Early History of Orissa

SR No.: 006922
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Amarchand Mittal
Publisher: Jain Cultural Research Society
Publication Year: 1957
Total Pages: 506
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 9 MB

Page 136

TRADITIONAL HISTORY OF KALINGA
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Kalinga is referred to more than once in the Mahāvastul as an important kingdom. Reņu, son of king Disampati of Kalinga, was once compelled at the instigation of Mahāgovinda--the son of the family priest, to cede the six provinces of his father's empire viz., Kalinga, Pattana, Māheśavati, Vārāṇasi, Roruka and Mithila to the refractory nobles. Brahmadatta, a wicked king, once reigned in Kalinga. He used to have Brāhmaṇas and Ŝramaņas invited to his palace and then get then devoured by wild animals. Dealing with a previous birth-story of the three Kasyapa brothers, who are counted among the first converts and disciples of the Buddha, the Mahāvastu' relates how they were born in previous birth as three half-brothers of the previous Buddha Pushpa (or Pushya), and reigned together amicably in the city of Simhapura in Kalinga. Dantapura, which is also referred to by Hieun Tsang in the seventh Century A.D., was probably one of the capital cities of Kalinga, where ruled a king by name Nalikala at that time. The alphabet of the Kalinga country is referred to in the Lalitavistara as having been mastered by the Bodhisattva. The Bodhisattva-Avadāna Kalpalatā mentions a country named Khaņdadīpa burnt by the king of Kalinga, The country of Kalinga was noted for its manufacture of fine muslins.?
A later tradition states that after the Buddha's death, a Tooth was taken from among his Relics and
1. III, pp. 204 f. 2. III, p. 361. 3. III, pp. 432-3. 4. JII, p. 361. 5. pp. 125-6. 6. VIII, p. 27.
7. Cosmos de Koros-Asiatic Researches, XX, pp. 85 & 317; Cunningham, AGI, p. 519.
8. Buddhavamsa, XXVIII, p. 6.