[In the field of research particularly in the historical and archaeological spheres artificial sources are being largely used in Orissa and there is no systematic effort to end such process. Some newspapers in Orissa do not ponder over the fake documents and being excited by their sudden discovery make them the highlights. In the colonial phase and also in the post-colonial phase the use of fake documents on the Orissa History was supported by many elites of Orissa. But this type of discovery and research do not help in unraveling the dark past of Orissa; on the other hand it destroys scientific temper of history. The location of the birth-place of Gautama Buddha in Orissa may be an interesting news for the enthusiastic Oriyas, but considering the vastness of original sources in favour of the location in Nepal Tarai or Piprahwa the location of the birth-place of Buddha in Kapileswar of Bhubaneswar seems only a regional adventure and is not based on real discovery of reliable documentary evidence and research. (Please click here for the author's another paper.) - The Blogger]
By Kailash Chandra Dash
A description of the views and
opinions of the historians and the nationalist writers from 1928 till to-day on
the homeland of Buddha in Bhubaneswar on the basis of Kapilesvar inscription.2-The
rejection of the claim of the nationalist writers for Bhubaneswar as the
homeland of Buddha on the basis of several arguments and documents.
The main purpose of the paper is
to address on the unscientific and artificial way of writing history in Orissa (fabricating
history) when the trends of historiography have taken a very rational and
unbiased approach in the world on the basis of this issue on the homeland of
Buddha
An inscription was discovered in
March 1928 from Kapileswar of Bhubaneswar. In Utkala Dipika of 21st July 1928 Bhagaban Pati, an
important Oriya nationalist, for the first time, directed the attention of the
Oriyas on the significance of this stone inscription. At that time Pati was
very eager to articulate the identity of the Oriyas and wanted to establish the
home-land of Jayadeva in Orissa against the Bengali claim. So suddenly he was
attracted to an Indian issue by the discovery of this stone inscription from Bhubaneswar temple
of Bhubaneswar.In 1st September 1928 revised his views on the newly
discovered inscription and stated that this insctiption was not discovered from
the wall of the Lingaraja temple, but it was discovered from the village
of Kapilesvara Nepal
In the Oriya newspaper Asha of
May 5 1929 there was an aricle entitled “Nepal cannot be the homeland of
Buddha”which was contested by Jalandhar Deb from Bamanda in the Utkala Sahitya(monthly
magazine in Oriya) in a separate focus.(Utkala Sahitya,Vol.35,No-4,Shravana,Sala
1338) In that article he had also criticised the view of Satyanarayana
Rajaguru which was published in an issue of the Utkala Sahitya which claimed
the birthplace of Buddha in Orissa. Deb had clearly stated in that
aricle-Two thousand one hundred and eighty years after the Lumbini inscription
by Ashoka the inscription of Ashoka was discovered in the village of Kapileswar
in Orissa like the origin of many new Siva-lingas in the different places of
India. But by the origin of the new Siva-lingas in India Bhubaneswar
Kedarnath Mahapatra in Sahakara(Vol-13,No-4)
in his article on the birth-place of Buddha stated-Some historians have
accepted Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar
1- There is no historical
evidence to accept the Lembai Pragana near Bhubaneswar
2- It is not at all good on the
part of the archaeologists to enter into revolution in the domain of history(Samagra
Itihasa Rajyare biplava srusthikariva) by relying only
on a copy of another inscription without paying any attention to hundreds of
well-established evidences.
3- Lakshmi Narayana Sahu in the
previous year(the year before the publication of the article of Mahapatra in Sahakara)
had accepted Buddhesvari near Bhubaneswar temple
of Buddha.Hence Mahapatra Bhubaneswar
There were many other focuses on
the birth-place of Buddha in Bhubaneswar
After the news of the discovery of
the inscription from the village Kapileswar Professor Haran Chand Chakaldar had
at first directed the attention of the archaeologists and epigraphists to
it. On that aspect he had published first an article in Bengali Pravasi in July
1928,(Pravasi,Shravana,Vikrama Sambat-1335).Thereafter Rama Prasad Chand in
another article in Prabasi in October 1928 had accepted this inscription as a
fake one. In June 1928 the colonial Government became eager to know about this
inscription. The correspondence in this respect of Dayanidhi Das, the Collector
of Puri, to the Secretary(Revenue Department) to Government of Bihar and Orissa
of 5th November 1928 was
very interesting.(Board of Revenue Documents,No-8125 of Puri District
Office,Bihar Orissa Files incorporated with Acc No.9186,File No-1 of
1928,Orissa State Archives,Bhubaneswar)
The report states-”on enquiry it
was found that the stone slab in question containing inscription of the Ashoka
edict was lying in the museum of one B.N,Ray,Contractor,Balukhand,Puri. On notice
issued on him he produced the treasure before me and stated that he had
purchased it for Rs.8 from one Brajabandhu Mishra of Kapileswar,
P.S.Bhubaneswar. The latter admitted having sold the stone slab in question to
this contractor for Rs.8.He further stated that it was being kept in the Thakur
Ghar(where family god is being worshipped) of his house since the time of his
forefathers. I then held a detailed enquiry into the matter on the spot and saw
for myself the place where it was said, the slab was being kept. I enquired
from the neighbours of Brajabandhu Mishra and all of them were unanimous that
the stone slab was being kept in the Thakur Ghar of Brajabandhu from a very
long time as his ancestral property and not kept concealed from any outsiders. From
the facts revealed on enquiry I am satisfied that the stone slab in question
was not hidden in the soil and it was sold to B.N.Ray,Contractor of Puri,who
has got a museum at Puri, for Rs.8 by the owner Brajabandhu Mishra. As the
value of the slab is less than Rs.10 and as it was not hidden in the soil, it
does not come under the definion of “Treasure” as defined by Sec 3 of Act No-VI
of 1878 and Sec-16 of the Act is therefore not applicable in this
case.B.N.Ray,the possessor of the slab was asked by me to sell it to Government
but he expressed his unwillingness to part with it as he intends to retain it
as an exhibit at his museum at Puri.A copy of this report was forwarded to the
Commissioner of the Orissa Division,Cuttack for information.(With reference to
his office Memo No.1362 dated 24-7-1928)
The report contains two important
points for our study. Firstly it states that the stone inscription from
Kapileswar was not discovered from the ground. It was not a part of a stone pillar as was the case with Rummindei inscription. It was kept inside the Thakur Ghar of Brajabandhu Mishra. Hence there is reason to doubt its antiquity and
originality. An inscription of the phase of Ashoka is not expected to be kept
in a private house from the archaeological point of view. Secondly
the point of the stone slab being kept in the Thakur Ghar of Brajabandhu Mishra
for generations cannot be relied upon. This is because in 1972 before his death
Nirmal Kumar Bose had declared the story of the making of the inscription which
was thus a fake one.(See in this respect the article of Umacharan Mohanty in Orissa
Historical Research Journal,Vol.XXII,No-2,1976)
In 1929 there was great research
on this inscription and an article was published by S.N.Mitra in Indian
Historical Quarertly(Vol.V,No-3 and 4) Mitra stated in his article-”Since the
publication of Chand`s note on the new find(Pravasi,oCtober 1928) doubting the
genuineness of the record, the general impression has been that it is a
forgery. Those who have read his note which is in Bengali,will,we think,agree
with us that he has cast a doubt without a sifting examination of individual
letters of the inscription in relation to one another as also to the other
Ashok inscriptions,particularly those in South India,which are incised in
Brahmi by a scribe whose habitual script was Kharoshthi. If our contentions
bear scrutiny,that is to say,if there occurs between the two devices a word
represented by three Kharoshthi letters,whether may be its final reading and
interpretation,then the whole question as to the genuineness or otherwise of
the Kapileswar record will have to be reopened and approached in the light of
the new aspect that it has now gained.” Mitra had accepted the Kapileswar
inscription as one of the possible additional records at Lumbini. He further
contended that the additional inscribed stone slab was removed from Lumbini to
Orissa. He cited the example of Kharavela and his inscription at Khandagiri
near Bhubaneswar
In 1940s there was great debate
on this inscription. Chakradhar Mahapatra in 1947 in an address in Parlakhemundi
College
1- In 1970 in the Sriram Chandra
Bhavan of the Utkal Sahitya Samaj Chakradhar Mahapatra presented a paper on the
real birth-place of Gautam Buddha in a meeting. In the paper he had
stated-There are two inscriptions as yet on the birth-place of Gautam Buddha.
One was discovered in 1896 as a pillar inscription from Nepal Tarai. The other
was a stone inscription from Kapileswar of Bhubanswar in 1928.In the
Kapileswar stone inscription the name of the scribe and the term Parinirvana of
Buddha are present and Chakradhar Mahapatra taking the purport of the
stone inscription and other evidence into consideration had proved that Buddha
was born in the village of Kapileswar in Utkala.Pandit Binayak Mishra,Kalindi
Charan Panigrahi,Surya Narayana Das,Kahnu Charan Mohanty and Sridhar
Mahapatra had participated in this debate. Sridhar Mahapatra had even agreed to
provide fund for the publication of the views of Mahapatra in an English
article for wider circulation. The president of the meeting Manoranjan Das had
accepted this paper presentation by Mahapatra as a real memorial for the
Sahitya Samaj.(Samaj,April 7,1970,p.8)
2- On third May 1970 the first session of the Buddhist
Congregation was held in Kapileswar with Radhanath Rath,the editor of the
Samaj,as the president. The historian Kedarnath Mahapatra was the cheif guest
and Chakradhar Mahapatra was the cheif speaker. The president Rath
had stated-It is not wise and proper to avoid the issue of the birth of Buddha
in Kapileswar. It is also not proper to accept it without proper
consideration.Its real research is necessary. In the meeting Chakradhar
Mahapatra had given evidence for the birth of Buddha in Kapileswar. On
this issue Kedarnath Mahapatra had stated-The arguments of Chakradhar Mahapatra
need considerable attention. Hence in this zone archaeological excavation is
very necessary for the justification of the view on the birth-place of
Buddha in Utkala.(Samaj,May 6,1970)
3- On 25th may 1970 on the
occasion of the Buddha Jayanti there was a great meeting in Cuttack
Town hall
The views presented by Chakradhar
Mahapatra on the birth-place of Buddha in Kapileswar at diffefrent platforms
were then supported by Sudhakara Pattnaik,Radhanath Rath,the editor of
Matrubhumi,Professor Manmathanath Das and even Kedarnath Mahapatra who was a
strong contester of this view in 1928.But the great historian and archaeologist
Professor Krushna Chandra Panigrahi and Harekrishna Mahatab both strongly
contested this view.Mahatab on 21st may 1970 on the occasion of the Buddha
Jayanti in a meeting at Bauddha Vihar in Bhubaneswar delivered a speech and
said-It is unfortunate that some people are expressing baseless and
irrational opinion on the issue of the birth-place of Buddha.(Prajatantra,May22,1970)On
the issue of the birth-place of Buddha Panigrahi had strongly supported the
view that Kapileswar of Bhubaneswar could not be the birth-place of Buddha. He
further contended that if it was so the Buddhists of the world every year would
have come to Kapileswar in stead of Lumbini. There is no lack of historical and
other related evidence to justify Lumbini as the birth-place of Buddha
The Kapileswar inscription was only a copy of the Ashokan inscription at
Lumbini and it was brought to Orissa from Lumbini by a Buddhist pilgrim
who had gone to visit Lumbini.(Anyatha,Samanvaya Mukhapatra,Rourkela,1971)
Chakradhar Mahapatra was
responsible in the 1970s for the spread of the view that Buddha was born in
Kapileswar and ultimately his views were incorporated in the form of a book in
English entitled The Real Birth-Place of Buddha which was published in 1977. In
that book he had presented an elaborate study on the birth-pace of
Buddha in Kapileswar and had given many arguments for the purpose. Some of his
arguments have been presented here for contestation.
1- Buddhadeva was born in a Sakya
village in the Lumbini region. Lumbini and Kapileswar were the parts of
Toshali. Still now we find the names and regions Lembai and Kapileswar in
Orissa.The stone inscription had been discovered from the Kapileswar village.
2- Ashoka constructed the
pillar in Kapilavastu where Buddha`s birth-rites were performed. But the forest
area where Buddha was really born,later on became famous as Bhubaneswar which
actually is one of the names of Buddha.Still this Bhubaneswar is present and
has now become the capital of Orissa.Buddha took birth 2540 years ago. It is
really surprising that even now one can notice the names of Deogan for
Devadaha,Kothadesh for Kola,Lembai for Lumbini,Kapileswar for Kapilavastu which
give sufficient proof that Buddha was born here.
3- As Buddha,after his
renouncement was accompanied by Chhandaka the groom(Sarathi),the Sakya king
Suddhodana named the village of Chhandaka as Chandaka which still exists .
4- Like the name Devadaha there
are Patiadaha,Chudangadaha,Amsupadaha.Deogan was previously Devadaha.
5- It is described in the Jataka
that Buddha adopted Sannyasa or asceticism on the bank of the river Anoma.Anoma
means An-Avam,i.e.,which is not a small one;so it is very great or the
Mahanadi,i.e.,Maha-great +nadi(river).In course of time the river
Anoma(anomanadi) was changed to Manada and then again it was called Mahanadi.
From Kapilavastu(Kapileswar) Buddha crossed the river Mahanadi
and went to Magadha
6- According to the last words of
Buddha,the Mallas were the possessor of his ashes and bones. A stupa was built
in his birth-place Kapilavastu and the ashes and bones were kept there. And the
Mallas migrated with their kins to worship the relics of Buddha there. It is
very amazing that the Mallas belonging to the Bashistha clan are still to be
seen in Kapileswar village of Orissa
7- Buddha accompanied by his
wife,son and some new disciples entered Magadha, after going through
Pipili(Paipilla,Nimapada(Nimvaputta),Gopa(Maitreya Vana afterwards Konakamana),Kakatapura(karkativana),Kujang,Paradwipa,Jambudwipa,Mahakalapada,Lalitagiri,
Ratnagiri,Udayagiri,Jajpur,Dhamnagar,Bhadrak,Anandpur,Keonjhar,Champua,Chainbasa
and Kharswan.Many stupas discovered in these places testify to the fact that
Buddha had followed this route.
In this way Chakradhar Mahapatra
by accepting the stone inscription from Kapileswar as the original inscription
of Ashoka,by identifying and accepting several places of Orissa with the sites
described in Buddhist Jatakas and Pitakas and by presenting vague arguments and
facts had accepted Kapileswar as the birth-place of Gautam Buddha. Any reader
who once goes through the text of Mahapatra will be convinced at once that his
conclusions are based on weak arguments and supported by references having no
historical reliability. Deeper regionalism and sub-nationalistic thought have
overshadowed his thesis. Vain arguments, and artificial ideas and unbridled
speculative statement do not help us in entering into the door of history. One
can imagine history ,but that can serve the purpose of a creative fellow. It
does not appeal to the historian having scientific ideas and fact. It is
interesting that even after the nationalistic phase of Orissa history is over
and has lost its relevance with the march of radical and scientific study of
the past,several well-known elites of Orissa have been moved by the views of
Mahapatra in the 21st century. Famous novelist in Oriya Santanu Acharya and
Ajit Kumar Tripathy,an IAS-two famous Oriyas having distinctiveness in their
career have now become the votary of this idea-the birth-place of Buddha in
Orissa. Ajit Kumar Tripathy,(former Chief Secretary of Orissa Administration),a
brilliant product of Utkala University,has totally accepted the views of
Mahapatra and strongly pleaded that Buddha was born in Orissa.Tripathy, a
benevolent administrator and a devotee of Orissan Culture and antiquities,has
several articles written in brilliant English and published in journals has
articulated this fact throughout the world.(Tripathy,2004:p,7-15)
Brilliant narratives but with no cogent historical arguments his focus cannot
stand before an impartial historical discourse. In this faster changing world
of scientific ideas and technological progress and particularly increasing
universalisation of ideas,the views of regionalism do not count
much.Propaganda thorough media and other communicative systems may help in the
progress of unscientific ideas for some days,but it will have no lasting effect
on the march of truth.Recently another historian P.K.Pattnaik in his text
entitled Gautam Buddha has accepted the views of Chakradhar Mahapatra on the
birth-place of Gautam Buddha in Orissa and there he described Kalinga as a
republic in Eastern India without understaning the Hatigumpha inscription of
Kharavela where Kalinga was described as a kingdom in the pre-Mahameghavahana
phase. (Pattnaik 2011) As a student of history I find no new arguments other
than that presented by Mahapatra which are now being used for claiming
Kapileswar as the birth-place of Buddha and so I would like to review the
arguments of Mahapatra for our context.My counter-arguments are in the
following;
1- Lumbini is not Lembai or Lembani. In
the medieval phase the names like Lembai and Sirai (Praganas) were well known in
their original names. Lembai Pragana is far away from Kapileswar village. It is
said that Gautam Buddha was born in the Lumbini garden
of Kapilavastu. Chakradhar Mahapatra
2- Another interesting argument of
Mahapatra is about Bhubaneswar.Bhubaneswar was so called because Buddha was
born in a forest which was called Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar Ganga kings in
Orissa.(Dash 1997) Hence there is no reliable historical evidence in
connecting Bhubaneswar
3- The name of the Charioteer of
Buddha was Chhandaka. Another interesting speculation of Mahapatra is the
change of the name of Chhandaka into Chandaka which now exists near Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar Ganga phase which has been stated in
literary texts and inscriptions. The name of a daughter of the Ganga
king Anangabhima III was Chandrika. Why should we not accept this Chandrika as
Chandaka of the present time? Chandrika Devi had constructed the temple
Ananta Bhubaneswar Ganga king Chodaganga are also included in the
present Chandaka forest area. Hence there is ground to connect this Chandaka
with Chandrika and most probably the area was under the control of Chandrika
Devi for which in course of time it was named as Chandaka.
4- The meaning of the river
Anoma is that which is not small.There is no reason here to identify it with
the river Mahanadi . That which is not small may not
necessarily mean that it is big. It may also be medium(neither big nor
small).Hence the identification of Anoma with Manada or Mahanadi
is based on an impossible speculation. Again the change of Anoma into Manada is
based on a strangely speculated conclusion. We do not get as yet any name like
this on Mahanadi .
5- The change of the Mallas of
Kusinagara into Maliyas is based on another irrational speculation. Chakradhar
Mahapatra has not presented the real history of the Maliyas and their
connection with Kapilavastu as stated by him is also a new history. In the
Kenduli grant of the Ganga king Narasimha IV of the Saka
year 1305(A.D.1383) there is a reference to the Malaye grama in which was
existed the temple of Kapileswar temple
of Kapileswar village of Malaye Ganga period. Hence there was no village called
Kapileswar in the Ganga phase. Possibly in the Malaya
grama the temple of Kapileswar Bhubaneswar Ganga
phase in Orissa. Kapileswar may represent the seat of Kapila-the famous Saiva
teacher. The temple was rebuilt during the time of the Suryavamsi king
Kapilendra Deva.From the existence of the village Malaye and the temple of
Kapileswar inside it in the Ganga phase we may safely argue that
Kapilavastu cannot be connected with it. Moreover Chakradhar Mahapatra did not
present the fact of the settlement of the Sakyas in the areas of Bhuabneswar.
Thus Kapileswar as a village came much after the Ganga
phase in Orissa. If we identify Pipili of Puri with Paipala,the name of Pipili
in Balasore needs more clarification from Chakradhar Mahapatra. Many have now
identified Pipili of Puri as Pirapalli. It came into existence in Orissa after
the Muslim conquest in 1568.
Chakradhar Mahapatra has thus
used many weak arguments and entered into strange speculation for
establishing the homeland of Gautama Buddha in Orissa. There is definite lack
of reliable historical document(fact) in support of his thesis.
We can present here many
other arguments and views for contesting the theory that Buddha was born
in Kapileswar of Bhubaneswar.
1- Archaeologists have discovered
reliable remains on the Sakyas of Kapilavastu in Piprahwa. More than forty
seals belonging to the Kapilava(vaa)stu bhikshu-sangha(Community of Buddhist
monks of Kapilavastu living in the Devaputra vihar ) which seems to have been a
monastery named after the Kushan king Kanishka have been unearthed at
Piprahwa.(Srivastava 2006:207-212)Such archaeological remains are not available
in Kapileswar of Bhuabneswar.
2- If we accept Kapileswar of
Bhubaneswar as a part of Toshali,the theory of the birth-place of Gautam
Buddha either in Kalinga conquered by Ashoka or in Toshali under his direct
administration is based on a strange and unwarranted speculation. We have not
found this fact in any historical record or data. Because the Sakya
republic did not exist either in Kalinga or Toshali. Were the officers of
Ashoka ignorant about Kapileswar-the claimed birth-place of Gautam Buddha
when they had placed two Special Edicts at Dhauli and Jaugada? Ashoka himself
visited Kapilavastu in the 20th year of his coronation. Were the Buddhists also
ignorant about the real existence of Kapilavastu-the birthplace of Buddha
during the time of Ashoka. If Toshali was well known as the homeland of
Buddha before Ashoka Ashoka must have started to preach Buddhism first from
this area. But we find the placement of two Special Rock Edicts in this area
years after the placement of 14 Major Rock Edicts in the different areas
in India India kingdom
of Kalinga
3- We can also accept the
accounts of the two Chinese pilgrims-Fa Hian and Hieuen Tsang for locating the
birth-place of Gautam Buddha. According to Hieuen Tsang-To the north of the
town is a stupa which contains relics of the entire body of Kashyapa Buddha.But
these were built by Ashoka Raja. From this point going south east 500 li or so
we came to the country of Kapilavastu. From this it is clear that Kapilavastu
was situated at a distance of 500 li in the south-east from Sravasti.Cunningham
states-From Sravasti both of the Chinese pilgrims proceeded direct to Kapila
which was famous throughout India Himalayas was clearly stated. This confusing
identification is an expression of potent regionalism and betrays
all geographical description of India
4- Buddha was born in the Sakya
clan.The Sakyavamsa,Suryavamsa,Ikshvakuvamsa are all related to one another.
Suryavamsis belonged to Ayodhya. Ayodhya was connected with Kosala.Kapilavastu
was under this Kosala kingdom as a feudatory zone. It is said that this state
was formed by the command of Kapila for which it was well known as Kapilavastu.
According to Buddhist scripture it was a part of Jambudvipa.It was also called
Majjhima desa or Madhya desa. In the east of this Madhya desa there was
Kapingala, then Mahasala and in the south-east there was the river Salalavati.
The Majjhimadesha of Jambudvipa cannot be Kapileswar of Bhubaneswar. There were
small states near Kapilavastu and they were
Kusinara,Veshali,Alavapa,Ramagrama,Pava and Pippalivana. Can we locate these
areas near Kapileswar of Bhubaneswar? The Buddhist literature describes about
Kolanagara and the Koliyas in detail. Rama, the king of Varanasi
5- The inscription of Kapileswar
does not help us in the location of the birth-place of Buddha in Orissa.Both
Rama Prasad Chand and D.C. Sircar have accepted this inscription as a
forgery.D.C.Sircar had deciphered the inscription and had consulted all
previous readings on it. In his famous book entitled Indian Epigraphy in the
Appendix section containing Spurious Epigraphs there is a discussion on this
inscription. He stated that a modern writer after going through the Rummindei
inscription and the book containing old scripts published in 1928
imitated the Nepal Tarai version and prepared a new copy of it. Even Nirmal
Kumar Bose in his death-bed had declared the making of this Kapileswar
inscription which was a forgery according to his view.(Pattnaik
2002;Mishra2004;Mahanty 1976)There are additions in the Kapileswar inscription
which are not found in the Lumbini copy and this casts doubt on its
genuineness.Although Mitra has accepted the Kapileswar copy as one of the
possible additional records at Lumbini, there is still doubt on the
authenticity of the copy version. What was the need of a stone version instead
of a pillar version? It also indicates that the scribe could not find a pillar
to inscribe and stone slabs were easily available for inscription. Even
if we accept the theory of Mitra we cannot safely accept it as a copy of the
time of Ashoka. Thus this inscription does not help us in the location of the
birth-place of Buddha in Kapileswar of Bhubaneswar.
These arguments are enough to
contest the view that Buddha was born in Kapileswar of Bhubaneswar. In
his recent focus entitled Essays on Orissan Society James M.Freeman has
come to this conclusion and has gladly shared my views that Buddha was not born
at Kapileswar of Bhuabneswar.(Freeman 2009) Still more interesting is the view
of Chittaranjan Das in his insightful focus in Oriya in October 2010. (Das
2010:521-530) Chittaranjan Das has aptly stated that such a claim of the
people(Orissa as the homeland of Buddha) may be interesting in the so called
nationalist phase and that it may bring cheep happiness(Sahaja Ullasa) leading
them to some unknown side. By this claim, as stated by Das, the real message of
Buddha for the world has been neglected. Such a claim is definitely intended to
make ourselves great and is a passion which ignores the real message of Buddha
to the world at large. Thus the main contention of Chittaranjan Das in his
focus is not to be serious or emotional for the homeland of Buddha in some
definite corners of the world (like Orissa) on the basis of some evidence, but
to be serious with his message which was meant for all people of this world. He
also stated that this claim (Buddha`s birth-place in Orissa) is a lofty
laughter for some years in Orissa and it is not an indication of cultural
progress.
In the field of research
particularly in the historical and archaeological spheres artificial sources are
being largely used in Orissa and there is no systematic effort to end
such process. Some newspapers in Orissa do not ponder over the fake documents
and being excited by their sudden discovery make them the highlights. In the
colonial phase and also in the post-colonial phase the use of fake documents on
the Orissa History was supported by many elites of Orissa. But this type of
discovery and research do not help in unraveling the dark past of Orissa; on
the other hand it destroys scientific temper of history. The location of the
birth-place of Gautama Buddha in Orissa may be an interesting news for the
enthusiastic Oriyas, but considering the vastness of original sources in
favour of the location in Nepal Tarai or Piprahwa the location of the
birth-place of Buddha in Kapileswar of Bhubaneswar seems only a regional
adventure and is not based on real discovery of reliable documentary
evidence and research.
References
1. Board of Revenue Section,Bihar Orissa Files,Orissa State
Archives,Bhubaneswar,Acc.No- 8125,1928,Acc.No.8126,9186.
2. Pati Bhagaban,”Buddhadeva Utkaliya?”,Utkala Dipika,July 21
and September-1,1928.
3. Deba Jalandhar,”The Birth-place of Buddhadeva”(in Oriya),Utkala
Sahitya,Vol.XXXV,No-IV,Shravana,Shala-1338,p.146-157.
4. Rajaguru,Satyanarayana,”Odishare Bauddhadharmara
Mahatmya”(The Significance of Buddhism in Orissa),Utkala Sahitya,Vol.XXXV,No-II,Jyeshta,Shala-1338,p.61.
5. Mahapatra,kedarnath,”Buddhadevanka Janmasthana”(The
Birth-place of Buddhadeva),Sahakara,Vol-XIII,No-IV,p.361-364.
6. Mitra,S.N.,”The Lumbini Pilgrimage Record in Two
Inscriptions”,Indian Historical Quarterly,Vol.V,No-III and IV,1929,p.728-733.
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[This is a copyrighted material. Prior consent required for its reproduction or publication. The author is Reader in History at Binayak Acharya Government College, Brahmapur - 6 Orissa, India. It is an enlarged
and revised version of the address of the author in Oriya language in the
Bikalpa Sandhani Mancha,Bhubaneswar, for Paramananda Acharya Memorial speech
on the occasion of his birth anniversary on August 29,2004. The author has remained grateful
to the learned participants of the occasion at the Department of
Anthropology, Utkala University, Vanivihar for their evaluation of the issue and
to Birendra Nayak, Professor of Mathematics, Utkal University and the
co-ordinator of the programme for organising the occasion.]
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