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The earliest Buddhist Complex
dating back to the 1st century AD, Lalitgiri
forms an important node of the Diamond Triangle
ie Lalitgiri (in present Cuttack district) and
Ratnagiri and Udayagiri (in present Jajpur district).
Well connected by excellent roads to Cuttack
and Bhubaneswar, recent excavations here have
brought to light significant archaeological
material that upholds Lalitgiri as a great centre
of Buddhist attraction. |
The majestic ruins of the huge brick monastery, the
remains of the chaitya hall, a number of votive stupas
and a renovated stone stupa at the apex of a small
rugged sandstone hill dominate the rural greenery
around.
In addition, the museum displays a large number of
Mahayana sculptures consisting of colossal Buddha
figures, huge Boddhisattva statues, statues of Tara,
Jambhala and others. Interestingly, most of these
sculptures contain short inscriptions on them. The
Standing Buddha figures, with knee length draperies
over the shoulders remind one of the influence of
the Gandhara and Mathura school of art.
This also brings to mind the fact of Prajna, who had
come from Takshasila to ancient Orissa to learn the
philosophy of Yoga. He later left for China in the
eigth century A.D. with an autographed manuscript
of the Buddhist text Gandavyuha, from the then Orissan
king Sivakara Deva 1, to the Chinese Emperor Te-tsong.
The discovery of caskets containing sacred relics,
probably of the Tathagata himself, from the stone
stupa at the top of the hill, further enhances the
sacredness of the stupa as well as of Lalitgiri for
Buddhists around the world. It also brings to mind
the description of Hiuen T'sang, the famed Chinese
traveller of the seventh century A D, about the magnificent
stupa on top of a hill at Puspagiri Mahavihara which
emitted a brilliant light because of its sacredness.
" On the basis of archaeological materials including
inscriptions brought to light by excavation, Langudi
hill in Jajpur district may be identified as Puspagiri."
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