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Pushpagiri (; Pali: ''Puphagiri''), one of the earliest Buddhist viharas, was spread across Cuttack and Jajpur district, Odisha (ancient Kalinga) in the 3rd century CE flourished until the 11th century in India.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=The past comes alive in temples of Orissa )〕 Today, its ruins lie atop the ''Langudi'' hills, low hills about 90 km from the Mahanadi delta, in the Jajpur and Cuttack district in Odisha. The actual complex, spread across three hilltops, contained several stupas, monasteries, temples, and sculptures in the architectural style of the Gupta period. The ''Kelua'' river, a tributary of the ''Brahmani'' river of Odisha, which flows to the north east of Langudi hills, provided a picturesque background for the vihara. The entire vihara is distributed across three campuses on top of the three adjoining hills, Lalitgiri, Ratnagiri, and Udayagiri. ==History== Pushpagiri ranks as one of the primary institutions of higher learning in ancient India. The famous Chinese traveller Xuanzang (Hiuen Tsang) visited Pushpagiri in 639 CE, mentioning it as ''Pushpagiri Vihara'', along with Nalanda, Vikramashila and Takshashila.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=Orissa's treasures )〕 Pushpagiri was also recorded in medieval Tibetan texts. However, unlike Takshila and Nalanda, the ruins of Pushpagiri were not discovered until 1995, when a lecturer from a local college first stumbled upon the site.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=Great Heritages of Orissa )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=ASI hope for hill heritage – Conservation set to start at Orissa site )〕 The task of excavating Pushpagiri's ruins, stretching over of land, was undertaken by the Odisha Institute of Maritime and South East Asian Studies between 1996 and 2006. It is now being carried out by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=Archaeological Survey of India takes over Orissa Buddhist site )〕 The Nagarjunakonda inscriptions also describe this learning center.〔 As of 2007, the ruins of this vihara have not been fully excavated. Consequently, much of its history remains unknown. Of the three campuses, Lalitgiri, in the district of Cuttack, is the oldest. Iconographic analysis indicates that Lalitgiri had already been established during the Shunga period of the 2nd century BCE, making it one of the oldest Buddhist establishments in the world.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pushpagiri Vihara」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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