The Religious History of Odisha in the Writing of Prof. N.K. Sahu
Author : Dr. Sumitab Nayak
Abstract :
From the ancient times, Odisha has become the cradle of many religious faiths. This land witnessed the growth of various religions like Jainism, Buddhism, Saivism, Shaktiism, etc. Professor Nabin Kumar Sahu provided a thorough analysis of not just the secular history of Odisha but also the religious history of the region. His book ‘Buddhism in Orissa’, which was published by Utkal University in 1958 under the programme of the University Grant Commission, is the updated version of N.K. Sahu's Ph.D. thesis. It is also one of the rarest of rare works that he produced throughout his lifetime. The book is valuable not only for its scholarly exposition of the origin and development of the Hinayana, Mahayana, Tantrayana, and Yogayana systems of Buddhism, but also for its very interesting accounting of Tibet's cultural indebtedness to Odisha. Both of these aspects contribute to the book's overall value. The insightful and reliable comments made by Nalinaksha Dutt, a professor of Pali at the University of Calcutta, have contributed to the improvement of the work. Because of the work that he has done, Professor Sahu has been given the opportunity to study several extremely rare Buddhist manuscripts. I have tried to attempt to analized and go into depth below as a researcher who relies only on facts and evidence rather than bias or belief.
Keywords :
Buddhism, religious, history, Odisha, okra, Kalinga, and Utkal
