"The discovery of ninety-two bronze icons, majority of which are Buddhist from
Achutarajpur of Banpur in 1963 was rather unusual. Never before so may metal objects
conncected to Buddhism were found from any part of the state despite Odisha being an
important centre of Buddhism. It is rather strange that no scholar ever tried to study the
evolution of Buddhist images in the religion which started opposing idolatry. Though none
of the bronzes bear any name on its body, yet it can be suggested that all these belonged
to 7th-8th century AD when Odisha was an important centre of Buddhism. With dessention
creeping into the religion after Buddha's Nirvana, Buddhism virtually was divided on the
issues of ethics and metaphysical ritualistic doctrines. Both Hinayana and Mahayana agree
Buddha as Sakyamuni, being born to Mayadevi. While, Hinayan regards him as Progentior of
law and call him a man with extraordinary intellect, Mahayana portrayed him as a Divine
being. Thus the misogynistic religion turned into more flexible to accommodate female
divinities into the pantheon. This proxmity to female divinities gave birth to another
sect. Vajrayana-Tantrayana, The Banpur hoard contains images of Heruka, Vajrahunkara,
Kurukulla thus making it clear that it was centre of Vajtayana. These images make an
interesting study in the context of evolution of Buddhist deities."
[from
Blurb]
Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgement
1. Introduction
2. Buddha
3. Maitreya
4. Avalokitesvara
5. Manjusri
6. Vajrasattva
7. Appendix - 1 Bodhisattva
8. Female Divinities Prajaparamita and Tara
9. Hariti
10. Stupa
Selected Bibliography
Index
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