33* Notices of Orisa in the Early Records of Tibet. 



By Rat Sarat Chandra Das^ Bahadur, CLE. 



Nagarjuna, the reputed founder of the Mahay ana school 

 of Buddhism (well known by the name Siddha Nagarjuna in the 

 Sanskrit medical works of India) is said to have enclosed the 

 great Caitya-temple of Dhanya Kataka [heap of unhusked rice] 

 by building a wall round it. He also built one hundred shrines 

 (devalaya) inside that enclosuie. 



When the grandson of Emperor Afoka named Mahapadma 

 was reigning in Magadha, a rich Brahman of Orisa named Ghapa 

 became a convert to Buddhism. Under inspiration from gods 

 received in dreams, heserved the Buddhist congregation, consisting 

 of many thousand monks for a period of three years. It is said that, 

 in consequence of his devotion to Buddhism, the gods had showered 

 precious stones on his house, which enabled him to daily feed a 

 hundred thousand beggars (p. 81 Pagsam Jonzan). 



In later times, long after the death of king Mahapadma the 

 son of Nanda, there reigned in Orisa a king named Candra 

 Palita. In his residence the Bodhisattva Manja f'ri, in the guise 

 of a Brahmana, used to pay visits and preach the Mahay ana 

 doctrine of Buddhism. Here that Brahmana left a volume of the 

 scriptures of the Mahayana school. It was about this time that 

 Kaniska, king of Jvalandhia had imbibed faith in Buddhism, by 

 hearing discourses on its sublime tenets from the sage Sudar9ana 

 (the junior). Hearing that Siipha, king of Kashmir, had taken the 

 vows of Renunciation, he visited Kashmir and occupied it. Here 

 he patronized Buddhism and heard religious discourses from some 

 of the great masters of that religion (p. 82j. 



Orisa was variously called by the names Otivisa, Otvisa, Otti- 

 sthana, Dhaua prl-dvlpa, Dhana (Jii-bhumi, etc. In Tibetan, it is 



translated by the term ^^ ^^ ] Do-ding " the one soaring on 

 high." In the work Pagsam Jonzaft which was compiled from the 



work called Deb-ther non-po ^^ ^^"^^ ^ (the ancient records 



of Tibet), it is stated that fridhanya Kataka was a holy place 

 in the country of Dhana firi (p. 99^. In the same work it is 

 further mentioned that Candra Gomi, the author of Candra 



