Buddhism under the Gajapati dynasty

[Full title: Political and Religious History of Orissa (16): Buddhism under the Gajapati’s]

The Gangs were succeeded by the Gagapatis and during this period Buddhism didn’t get any royal patronage and very little information is available about the condition of Buddhism in the state. According to a tradition recorded by A. Sterling (1904:80-81), Pratprudradeva (1497-1540 CE) of this dynasty, who was inclined towards the Buddhist earlier, turned hostile later under the influence of his queen, who was a ardent supporter of the Brahmans and became a persecutor of the Buddhist. According to the tradition, “a robbery took place in the Kings palace and that Prataprudra Deva being anxious to discover the perpetrators, called together the wise men, both of the Buddhist and the Brahmanas, to identify the culprit. The Brahmins failed to tell anything, but the Buddhist’s, were able to point out both the offender and the place where the stolen property was concealed.

The king was impressed with the skills of the Buddhists and he became a warm supporter of the Buddhists for a short period as later on under the influence of his queen who was a devout Hindu, convinced him for another formal trial of their relative skills as men of science or rather magicians. Accordingly, a snake was secretly put into an earthen jar, the mouth of which being covered up, the vessel was produced in a great assembly at the palace. Both the parties were then asked what the jar contained. The Buddhist monks correctly diagnosed that it was a snake. But the Brahmins, through their magical power, burnt the snake into ashes and said that there were ashes inside the pot and sure enough when opened it was found to contain nothing but ash. This instance entirely changed the kings opinion, and he now became as violent against the Buddhists as he had been before prejudiced in their favour. He not only withdrew his protection but violently expelled the whole sect from his dominion and destroyed all their books except the pothis called the Amarsingh and Birsingh”.

The Gajapatis during the reign of Prataprudradeva saw the rise of Vaishnavism under Sri Chaitanya, who is said to have left an indefinable mark on the king in general and the country (Orissa) in particular (Mitra 1978:19). It is said that some of these Buddhists were killed and others ran away to the forests and hilly terrains belonging to the vassal chiefs^[1]. This tradition also speaks that the followers of Buddha continued to form a sect of importance in this part of India until the beginning of the sixteenth century.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

They had to live secretly among the lower caste people and cultivators. In the process, they had to adopt other ways of life and they lost touch with one another. Some of them lost their identity completely. For a long time they did not care to know the whereabouts of their brethren. Only much later, when there was a feeling of safety, they mobilized themselves to re-establish their identity.