Langudi Buddhist Rock-Cut Stupas- Odisha

Address

Langudi Buddhist Rock-Cut Stupas- Chandikhol Road, Salepur, Odisha 755008, India

Diety

Buddha

Introduction

In the 1990s, college lecturer Harish Chandra Prusty discovered a Buddhist site on the Langudi Hill in Jajpur district, Odisha. This is some 18 km (11 mi) distant from Udaygiri, the closest of the “triangle” sites, further up the river. In 1996, the Orissa Institute of Maritime and South East Asia Studies and the Odisha state’s archaeology department started exploring the site.

Puranic Significance

Between 1996 and 2006, the Institute carried out excavations of an area stretching over 143 acres (0.58 km2). A fragmented Brahmi 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 stupa as well as several other archaeological artifacts. The artifacts included pillars, a fragmentary Brahmi inscription, terracotta seals and Northern Black Polished Ware. Debraj Pradhan believed the stupa to have been erected by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka (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 of Calcutta University, 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 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.