perfection" or "Great Completion"), also known as ''atiyoga'' ( utmost yoga), is a tradition of teachings in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and Yungdrung Bon aimed at discovering and continuing in the ultimate ground of existence. ...
Siddha
''Siddha'' (Sanskrit: '; "perfected one") is a term that is used widely in Indian religions and culture. It means "one who is accomplished." It refers to perfected masters who have achieved a high degree of physical as well as spiritual ...
Garab Dorje
Garab Dorje (c. 665) () was the first human to receive direct transmission teachings from Vajrasattva. Garab Dorje then became the teacher of the ''Ati Yoga'' (Tib. Dzogchen) or Great Perfection teachings according to Tibetan buddhist and Nyingma ...
is likewise attributed to this region.
The region was also an important place for the practice of
Śaivism. It is seen as the homeland of the Mahārtha (aka Krama
Kalikula) lineage of Śaiva
Tantra
Tantra (; sa, तन्त्र, lit=loom, weave, warp) are the esoteric traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism that developed on the Indian subcontinent from the middle of the 1st millennium CE onwards. The term ''tantra'', in the Indian ...
. The first Mahārtha Siddha, Jñānanetra Nātha (ज्ञाननेत्र नाथ), is said to have awakened and taught in this country.
Location
The Amlukdara stupa, in the Swat District of Pakistan. The main stupa with its sacred area was founded around the third century and lasted until 10th or 11th century.
Udyāna (
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
"garden, orchard"; is reported as being located north of
Peshawar
Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...
along the
Swat River
The Swat River ( ur, , ps, سوات سیند) is a perennial river in the northern region of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. The river's source is in the high glacial valleys of the Hindu Kush mountains, where it then flows into the sc ...
; it was regarded as the furthest part of northern ancient India during the time of
Faxian
Faxian (法顯 ; 337 CE – c. 422 CE), also referred to as Fa-Hien, Fa-hsien and Sehi, was a Chinese Buddhist monk and translator who traveled by foot from China to India to acquire Buddhist texts. Starting his arduous journey about age 60, h ...
.
The 8th century Korean monk
Hye Cho
Hyecho (; 704–787), Sanskrit: Prajñāvikrama; pinyin: Hui Chao, was a Buddhist monk from Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea.
Hyecho studied esoteric Buddhism in Tang China, initially under Śubhakarasiṃha and then under the famous In ...
wrote in his
Memoir of the travel to the five Indian regions that after visiting
Gandhara
Gandhāra is the name of an ancient region located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, more precisely in present-day north-west Pakistan and parts of south-east Afghanistan. The region centered around the Peshawar Vall ...
, he went directly north, entered the mountains and after travelling for three days, arrived in Udyana (locally called Oddiyana), a mountainous Buddhist region. From Udyana, he travelled northeast for fifteen days and reached
Chitral
Chitral ( khw, , lit=field, translit=ćhitrār; ur, , translit=ćitrāl) is situated on the Chitral River in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It serves as the capital of the Chitral District and before that as the capital of Chitral ...
. Faxian stated that the food and clothing worn by those in Udyana were similar to those residing in the
Indo-Gangetic Plain
The Indo-Gangetic Plain, also known as the North Indian River Plain, is a fertile plain encompassing northern regions of the Indian subcontinent, including most of northern and eastern India, around half of Pakistan, virtually all of Bangla ...
.
The area is said to have supported some 500
viharas of the
Sthavira nikāya
The Sthavira nikāya (Sanskrit "Sect of the Elders"; ) was one of the early Buddhist schools. They split from the majority Mahāsāṃghikas at the time of the Second Buddhist council.
Scholarly views Origin
The Sthavira nikāya was one of the e ...
, at which traveling monks were provided lodgings and food for three days. It was said to contain a
Buddha footprint
Buddha's footprints ( sa, Buddhapada) are Buddhist icons shaped like an imprint of Gautama Buddha's foot or both feet. There are two forms: natural, as found in stone or rock, and those made artificially. Many of the "natural" ones are acknowled ...
, a rock on which he dried his clothes, and a locale where he converted a
nāga
The Nagas (IAST: ''nāga''; Devanāgarī: नाग) are a divine, or semi-divine, race of half-human, half-serpent beings that reside in the netherworld (Patala), and can occasionally take human or part-human form, or are so depicted in art. ...
. It is said that two schools derived from the Sthavira nikāya, the
Dharmaguptaka
The Dharmaguptaka (Sanskrit: धर्मगुप्तक; ) are one of the eighteen or twenty early Buddhist schools, depending on the source. They are said to have originated from another sect, the Mahīśāsakas. The Dharmaguptakas had a p ...
and
Kāśyapīya
Kāśyapīya (Sanskrit: काश्यपीय; Pali: ''Kassapiyā'' or ''Kassapikā''; ) was one of the early Buddhist schools in India.
Etymology
The name ''Kāśyapīya'' is believed to be derived from Kāśyapa, one of the original missionar ...
, were established in this area. Both of these schools had proto-
Mahayana
''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing bra ...
doctrines.
While the 6th to 8th century
Kabul Ganesh offers a memorial inscription, to
Turk Shahis
The Turk Shahis or Kabul Shahis were a dynasty of Western Turk, or mixed Turko- Hephthalite, origin, that ruled from Kabul and Kapisa to Gandhara in the 7th to 9th centuries AD.
They may have been of Khalaj ethnicity."The new rulers of Kabu ...
king
Khingala
Khingala, also transliterated Khinkhil, Khinjil or Khinjal, ( Sharada script: ''khiṃ-gā-la'', ruled circa 775-785 CE) was a ruler of the Turk Shahis. He is only known in name from the accounts of the Muslim historian Ya'qubi and from an epigra ...
of Oddiyana.
Most academic scholars agree that Oddiyana was centred on the modern-day
Swat valley
Swat District (, ps, سوات ولسوالۍ, ) is a district in the Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. With a population of 2,309,570 per the 2017 national census, Swat is the 15th-largest district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa prov ...
of
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
.
More recently,
Alexis Sanderson
Alexis G. J. S. Sanderson (born 1948) is an indologist and Emeritus Fellow of All Souls College at the University of Oxford.
Early life
After taking undergraduate degrees in Classics and Sanskrit at Balliol College from 1968 to 1971, Alexis Sande ...
(2007) carefully revisited the issue of the location, taking note of the various far-flung locations that have been identified with Oddiyana at different times and by different sources.
He came to the conclusion, drawn from his careful examination of a variety of old textual citations, that it was located near
Kashmir
Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...
, accepting the modern-day Swat valley of Pakistan as the probable epicentre of a historical Oddiyana.
Orissa theory
Another location that has been identified is in the Eastern Indian state of Odisha,
through a case founded upon "literary, archeological and iconographic evidence". Scholars championing this location contend that the name Oḍḍiyāna derives from the
Dravidian ', denoting a native or indigenous person of ' ("Odisha") or from ''Oṭṭiyam'',
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
for ''Oḍra''. ' is also the
Middle Indic
The Middle Indo-Aryan languages (or Middle Indic languages, sometimes conflated with the Prakrits, which are a stage of Middle Indic) are a historical group of languages of the Indo-Aryan family. They are the descendants of Old Indo-Aryan (OIA; ...
form of ''Udyāna'' "garden," the name by which
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 ...
knew the region around Odisha.
Confusion about the identity of Oddiyana is conflated with confusion about the identity of
Indrabhuti
Indrabhuti (alternatively King Ja) is a name attributed to a number of individuals that have become conflated in Vajrayana Buddhism. One Indrabhuti, considered a Mahasiddha, was a disciple of Lawapa.
Identities of the king
Samten Karmay attempte ...
as Donaldson (2001: p. 11) observes:
Laurence Waddell
Lieutenant Colonel Laurence Austine Waddell, Order of the Bath, CB, Order of the Indian Empire, CIE, Linnean Society of London, F.L.S., Doctor of Laws, L.L.D, Master of Surgery, M.Ch., Indian Medical Service, I.M.S. Royal Anthropological Instit ...
,
Sylvain Lévi
Sylvain Lévi (March 28, 1863 – October 30, 1935) was an influential French orientalist and indologist who taught Sanskrit and Indian religion at the École pratique des hautes études.
Lévi's book ''Théâtre Indien'' is an important w ...
,
Giuseppe Tucci
Giuseppe Tucci (; 5 June 1894 – 5 April 1984) was an Italian orientalist, Indologist and scholar of East Asian studies, specializing in Tibetan culture and the history of Buddhism. During its zenith, Tucci was a supporter of Italian fascism ...
, and
Prabodh Chandra Bagchi
Prabodh Chandra Bagchi ( bn, প্রবোধচন্দ্র-বাগচী) (18 November 1898 – 19 January 1956) or P. C. Bagchi was one of the most notable Sino -Indologists of the 20th century. He was the third Upacharya (Vice-Chan ...
have convincingly shown that the Tibetan name ''Urgyan'' and the Chinese name ''Wutch'ang'' correspond to Uddiyana which is identical with modern Swat valley.
One writer recently made a renewed attempt to identify Uddiyana with Orissa which he regards as "the cradle of Vajrayana Buddhism".
But this is improbable; the Chinese sources refer to Orissa as ''Wu-T'u'' or ''Ota'' or ''Wu-cha'', while the Tibetans refer to Orissa as ''Odivisa'' which must be different from ''Urgyan'' or ''Wu-chang''.
Moreover, Orissa became a centre of Täntrika Buddhism after the 7th century A.D., while the Swat valley was a centre of Tantric Buddhism long before 700 A.D.
In ancient Indian literature the extreme north-western region of the country, especially Uddiyana,
Gandhara
Gandhāra is the name of an ancient region located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, more precisely in present-day north-west Pakistan and parts of south-east Afghanistan. The region centered around the Peshawar Vall ...
,
Kapisa and
Tukhara
The Tocharians, or Tokharians ( US: or ; UK: ), were speakers of Tocharian languages, Indo-European languages known from around 7600 documents from around 400 to 1200 AD, found on the northern edge of the Tarim Basin (modern Xinjiang, China) ...
, find frequent mention.
A
Kushan
The Kushan Empire ( grc, Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν; xbc, Κυϸανο, ; sa, कुषाण वंश; Brahmi: , '; BHS: ; xpr, 𐭊𐭅𐭔𐭍 𐭇𐭔𐭕𐭓, ; zh, 貴霜 ) was a syncretic empire, formed by the Yuezhi, i ...
inscription mentions a monk ''Jivaka Odiyanaka'', being the earliest epigraphic reference to Uddiyana.
It is certainly not in Orissa or Odivisa. The Vihära of Huviska to which Jivaka Odiyanaka made gift of a pillar was in the north-west.
Xuanzang entered India from the north-west route and his biographer clearly locates Udyana's capital in North-West.
Faxian, who also came from that pass clearly says that Udyana lay in the north on the
Swat river
The Swat River ( ur, , ps, سوات سیند) is a perennial river in the northern region of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. The river's source is in the high glacial valleys of the Hindu Kush mountains, where it then flows into the sc ...
.
In Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhist traditions see Oḍḍiyāna as a source of many of their tantric teachings. It is seen as having been a land where Buddhist tantra flourished. Many lineages of Tibetan Buddhism are traced to this region, including Dzogchen (which began with the great siddha
Garab Dorje
Garab Dorje (c. 665) () was the first human to receive direct transmission teachings from Vajrasattva. Garab Dorje then became the teacher of the ''Ati Yoga'' (Tib. Dzogchen) or Great Perfection teachings according to Tibetan buddhist and Nyingma ...
). A number of Vajrayana and
tantric practitioners are said to have stayed and practiced there. The first Vajrayana teachings were supposedly given there by
Gautama Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism.
According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...
at the request of the king. According to
Dudjom Rinpoche
Kyabje Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje (, THL ''Düjom Jikdrel Yéshé Dorjé'') was known as Terchen Drodül Lingpa and as Dudjom Rinpoche (10 June 1904 – 17 January 1987). He is considered by many Tibetan Buddhists to be from a line of importan ...
, the
Mahayoga Mahāyoga (Sanskrit for "great yoga") is the designation of the first of the three Inner Tantras according to the ninefold division of practice used by the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism.
Mahāyoga is held to emphasise the generation stage (or ...
and Anuyoga tantras were first revealed in Oḍḍiyāna.
[Dorje, Jikdrel Yeshe (]Dudjom Rinpoche
Kyabje Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje (, THL ''Düjom Jikdrel Yéshé Dorjé'') was known as Terchen Drodül Lingpa and as Dudjom Rinpoche (10 June 1904 – 17 January 1987). He is considered by many Tibetan Buddhists to be from a line of importan ...
, author), & translated and edited: Gyurme Dorje
Gyurme Dorje (1950 – 5 February 2020) was a Scottish Tibetologist and writer.
Early life
In Edinburgh he studied classics at George Watson's College and developed an early interest in Buddhist philosophy. He held a PhD in Tibetan Literatur ...
and Matthew Kapstein
Matthew T. Kapstein is a scholar of Tibetan religions, Buddhism, and the cultural effects of the Chinese occupation of Tibet. He is Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of Chicago Divinity School, and Director of Tibetan ...
(1991). ''The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: Its Fundamentals and History''. Boston, USA: Wisdom Publications. ISBN
The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier that is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.
An ISBN is assigned to each separate edition and ...
0-86171-199-8, p.460 History.
In Tibetan Buddhist literature, ' is described as being ruled by several kings each of whom were named
Indrabhūti.
Oḍḍiyāna is also often conflated or identified with
Shambhala
In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Shambhala ( sa, शम्भल ',''Śambhala'', also ''Sambhala'', is the name of a town between the Rathaprā and Ganges rivers, identified by some with Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh. In the Puranas, it is named as t ...
, a magical hidden land (
beyul
According to the beliefs of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, Beyul () are hidden valleys often encompassing hundreds of square kilometers, which Padmasambhava blessed as refuges. Tertöns may reveal them from terma at specific and appropr ...
) land inhabited by
''ḍākinī''s and inaccessible to or by ordinary mortals.
In the 'Seven Line Prayer' (of
Padmasambhava
Padmasambhava ("Born from a Lotus"), also known as Guru Rinpoche (Precious Guru) and the Lotus from Oḍḍiyāna, was a tantric Buddhist Vajra master from India who may have taught Vajrayana in Tibet (circa 8th – 9th centuries)... According ...
) revealed in Jigme Lingpa's terma of the
Ngöndro
In Tibetan Buddhism, Ngöndro (, sa, pūrvaka) refers to the preliminary, preparatory or foundational practices or disciplines (Sanskrit: sādhanā) common to all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism and also to Bon. They precede deity yoga.
The pre ...
of the
Longchen Nyingthig
Longchen Nyingthig () is a '' terma'', revealed scripture, of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, which gives a systematic explanation of Dzogchen. It was revealed by Jigme Lingpa (1730–1798).
Etymology
Longchen Nyingthig may be transla ...
and throughout the Longchen Nyingtig Ngondro, Oddiyana is rendered in the form .
Notes
{{reflist
References
*
Faxian
Faxian (法顯 ; 337 CE – c. 422 CE), also referred to as Fa-Hien, Fa-hsien and Sehi, was a Chinese Buddhist monk and translator who traveled by foot from China to India to acquire Buddhist texts. Starting his arduous journey about age 60, h ...
, ''A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms'' (
James Legge
James Legge (; 20 December 181529 November 1897) was a Scottish linguist, missionary, sinologist, and translator
who was best known as an early translator of Classical Chinese texts into English. Legge served as a representative of the London ...
translation)
Chapter 8 (Online at the
University of Adelaide
The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...
Library)
History of Buddhism in India
History of Pakistan
Medieval India
Tibetan Buddhist places
Padmasambhāva