Ratnagiri (meaning "hill of jewels") is the site of a ruined mahavihara, once the major

Buddhist monastery in modern Odisha, India. It is located on a hill in between the

Brahmani and Birupa rivers in Jajpur district. It is close to other Buddhist sites in the
area, including Lalitagiri and Udayagiri, and 100 km (62 mi) from the state capital
Bhubaneswar.
The Buddhist monuments were constructed from the 5th century CE onwards, with the
last work in the 13th century, and the peak period of work done between about the 7th to
10th centuries. After perhaps the 16th century the site ceased to be used and fell into
ruins. These were little known until the 1960s when major campaigns of excavations by
the Archaeological Survey of India ("ASI") revealed the site, producing large quantities of
very fine sculpture. Monastery 1 has been described as "the finest in terms of carved
stone decoration to have survived in India". Some of this was removed to museums
elsewhere, with much left on site. A museum at the site has recently been opened to
house many pieces.
The main elements were an impressive stupa (Stupa 1) surrounded by several hundred
smaller stupas of varying dimensions, three quadrangular monasteries (Monasteries 1 to
3). Monastery 1 is much the largest, with a beautiful carved doorway, spacious open
courtyard, cells and verandah facing the courtyard with spacious shrine centred on a
colossal Buddha.
The buildings are mainly in brick (much of which has now been removed), but the
doorways, pillars and sculpture are mostly in two types of stone, which contrast
attractively. These are a "blue-green chlorite and the local khondalite, a garniferous
gneiss with plum-coloured overtones”. The large numbers of sculptures in stone, with a
few (27) bronze and brass figures, excavated at the site are mostly in the "Post-Gupta"
style, the earlier ones continuing the classic style of Gupta art. They are mostly images of
Buddha and the Buddhist pantheon, and analysis of the trends in subjects over time
suggests that Ratnagiri turned to become a centre of Tantric Buddhism, as did Nalanda in
Bihar. In particular, over two dozen colossal Buddha heads have been found.

Remains

Monastery 1 is much the largest of the three monasteries, with an overall size of 55 square
metres, including 21 square metres for the paved central courtyard. It had at least two storeys,
but everything above the ground floor has now collapsed. There are 24 surviving cells on the
ground floor, relatively large and probably occupied by more than one monk. One was used as
the monastery treasury. They are windowless, and were fitted with wooden doors, and probably
locks. Across the courtyard from the entrance, which has two layers of porch, is the main shrine,
whose elaborately sculpted facade is now isolated in the courtyard. The main shrine image is a
colossal seated Buddha, 12 feet (3.7 m) high including the base, flanked by smaller standing
figures of Padmapani and Vajrapani holding chamaras. These are in chlorite, with the Buddha
carved in a number of horizontal sections.[8]
Monastery 1 was built in at least two major phases, the first dating to the late 8th century,[9] and
the second to the 11th or early 12th century;[10] Donaldson prefers the early 10th century for the
second phase.[11] The style of sculpture differs considerably between these, and scholars have
generally seen the later work as representing a decline in "both moral and artistic standards", as
the later work includes some erotic scenes.[12]
The main entrance to the monastery is through an elaborately carved chlorite doorway set back
from the main outside wall, which was faced with stone at a later stage than the original
construction. The frame was called by Mitra "the loveliest entrance to a structual monastery in
the whole of India".[13] It has three main zones, the innermost "an intricate
foliated arabesque pattern" with a thin vine stem undulating up it.[14] Next comes a zone with
stylized lotus petals, usually seen on curved surfaces, and "quite unique" as a flattened
pattern.[15] The outer side elements switch from green chlorite to red stone in mid-composition in
the large plant scroll inhabited by playing putti (gelabai), with some bodies half in one stone and
half in the other. Across the top lintel there was a relief of vidyadhara figures, of which only the
feet remain.[16] In the centre an inset guardian figure of Gaja-Laksmi, borrowed from the Hindu
pantheon, runs through two zones. At the bottom of the sides there are two panels each with four
richly but lightly dressed lay figures, one holding an umbrella. These are "door guardians" and
the innermost figures are large males leaning on clubs; however, the overall impression of the
groups is hardly intimidating.[17]

Around the entrance were a number of large relief panels of standing figures, several now
removed elsewhere. On the outside wall the only one left in place is the female figure (illustrated)
holding a flowering branch and making the varadamudra with her proper right hand. She is
perhaps a river goddess, or Marici.[18] In a niche inside the porch is an image of the river
goddess Yamuna in "sisterly cameraderie" with two smaller companions (illustrated below).
There was probably a matching Ganga panel on the other side, but this is now missing; the pair
are very common figures at the threshold of Buddhist and Hindu establishments.[19] Other
common figures in monasteries are pairs of Pancika (the Hindu Kubera) and his consort Hariti,
representing material and spiritual wealth at more than one level.[20] The style of these figures
demonstrates that they were made at the same period as the sculpture on the Baitala
Deula Hindu temple in Bhubaneswar, and it has been suggested that some individual sculptors
worked at both sites, "a lack of sectarian specialization" in builders and carvers in India being
very common.[21]
The monastery courtyard had a large verandah, now mostly vanished, probably giving an effect
and utility similar to the cloisters of European Christian monasteries. One part, with a central
doorway flanked on both sides by three niches, was exceptionally elaborate, and has been
reconstructed by the ASI, replacing missing elements with matching shaped but undecorated
stone blocks. This was a later addition, called by Reichle the "third facade to rear shrine". The
carving includes numerous small figures, often now hard to identify. This now stands alone in the
courtyard, not quite in its original position.[22]
Monastery 2, next to Monastery 1 but much smaller, features a central paved courtyard flanked
by a pillared veranda around which are eighteen cells, a central shrine featuring an image of
Shakyamuni in Varada Mudra flanked by Brahma and Sakra, and elaborately ornamented
entrance porticos. It only had a single story.[23]
It may have been the first to be built, as Mitra dates the first construction to about the 5th century
(as opposed to the 8th for Monastery 1), with more building in the 7th and 11th centuries.[24]
Monastery 3 is on a small hillock to the north-west, and much smaller again, with only three cells
in a row, and a portico.[25]

Monastery 1 courtyard; the main stupa in the distance at left

Entrance to Monastery 1
 

Figure by entrance, Asokakanta-Marici.[26]

Vajrapani relief panel by entrance.[27]

Top-left corner of the scroll round the entrance; the lower boy shows the viewer his bottom
 

Colossal Buddha head, in Monastery 1

"Third facade to rear shrine", a later addition to Monastery 1.[28]

Side of the "third facade", showing an erotic scene (with no haircutting) and the plain shaped
restoration pieces.
 

Lion statue in front of Monastery 2.

Monastery 2 (right) from Monastery 1, the main stupa in the distanceStupas and
temples[edit]

Stump of main stupa, and smaller stupas

The main stupa dates to the 9th century and was likely built on the site of an earlier, Gupta-era
stupa. It is on the highest point in the site and has a square base, 47 feet (14 m) metres on each
side. The stupa is now 17 feet (5.2 m) high, but was originally a good deal higher, to an unknown
extent. There was a pathway between the plinth and outer wall for ritual pradakshina or
circumambulation;[29] this was a later addition.[30] Prominent, well-preserved standing statues of
the bodhisattvas Vajrapani and Padmapani can be found in niches in a portico.
The stupa is surrounded by large numbers of much smaller stupas, some four or more metres
high, but large numbers less than a metre. Most of the smaller ones show a seated deity figure in
a niche on one side, and many are decorated with lotus petals and beaded tassels around their
shaft.[31] These are mostly carved from a single piece of stone. Many Indian Buddhist sites have
some of these, but at Ratnagiri there are more than 700 of them in total, which is an
exceptionally large number, and they represent an exceptional range of deities, with 22 identified.
Some 535 of the total are found to the south-west to the main stupa.[32]
Most can be dated to between the 9th and 13th centuries, and were evidently made on or very
close to the site; some unfinished examples have been found, including those with the space for
the figure left blank, to be finished when the customer chose a deity. It is thought they served as
memorials and reliquaries for dead monks, and votive offerings by pilgrims.[33]
A total of 1386 clay seals were found, most bearing the legend Sri Ratnagiri Mahavihariya
Aryabikshu Sanghasya,[34] which helped to identify the name of Ratnagiri monastery.
One temple has been converted to Hindu use as the Dharma Mahakala temple; this was built
over an earlier stupa, and was moved to the side of the site and re-erected by the ASI. It contains
a Buddhist standing relief figure of Manjushri.[35] The later parts date to the 11th century.[36]

Rows of small stupas

A small votive stupa

Bases of minor stupas and temples

 

Middle-sized stupa in good condition

History[edit]

The river goddess Yamuna, rear wall of front porch.[37]

Ratnagiri was established no later than the reign of the Gupta king Narasimha Baladitya in the
first half of the sixth century, and flourished until the twelfth century. The main construction of the
surviving part of Monastery 1 was under the rule of the (mainly) Buddhist Bhauma-Kara dynasty,
whose capital was nearby at Jajpur, although no inscription records patronage at Ratnagiri by the
dynasty.[38]
A Tibetan history, the Pag Sam Jon Zang, identifies Ratnagiri as an important centre in the
development of the Kalachakratantra in the 10th century, an assertion supported by the
discovery of a number of votive stupas, plaques, and other artifacts
featuring Kalachakra imagery.[39] It was thought, with Lalitgiri and Udaigiri nearby, to be
the Pushpagiri Vihara mentioned by the 7th-century Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang, but this has
been thrown into doubt by the discovery in the 1990s of a previously unknown site in the area on
Langudi Hill, which may be Pushpagiri.[40]
The hundreds of small votive stupas at Ratnagiri suggest it was an important site for pilgrimage,
and it was very likely connected to the important trade networks of ancient Kalinga, which
stretched to South-East Asia.[41]
North-East India, Bengal and Odisha, was the last stronghold of Buddhism in India, though
greatly weakened by the Muslim invasions of the 12th century, which completely destroyed the
greatest centre in the region at Nalanda. By the end of the 13th century, Ratnagiri was in decline,
and new work ceases. Through no longer in an affluent condition the Buddhist establishment at
Ratnagiri is thought to have continued until about the 16th century,[42] during which there was a
"modest revival of structural activity", including a restoration of the main stupa.[43]
Unlike, for example, the Ajanta Caves, which were completely forgotten for centuries (except by
local villagers), the ruins of Ratnagiri were known about, and are briefly discussed in government
reports from the late 19th century onwards, with "brief articles by scholars" from the 1920s
onwards.[44] However, Debala Mitra records that when the main ASI excavation began in 1958,
the local people had lost all memory of the site as a religious foundation, and believed the
mounds had been the palace of a "mythical king", calling them "the queen's mound"
("Ranipukhuri").[45]
A large-scale excavation was conducted at the site by the ASI between 1958 and 1961,
uncovering most of what is known today. The report of these excavations was published by the
ASI (Mitra, 1981 and 1983). In this twenty year interval a thesis and article were
published.[46] There was a further ASI campaign in 1997–2004, which concentrated on moving the
temple which had been built over a stupa. The large amount of sculpture surviving has been
analysed in a number of publications.[47] Religious development[edit]

Pancika in second porch.[48]

The identification and iconography of the figures in sculpture at Ratnagiri have been the subject
of considerable analysis, although much remains uncertain. The exceptionally large number and
range of figures shown, above all on the small stupas, makes Ratnagiri an outstanding Indian
site for the study of Buddhist images.[49] An evolution of the prevailing religious thought has been
detected, reflected in the choice of images, and relating them to a wider range of Buddhist texts,
despite very little evidence as to what texts or practices were used or even known at Ratnagiri
itself.[50] The religious affiliations of the monastery probably changed over its long history, and it
seems it was often the case that different Buddhist traditions co-existed within a single
monastery.[51]
The "overwheming majority" of the sculpture can be grouped into two phases, the first dating to
the 8–9th centuries, dominated by imagery described as Mahayana by Donaldson, followed by a
second phase of the 10th and 11th centuries, with mainly Vajrayana choice of subjects and
imagery. However, some other scholars question these descriptions, seeing evidence of
Tantricism in the earlier phase as well. The issue revolves around the choice of deities, and the
form, aspect or just the pose and iconography in which they are depicted.[52]
The site features statues of Tara, Avalokiteshvara, Manjusri, Aparajita, Hariti and a range of
other bodhisattvas. Ratnagiri is notable for a larger proportion of female figures than other groups
of Buddhist sculpture, which has been connected with an increasing interest in esoteric forms of
Buddhism, though writers disagree over which traditions were involved.[53]
Sculptures now protected by a grille

Apart from the clay seals mentioned above, only three inscriptions of any significance have been
found at the site, all extracts from Buddhist texts, in two cases dealing with the rewards accruing
to those who erect stupas. One is carved on stone slabs, another written on terracotta plaques
before firing, and one engraved on the back of a sculpture.[54]
A growing number of images of "wrathful deities", that is, fierce "aspects" of
enlightened Buddhas, Bodhisattvas or Devas (divine beings), may be taken as evidence of a turn
towards esoteric Buddhism. Examples include Heruka.[55] Two small scenes, now difficult to
interpret, seem to show erotic activity combined with the cutting of hair.[56] These are very rare,
and may relate to the practice, described in some Hindu Tantric texts but no known Buddhist
ones, of offering both semen and cut hair to a deity (Kali especially). They are on the later
second and third facades to the main shrine room.[57]Museums[edit]
The Ratnagiri museum occupies a purpose-built modern building at the site. It has three storeys
and four galleries, with a range of objects found on the site on display. Three galleries mainly
feature stone sculpture, and the fourth bronze and ivory sculptures, terracottas, clay seals,
inscribed copper plates, and other finds.[58]
Other sculptures are "scattered in local villages", and several are in museums, including
the Patna Museum, Indian Museum, Kolkata, National Museum, New Delhi, and Odisha State
Museum in Bhubaneswar. The only holding outside India mentioned by Donaldson is a figure in
the Brooklyn Museum, New York.[59]

Colossal Buddha head, in the Ratnagiri Museum

 

Tara in the Patna Museum

Seated Buddha, 11th century, in Ratnagiri Museum

Crowned Buddha calling Earth, 11th century, in Patna Museum

 

Vajrapani relief panel

Detail of last

Relief panel
 

Seated Tara, minor figure from next photo (bottom left)

Statues in porch, Avalokiteshvara at centre.[60]

Relief "standing figure of Manjushri" in the Hindu temple.[61]