From epigraphical sources it is known that Buddhism was popular until the end of the Somavamsi rule in Orissa. From these sources, it is also known that the Ratnagiri Mahavihara was a great centre of Buddhism. As if to support this, we have a large number of Vajrayana sculptures at Ratnagiri. These are different forms of Avalokiteswara, Manjusri, Heruka, Jambhala, Kurukulla, Mahakala, Vajrasattva, Aparchana, Vajrapani, Tara, Aparajita, Marichi, Arya Saraswati, Vajra Tara, etc.

Other important sculptures are the Tara figures of Solampur, the three Vajrasattva figures along with a Buddha image from Haripur, Prajnaparamita from Banesvaranasi, Tara image at Banpur, a Maitreyi image at Natara near Kendupatna, Avalokiteswara, Padmapani and Yamantaka images at Kuruma, Marichi and Vajravarahi at Ayodhya, Buddha from Khiching and Buddha figures of Ganiapalli. It is interesting to note that the back slab of a Buddha image at Solampur contains the story of Buddha, from his birth to nirvana.

The excavation at Ratnagiri has revealed that Buddhist art in Orissa developed from about the fifth century A.D. and continued to flourish upto the twelfth century A.D. In fact, Buddhist sculptural art was one of the main constituents of medieval Orissan sculptural art.