ཨུ་རྒྱན་Kingdom of Oḍḍiyāna in Swat Valley
The Life of Tilopa and Oḍḍiyāna
A dakini in the form of a young lady giving gifts and advising Tilopa to visit the land of Uddiyana in order to receive secret tantric teachings. Tilopa shares the advice provided by the dakini with his parents. His parents recall all the past predictions from similar Dakinis that went well in favor of Tilopa. He left for Oḍḍiyāna with gifts that he received.
The life of Tilopa was written in a language which seems difficult for the translators and writers as it is obviously a great task for contemporary modern Tibetans to comprehend.
Uddiyana is considered as a realm, much like a buddha realm or field where only fortunate people can visit. In fact, there are five holy places like this known as “The Five Vajrayana or Tantrayana Sources,” places where Vajrayana teachings were preserved and taught. The geographical indication of this mystical land lies somewhere in what was once known to many scholars as Gandhara/Gandharva, according to some significant texts, and now present day comprises the regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
A 5 CE. Hephthalite coin was found which marks the reign of King Lakhana “aditya” of Udyana/ Oḍḍiyāna. Scholars of China and India have visited Uddiyana in order to learn Tantrayana. Tibetan texts simply explain that Oddiyana was a kingdom that lay to the northwest of the Indian subcontinent, presently consisting north of Peshawar, exactly in Swat Valley. Hiuen Tsang’s references suggests that the name probably covered southern region of the Hindu-Kush Mountains, extending from Indus to Chitral.
Uddiyana was the mediator for injecting Persian concepts into Bön, while transmitting Kashmir Shaiva-teachings into Tibetan Buddhism, and combined early Mahayana of India with Tantric teachings and aspects of folk religion, a mixture that shaped Vajrayana in Tibet
Vivien de St. Martin’s map (Pelerins Bouddhistes, II.) represents Oḍḍiyāna. Fahian regarded it as the most northernly Province of India. The food and clothing were similar to Gangetic plains of India. It was the native country of Padma Sambhava – one of the chief apostles of Tibetan Buddhism. The Sakya doctrines were already present in Udyana, which was probably with Shaiva traditions provided a classic ground for witchcraft and sorcery.
Tao-lin (a Buddhist monk like Hiuen Tsang) later left the western region and visited northern portion of the Indian Subcontinent. Tao-lin went on a pilgrimage to Kia-che-mi-louo or Kashmir from where he went to U-ch’ang-na (The kingdom of Udyana).
- Sanskrit – उद्यान/Uddiyana / Oddiyana
- Tibetan – ཨུ་རྒྱན་ / u rgyan / o rgyan / Urgyen / Orgyan;
- Chinese – 烏萇
(Ed. Chavannes, I-tsing, p. 105.) H. C.)