ASOKAN ERA ROCK EDICT AT DHAULIGIRI HILLS, ODISHA (INDIA)

Discovered in the year 1837 by Lt. M. Kittoe, the set of Rock Edicts contain eleven out of the well known fourteen Rock Edicts of Asoka (BC. 273-236). The language of the edicts is Magadhi Prakrita and the script being the early Brahmi. Here the omission of the thirteenth edict is deliberate as it describes Asoka’s conquest of Kalinga involving a great carnage, captivity and misery to the people. The Kalinga War was the turning point in his career and he not only gave up his ambition of Digvijaya but also converted him into Dharmasoka from Chandasoka. In place of the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth rock edicts, two special edicts known as Separate Rock Edicts or Kalinga Edicts have been incorporated here, which are conciliatory in nature and meant for the pacification of the newly conquered people of Kalinga.

On the rock above the inscription, is the sculpted forepart of an elephant carved out of live rock which symbolizes Buddha, ‘the best of elephants’ (Gajottama) as in this form he was believed to have entered his mother’s womb in dream.

Gotipua, the majestic folk dance of Odisha – India

In Odia language, “Goti” means “single” and “Pua” means “boy”.

Gotipua (dance) is a form of Odissi. It has been performed in Orissa, for centuries, by young boys who dress up as female to praise Lord Jagannath and Lord Krishna. The actual form of the dance is executed by a group of boys who perform acrobatic figures inspired by the life of Radha & Krishna. The boys start to learn the dance at an early age until the adolescence, when their androgynous look is fading.

The costume and make-up

To transform into graceful feminine dancers, the boys do not cut their hair to make an elaborate hair-do in a knot. Garlands of flowers are woven into the hair. They apply make-up on their face with white and red powder mixed together. Kajal (black eyeliner) is applied around the eyes with a broad outline to give them an elongated look. The Bindi (red dot) is applied on the forehead with a pattern made from sandalwood around it. Traditional paintings adorn the face and are the identity of every dance school.

The dance costume has evolved over time. The traditional dress is a "Kanchula", bright coloured blouse with shiny embellishment. An apron-like and embroidered silk cloth is tied around the waist like a frill worn around the legs: it is called "nibibandha". The gotipua dancers have given up their traditional costume due to the influence of modernity. In some cases, they still adhere to the tradition: they use the pattasari made with one piece of tissue around four meters long, which is worn tightly by having equal lengths of material on both sides, and by tying a knot on the navel. Those traditional dresses are often replaced by a new designed cloth easier for dressing.

The dancers wear specially designed jewelry made with beads: necklaces, bracelets, armbands and ear ornaments. The nose piercing jewelry has been replaced nowadays by a painted motive. They add ankle bells to accentuate the beats tapped out by the feet. Palms and soles are painted with a red liquid called "Alta".

The costume, jewelry and bells are sacred items.

History of the Gotipua Dance

In ancient times, the temples of Orissa had female dancers called “Devadasi or Mahari (in Orissa)” who were devoted to Lord Jagannath. The sculptures of the dancers on the bas-reliefs of the famous temples of Orissa (the Sun Temple in Konark and the Jagannath temple in Puri), show the evidence of this very ancient tradition.

Around the 16th century, with the decline of the Mahari dancers, the class of these boy dancers came into existence in Orissa, to carry out the tradition. This was during the time of Bhoi king Rama Chandra Dev, founder of Bhoi dynasty.

The Gotipua dance is in Odissi style, but their technique, costumes and presentation differ from those of the Mahari. The singing is done by the dancers themselves.

It is largely from the Gotipua dance that the present form of Odissi dance has been inspired. Most of the present-day Gurus of Odissi dance (like the famous Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra from Raghurajpur village) were Gotipua in their young days.

The captivating style of Odissi dance is based in tandava (vigorous, masculine) and lasya (graceful, feminine) dance, and has two basic postures: "Tribhangi" where the body is held with three bends of the head, torso and knees, and "Chouka", a square-like stance that symbolizes Lord Jagannath.

The fluidity of the upper torso is characteristic for Odissi, and is often compared to the gentle waves of the sea that forever caress the Orissa beaches.

The repertoire of the dance includes:

• Vandana Prayer (worship prayer) of God or Guru (a customary invocation, offering prayers of gratitude to the Mother Earth, the Divine Lord Jagannath and one's Guru, and welcoming the audience). The dancers perform a 3 step-salutation, the first one above head towards God, the second in front of the face for the Guru, and the third in front of the chest for the audience.

• Sa ri ga ma (a pure dance number, celebrating beauty and highlighting mastery of technique). This dance is portraying the elegant dancers and musicians carved into the outer walls of ancient temples.

• Abhinaya (enactment of a song, interpretation of poetry of ancient writings). This dance depicts the Radha-Krishna oriented poems such as the famous Gita Govinda from the 12th century. The verses used for narration are extremely ornate in content and suggestion. Graceful, fluid, and sensual, the Abhinaya is like a moving love poem with facial expression, eye movement and mudra gestures:

"Come and see, my love

Here comes Krishna, the flute player, the Supreme Performer

Come and see, my love

He dances wearing ankles bells

So lovely rhythmic patterns he makes

Listen to his melodies, the mardala beats

Listen to his flute and clappings"

• Bandha Nrutya (presentation of acrobat yogic postures, creation of figures of Radha Krishna, having similarity to visual presentation drawn up by Pattachitra artists, the traditional painting of Orissa).

  

Musical accompaniment is provided with

• Mardala (two heads drum, rhythm percussion instrument of Orissa)
• Gini (small cymbals)
• Harmonium
• Violine
• Bansuri (alto bamboo flute)
• and one or two vocalists.

  

Bandha Nrutya (Acrobatic Dance)

The most interesting part of Gotipua is “Bandha Nrutya”, a dance with acrobatic figures and movements. The difficult and intricate poses of the body with supplying of various limbs, are known as “Bandha” (acrobatic in Oriya language). To be able to perform these figures, the boys need to start learning the dance at the early age of five or six. The postures mostly refer to mythological scenes from the life of Krishna.

"Abhinaya Chandrika", an ancient text on Odissi Dance written by Maheshwar Mahapatra during the 15th century, gives a detailed study of the various movements of the feet, hands (mudras), the standing postures, the movement and dance repertoire.

"Sangita Darpana", an ancient text from the 17th century about music and dance, gives a complete repertory and overall style of presentation.

These writings give details about Bandha Nrutya. Abhinaya Chandrika mentions more than 25 varieties of Bandha: They are Gagana, Dhurmukha, Torona, Shayana, etc…

Some Bandhas are found in oral tradition and are known as

• Chira (welcome pose)
• Padmasana (lotus pose)
• Hansa (swan: represents wisdom, grace and beauty, and is the vehicle of Saraswati, goddess of knowledge, music & arts)
• Mayura (peacock: sacred bird of the Hindu mythology, whose feathers were adorning the head of Krishna)
• Chara Mayura (grazing peacock: represents splendor and majesty)
• Keli kadamba (holy tree under which Krishna was playing)
• Garuda (mythical eagle, vehicle of Vishnu)
• Kandarpa Ratha (chariot of Kandarpa, the God of Love)
• Sagadi (wheel, compared to the wheels of Jagannath chariot)
• Nauka (boat)
• Kaliyadalan (defeat of Blacksnake by Krishna)
• Bakasura Badha (Krishna killing Bakasura demon)
• Radha Krishna, etc…

Note : The above Gotipua dance pictures are from the performance of the students of Guru Sri Budhanath Pradhan staged at Toshali Sands, Puri. Guru Budhanath runs his gurukul Maa Santoshi Gotipua Kala Kendra with 14 resident students at Balipokhari (Kothasahi) in Puri district of Odisha.  Today, this traditional dance form is only practiced in few gurukuls of Puri. The modern economic avenues and lack of financial support to Gotipua Dance is letting people to forgo this traditional art form of Odisha. Still then, the existing gurukuls are struggling to keep up this tradition through there paltry income. The Govt must come out to preserve the age-old cultural heritage of Odisha. Also people who are rich and famous must shed some of their wealth as a CSR initiative to patronize this dwindling art form and earn accolades of public as well as dancers.

Maritime Relations of Kalinga (Odisha) with Indonesia

The sailors of Kalinga reached South-East Asia in very early times but unlike Tamil texts of Sangam period, they have not left any records of their trading voyages. In the absence of any direct evidences to Orissa we will have to depend upon the scattered reference of foreign countries. The available evidences indicate, from the beginning of Christian era, monks, merchants and adventurers continued to visit South-East Asia.

• Kalinga and Java

According to R.D. Banarjee, Hindus from Kalinga took a leading role in establishing Hindu culture in Java. An expedition from Kalinga established a colony in Java in 75 BC.

(a)   Early legends of Java mentions that “twenty thousand families were sent to Java by the prince of Klinga. These people prospered and multiplied.” Even King Jayabhaya (12^th century A.D.) believed himself to be descendant of Kalinga family.

(b)   Java was styled as Ho-Ling in the annals of the Tang period (618-906) in the Chinese record. Central Java was occupied by the people of Holing. According to Chinese sources regular embassies were sent to Ho-Ling. Scholars usually believed the Ho-Ling of the Chinese is equivalent to Kalinga.

(c)   Ho-Ling was visited be several Buddhist monks of China including I-Ching in the 7^th century A.D.

(d)   Arab historians described the 8th century AD Sailendra dynasty of Java as originating from Kalinga, and said that Sailendra was also powerful in Cambodia and Champa (Annam).

(e)   Inscriptional evidences ;

(I)                  The Canggal inscription of King Sanjaya (A.D. 732) of Java led scholars belief that the epithet “Kunjara Kunjadesa” may be located in Kalinga which was famous for elephants. Even the king styled themselves as ‘Gajapati’ in later period.

(II)                In Old-Javanese epigraphy Kling, i.e. Kalinga appears for the first time in the Java inscription from A.D. 840. Three others are from the reign of King Airlangga, who ruled during A.D. 1019-42, but the most interesting feature of these inscriptions is the fact that the charters mention the names of countries from which traders and others came to his kingdom. One such representative list states that people came from : “Kling, Aryya, Singhala, Pandikira, Dravida, Campa, Kmir, Rmen….” In all cases, excepting one, the list is headed by Kling i.e. Kalinga people, immediately followed by the Aryya people.

(III)               In an East Javanese inscription dated A.D. 1194 mention is made of a Juru Kling i.e. headman of the Kalinga people.

(IV)             A late inscription from East Java describes king Girindra Vardhana as Bhatara Kling, i.e. Lord of Kling, while his queen Kamalavarnadevi has been designated queen of Kalingapura.

From these details, it appears that Kling and Kalingapura, if they are not identical, must have been administrative units of the Majapahitan empire laying to the north-west of Kediri by the side of the river Kali Kling. The very name of the East Javanese river Kali Kling and the administrative divisions referred to above make Ho-ling or Kalinga a hard reality.

Kalingga or Holing of Central Java, Indonesia

Kalingga or Holing was an Indianized kingdom on the north coast of Central Java, Indonesia. The kingdom's location is thought to be somewhere between present-day Pekalongan and Jepara. Kalingga existed between the 6th and 7th century. The historical record of this kingdom is scarce and vague, and comes mostly from Chinese sources and local traditions.

The Chinese sources come from China and date back to the Tang Dynasty. According to I-tsing, in 664 CE a Chinese Buddhist monk named Hwi-ning had arrived in Holing and stayed there for about three years. During his stay, and with the assistance of Jnanabhadra, a Holing monk, he translateded numerous Buddhist Hinayana scriptures.

In 674 CE the kingdom was ruled by Queen Shima, notorious for her fierce law against thievery, which encouraged her people to be honest and uphold absolute truth. According to tradition, one day a foreign king placed a bag filled with gold on the intersection in Kalingga to test the famed truthful and honesty of Kalingga people. Nobody dared to touch the bag that did not belong to them, until three years later when Shima's son, the crown prince, accidentally touched the bag with his foot. The queen issued a death sentence to her own son, but was overruled by a minister that appealed the queen to spare the prince's life. Since it was the prince's foot that touched the bag of gold, so it was the foot that must be punished through mutilation. Shima's great-grandson is Sanjaya, who is the king of Sunda Kingdom and Galuh Kingdom, and also the founder of Medang Kingdom.

• Kalinga and Bali

Bali deserves special mentions for bearing stamps of Kalingan culture even to these days. Till date it is primarily a Hindu land. Like Bhubaneswar or Kanchipuram, it is a land of temples popularly called “Island of thousand temples”. It is believed, the famous, “Bali-yatra’ festival of Odisha is observed in many parts of the State to commemorate the “sea voyages of Kalingan people to Bali.”

Even now some Brahmans of Bali called themselves as “Brahman Buddha Kalinga”. As in Orissa Sri Lakshmi is worshipped as Goddess of wealth, in Bali worshipped as prosperity. Dance form of Bali particularly the performing Ramayan and the shadow-dance has close affinity with the dance form of Orissa (Ravana Chaya of Orissa). The tie and die weaving traditions of Orissa (western Orissa) have also close resemblance with Balinese textiles traditions.

 Trade with Bali appears to have started before the Christian Era. Bali had many products that were attractive to Kalinga's traders, including cinnamon, long pepper, white pepper and cardamon, pearls and gems, silk, camphor, bees wax and sandalwood. Traders from Kalinga brought muslin and other fine cloths, rugs, brocade, armour, gold and jewelry. There is a tradition that the first ruler of Bali was an Indian named Kaudinya, around 600 AD, and this name later became the title for future rulers. It is possible that the island is named after Bali, a legendary king of Orissa. Traditional masked dances that are performed in Orissa and Bali for the purpose of removing evils and bringing good fortune have many similarities that point to ancient cultural exchanges. The trade began to decline in the 8th century AD, as Arabs became the predominant maritime power in the region.The festival of "Bali Jatra", or "Journey to Bali", is still celebrated throughout coastal Orissa in memory of the ancient trading links.

   (Photocaption : Sea routes between Kalinga and trading countries)

Kalingan Lion crushing the Mighty Elephant

   Courtesy : Konark Sun Temple, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Odisha

Awakening Kalinga (The Lion) in You.

Kalinga means ‘Valor, Opulence, Enterprise, Adventure and Pride.’ It is not just a historical territory to be remained in the textbooks, it is a thought, a belief, a spirit of dauntless vivacity to be lived upon. There is a sleeping Lion named Kalinga within everyone among us which need to be awaken to show his Majestic Aura to the world.

Maritime Trade of ancient Kalinga and its Ports

Early kingdoms of Eastern India had their own port towns. Among the ports of ancient Orissa/Kalinga are Palura and Chelitalo, mentioned respectively by Ptolemy and Xuan Xang in the second century A.D. and seventh century A.D.

Palura, mentioned by the Greek geographer Ptolemy in the second century A.D. and in a South Indian inscription of the third century, was an internationally important emporium further to the Southwest, most likely at the Rishikulya  estuary or nearby, on the Southern elongation of Chilika Lake, whereas village known as Palur still exists today. According to Ptolemy, there was a place near Palur, called Apheterion, the “point of  departure” for ships bound to Chryse,  the “Golden Land”, the “ Suvarnabhumi” of South East Asia. It is quite likely that the prominent hillock South of the present village Palur, which in fact, is the highest peak on the coast up to the mouth of the Ganges, and which was known to the Portuguese of the sixteenth century as Serra de Palura served as a landmark for early seafarers in the Bay of Bengal.

About Chelitalo in U-cha (Central Orissa) Xuan Xang writes, “Here it is merchants depart for distant countries, and strangers come and go and stop here on their way. The walls of the city are strong and lofty. Here are found all sorts of rare and precious articles.”

During these early centuries A.D., Kalinga’s importance for trans-Asian maritime trade seems to have been strengthened by the fact that in the early centuries A.D. even large vessels usually did not yet cross the Bay of Bengal directly from Sri Lanka to Southeast Asia. Instead, they proceeded up to Palura and Chelitalo from which points they crossed the ocean for Survarnabhumi.

Kalinga’s importance and association with the Bay of Bengal is confirmed by Kalidasa (C. 400 A.D.) who praised the King of Kalinga as “ Lord of the Ocean” (Mahodadhipati) in Raghuvamsa and in the late eighth century by the Buddhist text Manjusrimulakalpa, which refers to all the islands in the “Kalinga Sea” (Kalingodra).

During these centuries, traders, Buddhist monks and Brahmins of Kalinga traveled to, and sometimes settled in the countries of Southeast Asia. An inscription from East Java even mentioned Kalinganagara, indicating perhaps a “colony” of traders from Kalinga. Similarly, Southeast Asian traders and the fame of their merchandise had an impact on Orissa as well. A portrayal of an Indonesian dagger (kris) on the Parasuramesvara temple in Bhubaneswar (7^th Century AD) is a testimony to such relations between Orissa and Indonesia. Harbours and early kingdoms of Orissa and Kalinga may have derived considerable income from these trade relations. Thus, an early tenth century inscription of Bhaumakara dynasty of Orissa contains interesting information about the existence of Samudrakarabandha on the shore of Chilika lake, most likely meaning an embankment (bandha) on the shore of the (Samudra) where taxes (kara) were collected.

Kalinga-Sri Lanka Historical Relations

Kalinga, the rich and prosperous country of India’s East Coast was an active centre of trade, commerce and culture through navigation. From the Ceylonese Chronicles, the Mahavamsa, Dathavamsa, Chulavamsa etc, it is known that the ancient people from Kalinga used to travel to Sri Lanka to establish politica,l religious and social alliance with the Ceylonese people.

1. King Vijaya’s Kalinga Origin: According to Ceylonese Pali chronicles Dipavamsa (Island chronicles-ch.9) and Mahavamsa (Great Dynasty-chs. VI & VII)- it was Vijaya, a prince from Simhapura of Kalinga founded the Sihala (Simhala) race in Sri Lanka. The prince along with his 700 followers exiled from their kingdom sailed to Tamraparni and established a new civilization in the island. Vijaya’s great Grandmother belonged to Kalingan royal lineage. The very name “ Sihala” was the title bestowed to his father (in Kalinga) and inherited by him and as such they founded the Kingdom in the name of “Simhala”. Vijaya ruled for 32 years and a minimum of 2,500 families of Kalingan origin migrated to Sri Lanka during his rule.

2. According to Pali Buddhist literature, the name of Kalinga is familiar with Sri Lanka as early as 3^rd century B.C. with the introduction of Buddhism by Asoka’s son Mahendra and daughter Sanghamitra. The ‘Bajjhima Nikaya’ refers to forest of Kalinga. The ‘Digh Nikaya’ to the coastal settlement and capital city, Dantapura.

3. Buddha’s Tooth Relic was brought to Annuradhapura from Kalinga in 310 A.D. : According to Dhatu Vamsa the king of Kalinga, Guhasiva, who was worshipping the sacred Tooth Relic of Buddha apprehending danger from ‘Pandu’ a Magadha king send the Tooth to Sri Lanka secretly through his daughter Hemamala and son-in-law Dantakumara from his capital city “Dantapura” to be delivered to his friend Mahasena, the ruler of Buddhist kingdom of Lanka. They reached Annuradhapura and handed over to king Maghavanna (310 A.D.) the son of Mahasena.

4. King Vijaya-1 (1055-1110 A.D.), one of the greatest monarch of Sri Lanka married the Kalingan princess Triloka Sundari (Beauty of the three world).

5. Nissankamalla’s advocacy of Kalinga lineage to become a Sinhala King: Nissanka Malla, known as Kirti Nissanka and Kalinga Lokesvara  was the son of King Jayagopa of Kalinga who married the daughter of King Parakrambahu. After the death of his father-in-law he became the ruler of Sri Lanka from 1187 to 1196 and he was said to have established a Kalinga Udyana (Park) and Kalinga Vana (Forest) to commemorate his birth place.

Nissanka Malla had a belief that the rightful owners of kingship in Sri Lanka, were the kings belonging to the Kalinga dynasty. He even installed inscriptions to prove this fact.

 A rock inscription made by Nissanka Malla at Dambulla mentions that he is of the Kalinga Dynasty and a descendant from the race of King Vijaya. Another inscription at Ruwanwelisaya describes him as being a member of a royal family of Kalinga born at Sinhapura. The inscription there reads;

...having come from the royal line of the Ikshvaku family having become like a forehead mark to the royal family of Kalinga emperors born at Sinhapura...

By claiming to be descended from Vijaya, the first king of Sri Lanka, Nissanka Malla justified his right to the throne. He secured his position further by declaring that the ruler of Sri Lanka should adhere to Buddhism. His rock inscription at Galpotha describes this, saying that "non-Buddhists should not be placed in power in Sri Lanka to which the Kalinga dynasty was the rightful heir".

6.  In Return to Righteousness: A Collection of Speeches, Essays, and Letters of the Anagarika Dharmapala, Guruge. ed., Colombo, Government Press, 1965,

Dharmapala (who founded the Maha Bodhi Society in 1891) had said,

" We Sinhalese should remember that our ancestors came from Lada, a territory between Bengal and Kalinga about 2,400 years ago, and that they settled down in that part of the land now known as Anuradhapura......"

Puspagiri University: seat of Buddhist learning in ancient Kalinga

Puspagiri University was a prominent Buddhist seat of learning that flourished until the 11th century in India.  Today, its ruins lie atop the Langudi hills, low hills about 90 km from the Mahanadi delta, in the districts of Jajpur and Cuttack in Orissa. The actual university campus, spread across three hilltops, contained several stupas, monasteries, temples, and sculptures in the architectural style of the Gupta period. The Kelua river, a tributary of the Brahmani river of Orissa flows to the north east of Langudi hills, and must have provided a picturesque background for the university. The entire university is distributed across three campuses on top of the three adjoining hills, Lalitgiri, Ratnagiri and Udayagiri.

 

Puspagiri ranks along with Nalanda, Vikramshila and Takshila universities as one of the primary institutions of higher learning in ancient India. The three universities were mentioned in the travelogues of the famous Chinese traveler Xuanzang (Huien Tsang), who visited it in 639 CE, as  Puspagiri Mahavihara, as well as in medieval Tibetan texts. Xuan Zang counted more than 100 Buddhist monasteries in the area then known as Udra (U`cha in Chinese). One of the most important among them was Pu-sie-p’o-k’i-li (Pushagiri), whose stone top “exhibited supernatural lights and other miracles”. The mountain-top monastery is believed to be the site of one of the most famous Buddhist universities of ancient India. The ruins of some of these ancient monasteries are now under excavation by the Archeological Survey of India. These include three contiguous hill-top sites: Lalitgiri, Ratnagiri and Udayagiri. The excavated monasteries, with Buddhist images scattered all around, and the site museum at Ratnagiri, evoke vivid memories of a bygone era and should be of great interest to anyone interested in Buddhist art and religion.

Excavation work carried out  at Lalitgiri-Ratnagiri-Udayagiri hills  have brought to surface the ruins of a wonderful brick monastery with beautiful carvings, a temple with bow shaped arches, 4 monasteries and a huge stupa. The Buddhist treasures unearthed from here also include a large number of gold & silver articles, a stone container, earthern pot and traces of Kushana dynasty and Brahmi script. A massive image of the Buddha is a unique find, the image has pursed lips, long ears and wide forehead. 

Iconographic analysis indicates that Lalitgiri had already been established during the Sunga period of the 2nd century BC, making it one of the oldest Buddhist establishments in the world.   The architectural remnants found in Lalitgiri remind  one of the Gandhar & Mathura craftsmenship. Set in the valley of two rivers, Birupa and Chitrotpala, the monastery was “discovered” by a local British official in 1905. A seven year excavation of the site by the Archeological Survey of India beginning in 1985 yielded number if stone inscriptions, seals, sealings, and pot-shreds, which established the site as having flourished between 2nd-3rd to 14-15th century AD. Lalitgiri is especially interesting because here, one could observe the evolution of Buddhism from the Theravada sect with its austere and plain worship of a stupa to the growth of Mahayana and Vajrayana (tantric) sects with their elaborate pantheon of Bodhisattvas and other deities. Many fine examples of these deities can be found in a small sculpture shed built near the main stupa at Lalitgiri. These include images of Tara, Aparajita, Prajnaparamita, and Maitreya, as well as are images of Buddha Muchalinda, Buddha in Bhumisparsa (touching the earth) and Dhyani (meditation) poses, and a bas relief depicting Buddha’s descent from heaven. Scattered near the ruins of the monastery are several stray images, including a magnificent reclining Buddha in his final resting place lying underneath a huge Banyan tree. The main stupa at Lalitgiri is 15 meter in diameter, and is constructed in Sanchi style. It is visible from afar. The ruins of four monasteries have been discovered in the nearby area.

Ratnagiri was established no later than the reign of the Gupta king Narasimha Baladitya in the first half of the sixth century CE, and flourished until the twelfth century CE. Images of Buddhist deities found here show the gradual transformation of the site from the Mahayana to the Vajrayan sect, especially the Kalachakra tantra variety. Numerous references to the site in Tibetan literature suggest that Ratnagiri was an important center in the development of the Kalachakratantra in the 10th century CE, an assertion supported by the discovery of a number of votive  stupas, plaques, and other artifacts featuring Kalachakra imagery. As per Taranatha’s History of Buddhism, Ratnagiri housed 3 copies each of the scriptural work of Mahayana and Hinayana (Theravada) Buddhism. Five hundred monks were resident here. Teachers and scholars from all over India and many foreign scholars came here to study Buddhist philosophy and religion. Later, as Buddhism declined in other parts of India, Ratnagiri became one of the last shelters of Buddhism in the country.

The finest relic of Buddhist art at Ratnagiri is a magnificent doorjamb adorning Monastery 1, one of the two monasteries here. It is richly decorated and intricately carved. Ratnagiri comprises two magnificent monasteries, also rebuilt more than once. One of them was double-storyed and had an extensive courtyard with two-sides of it having a number of cells for habitation of monks. Besides, it has archaeological remains of six temples, thousands of small stupas, 1386 seals, myriad sculptural relics and architectural pieces of daily use. The largest stupa was 47 feet (14 m) square and 17 feet (5.2 m) high surrounded by four minor stupas. There are hundreds of miniature votive stupas decorated with lotus, petal and beaded tassels.

The main stupa of Ratnagiri dates to the 9th century AD and was  built on the site of an earlier, Gupta-era stupa. Seals were found bearing the legend "Sri Ratnagiri Mahavihariya Aryabikshu Sanghasya," which helped identify it. Prominent, well-persevered standing statues of the bodhisattvas Vajrapani and Padmapani can be found in niches in a portico. Monastery No. 2 features a central paved courtyard flanked by a pillared veranda around which are eighteen cells, a central shrine featuring an image of Shakyamuni in varada mudra flanked by Brahma and Sakra, and elaborately ornamented entrance porticos.

A museum now located on the site displays numerous Mahayana sculptures consisting of colossal Buddha figures, huge Boddhisattva statues, statues of  Tara, Avalokiteshvara, Aparajita and Hariti have also been found, all in prototypical of Gupta style. Almost all of these exhibits have an inscription on them.

If Lalitgiri is the oldest Buddhist site in the area, Udayagiri is the most picturesque. Located at the base of verdant rolling hills forming a semi circle, this site exemplifies the blissful and tranquil natural surroundings selected for the construction of Buddhist monasteries in ancient India. This site, a Mahayana-Vajrayana site whose name has been ascertained from terracotta sealings as Madhavapur Mahavihar Arya Viksu Snagha, was a vibrant center of Buddhist learning and worship between 8th to 13th centuries AD.

At the monastery excavated adjacent to the main stupa, one can see many virtually intact meditation cells linked by secrete passages. The inner sanctum of the monastery houses a Buddha image in Bhumisparsa pose. The site is believed to contain another 3 or 4 monasteries yet to be excavated. A massive rock-cut well adjacent to the monastery served as a source of water for the monasteries.

There are other Buddhist attractions around Langudi hills, the site of Puspagiri. Kaima hill in its immediate vicinity contains a unique rock-cut elephant surrounded by four monolithic khondalite pillars, and dates back to the Mauryan period in the 3rd century, B.C. Deuli, a hill situated in the confluence of the Brahmani and Kimiria rivers, has preserved five rock-cut Buddhist chambers inside caves. Some more Buddhist sites have also been discovered at Bajragiri, Sarapur and Paikrapur. The Langudi sites are perhaps the largest historic Buddhist complex in India. It is also claimed that Langudi was site of the legendary Pushpagiri sanctuary that Xuan Zang wrote about. If these claims are finally established, it will be one of the most remarkable findings of a Buddhist culture.