RELIGIOUS BACKGROUND OF RATNAGIRI, THE HILL OF JEWELS

Ratnagiri, the Hill of Jewels is one of the famous Buddhist establishments in India. It is situated in Bari block of modern Jajpur district in Odisha. This monastery like Nalanda, Takshashila and Vikramshila Mahavihara of ancient India disseminated spiritual knowledge of Buddist philosophy and culture. This site is regarded as a segment of Diamond Triangle comprised of Ratnagiri, Udayagiri and Lalitgiri of Odisha. Manmohan Chakravartti discovered this site in 1906. Many scholars, historians, Buddhist philosophers and monks visited this site. In 1958 Prof. Devala Mitra started exploring this centre undertaking excavations in three successive phases (1958-1961). From the excavations it is clear that this site was a Mahayana Bhuddhist centre. Lama Taranath states that Buddhapaksha, the last Gupta king built this Mahavihara. Eminent Acharya Pito was a yoga teacher here. In 7th century Hiuen Tsang visited Odra (Wucha). He says that many Mahayana Buddhist centres were there in Odisha and majority people followed this religion. In 8th century Bhaumakara rulers of Odisha patronized Mahayana Buddhism. During their reign this Mahavihara flourished to its zenith. By 9th century Mahayana Buddhism being influenced by Hinduism converted to Tantric Buddhism; Bajrayana. Ratnagiri became the main centre of Bajrayana till 12th century. Due to rapid growth of Vaisnavism under the Ganga rulers of Odisha, Buddhism gradually declined. Suryavanshi king Pratapdeva tried to root out this faith from Odisha. As a result this religion lost its ground and the popularity of Ratnagiri faded.