page_title: Ratnagiri, Odisha
section_title: Religious development
hierarchical_section_title: Ratnagiri, Odisha / Religious development
caption_attribution_description: English: Hill containing many valuable sculptures and images This is a photo of ASI monument number&#160; N-OR-11.
context_page_description: Ratnagiri 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 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 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 surrounded by several hundred smaller stupas of varying dimensions, three quadrangular monasteries.
context_section_description: 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.  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.  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.
  The "overwhelming 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.
  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.  
  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.
  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.  Two small scenes, now difficult to interpret, seem to show erotic activity combined with the cutting of hair.  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.
caption: Sculptures now protected by a grille
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