Udiana[1] (also:Uḍḍiyāna,Uḍḍāyāna,Udyāna or 'Oḍḍiyāna'),[a] a small region in earlymedieval India, is ascribed importance in the development and dissemination ofVajrayāna Buddhism.[3][4][5]Tibetan Buddhist traditions view it as aBeyul (Tibetan: སྦས་ཡུལ, Wylie: sbas-yul), a legendary heavenly place inaccessible to ordinary mortals.Padmasambhava, the eighth-century Buddhist master who was instrumental in theintroduction of Buddhism to Tibet, was believed to have been born in Oddiyana.[6] TheDzogchenSiddhaGarab Dorje is likewise attributed to this region.
It is ascribed importance in the development and dissemination ofVajrayāna Buddhism. The region was also an important place for the practice ofŚaivite Hinduism. It is seen as the homeland of the Mahārtha (aka KramaKalikula) lineage of ŚaivaTantra. The first Mahārtha Siddha, Jñānanetra Nātha, is said to have awakened and taught in this country.[7] It was also called as “the paradise of theḌākinīs”.[8]
Many Western scholars have identified it as theSwat Valley in what is nowKhyber Pakhtunkhwa inPakistan.Laurence Waddell,Sylvain Lévi,Giuseppe Tucci, andPrabodh Chandra Bagchi have shown that the Tibetan nameUrgyan and the Chinese nameWutch'ang correspond to Uddiyana which is identical with the modern-day Swat Valley.[3]Alexis Sanderson revisited the issue of the location, taking note of the various far-flung locations that have been identified with Oddiyana at different times and by different sources.[4][5] He came to the conclusion, drawn from his careful examination of a variety of old textual citations, that it was located nearKashmir, accepting the modern-day Swat as the probable epicentre of a historical Oddiyana.[3][4][5]
Udyāna (Sanskrit "garden, orchard") is sometimes reported as being located north ofPeshawar along theSwat River; it was regarded as the furthest part of northern ancient India during the time ofFaxian.[9] The 8th century Korean monkHye Cho wrote in hisMemoir of the travel to the five Indian regions that after visitingGandhara, he went directly north, entered the mountains and after travelling for three days, arrived in Udyana (locally called Oddiyana), a mountainous Buddhist region. From Udyana, he travelled northeast for fifteen days and reachedChitral. Faxian stated that the food and clothing worn by those in Udyana were similar to those residing in theIndo-Gangetic Plain.[9]
The area is said to have supported some 500viharas of theSthavira Nikāya, at which traveling monks were provided lodgings and food for three days. It was said to contain aBuddha footprint, a rock on which he dried his clothes, and a locale where he converted anāga. It is said that two schools derived from the Sthavira nikāya, theDharmaguptaka andKāśyapīya, were established in this area.[10] Both of these schools had proto-Mahayana doctrines.[11]
While the 6th to 8th centuryGardez Ganesh offers a memorial inscription, toTurk Shahis kingKhingala of Oddiyana.[12]
The followingHindu Shahis are believed to belong to the Uḍi/Oḍi tribe, namely the people of Oddiyana whose rulers were already known at the time of theKushan Empire (3rd century CE) and are recorded as early as the 4th century BCE.[13][14]
An alternate theory places its location in what is now the modernIndian state ofOdisha,[16][6] through a case founded upon "literary, archeological and iconographic evidence". Scholars championing this location contend that the name Oḍḍiyāna derives from theDravidianOṭṭiyan, denoting a native or indigenous person ofOḍra ("Odisha") or fromOṭṭiyam,Telugu forOḍra.Oḍḍiyāna is also theMiddle Indic form ofUdyāna "garden," the name by whichXuanzang knew the region around Odisha.[17]
Confusion about the identity of Oddiyana is conflated with confusion about the identity ofIndrabhuti as Donaldson (2001: p. 11) observes:
In his argument, P. C. Bagchi states that there are two distinct series of names in Tibetan: (1) O-rgyān, U-rgyān, O-ḍi-yā-na, and (2) O-ḍi-vi-śā, with the first series connected with Indrabhūti, i.e., Oḍiyăna and Uḍḍiyāna, while the second series falls back on Oḍi and Oḍiviśa, i.e., Uḍra (Odisha) and has nothing to do with Indrabhūti. N.K. Sahu objects, however, and points out that these two sets of names are seldom distinguished in Buddhist Tantra literature, and opines that the words Oḍa, Oḍra, Uḍra, Oḍiviśa and Oḍiyāna are all used as variants of Uḍḍiyāna. In theSādhanamālā, he further points out, Uḍḍiyāna is also spelt as Oḍrayāna while in theKālikā Purāṇa, as indicated earlier, it is spelt either Uḍḍiyāna or Oḍra. There is also evidence, Sahu continues, that Indrabhūti is the king of Odisha rather than of the Swāt valley. TheCaturāsiti-siddha-Pravṛtti, for example, mentions him as the king of Oḍiviśa while Cordier, in hisBṣtān-ḥgyur catalogue, gives sufficient indications of his being the king of Orissa. Also, in his famous workJñānasiddhi, kingIndrabhūti opens it with an invocation to LordJagannātha, a deity intimately associated with Odisha and with no other area of India.[18]
Arguments contending this stand have also been put forward.[3] But this is improbable; the Chinese sources refer to Odisha asWu-T'u orOta orWu-cha, while the Tibetans refer to Orissa asOdivisa which must be different fromUrgyan orWu-chang.[3] Moreover, Odisha became a centre of Täntrika Buddhism after the 7th century A.D., while the Swat Valley was a centre of Tantric Buddhism long before 700 A.D.[3]
In ancient Indian literature the extreme north-western region of the country, especially Uddiyana,Gandhara,Kapisa andTushara, find frequent mention.[3] AKushan inscription mentions a monkJivaka Odiyanaka, being the earliest epigraphic reference to Uddiyana.[3] It is certainly not in Odisha or Odivisa. The Vihära of Huviska to which Jivaka Odiyanaka made gift of a pillar was in the north-west.[3] Xuanzang entered India from the north-west route and his biographer clearly locates Udyana's capital in North-West.[3] Faxian, who also came from that pass clearly says that Udyana lay in the north on theSwat River.[3]
Some scholars have identified Oddiyana with the region aroundIran or the "Near Middle East". This is based mainly on the travelogue of the 16th-century Indian Buddhist monk,Buddhaguptanātha, who identified Oddiyana with the city ofGhazni during his travels in the region in the 1530s. This identification was repeated byHerbert V. Günther who identifies Oddiyana withBactria and the surrounding region.[19][20] Gunther states Oddiyana to be the Sanskritised spelling of Urgyan and that the scholars of this region would have been exposed to ideas from other belief systems, includingGnosticism andManichaeism. Aspects ofGarab Dorje's biography (a native of Urgyan) mirror parts of the legend ofMoses andJesus. This region would have been inhabited by groups including theTocharians and theSogdians.[21]
John Reynolds suggests that "perhaps Uddiyana is actually a name of a much wider geographical area than the Swat Valley alone, one embracing parts ofPakistan,Afghanistan, and evenWestern Tibet (Zhang Zhung)."[22] While professorLokesh Chandra has argued that Oddiyana was located further inSouth India.[23]
Tibetan Buddhist traditions see Oḍḍiyāna as a source of many of their tantric teachings. It is seen as having been a land where Buddhist tantra flourished. Many lineages of Tibetan Buddhism are traced to this region, including Dzogchen (which began with the great siddhaGarab Dorje). A number of Vajrayana andtantric practitioners are said to have stayed and practiced there. The first Vajrayana teachings were supposedly given there byGautama Buddha at the request of the king.[24] According toDudjom Rinpoche, theMahayoga and Anuyoga tantras were first revealed in Oḍḍiyāna.[25]
In Tibetan Buddhist literature,Oḍḍiyāna is described as being ruled by several kings each of whom were namedIndrabhūti.[6]
Oḍḍiyāna is also often conflated or identified withShambhala, a magical hidden land (beyul) land inhabited byḍākinīs and inaccessible to or by ordinary mortals.[26]
In the 'Seven Line Prayer' (ofPadmasambhava) revealed in Jigme Lingpa's terma of theNgöndro of theLongchen Nyingthig and throughout the Longchen Nyingtig Ngondro, Oddiyana is rendered in the formTibetan:ཨོ་རྒྱན,Wylie:o rgyan.
उद्यान/ उद्-यान n. N. of a country in the north of India.
The Hindu Śāhis were therefore neither Bhattis, or Janjuas, nor Brahmans. They were simply Uḍis/Oḍis. It can now be seen that the term Hindu Śāhi is a misnomer and, based as it is merely upon religious discrimination, should be discarded and forgotten. The correct name is Uḍi or Oḍi Śāhi dynasty.
Rehman (2002: 41) makes a good case for calling the Hindu Śāhis by a more accurate name, "Uḍi Śāhis".
One writer has recently made a renewed attempt to identify Uḍḍiyāna with Orissa which he regards as the "cradle of Tāntrika Buddhism". But this is improbable; the Chinese sources refer to Orissa as Wu-T'u or Ota or Wu-Cha, while the Tibetans refer to Orissa as Oḍivisa which must be different from Urgyan or Wu-Chang. Moreover, Orissa became a centre of Tāntrika Buddhism after the 7th century A.D.