Priyadarsi is from South India, in all possibility from Kolar fields of karnataka.
His all important edict recognizing the various provinces of his empire is issued from Suvarna giri, Kolar fieds, Karnanataka.
Kalinga or Orissa was a thriving kingdom of ancient trade.
They have adopted Buddhism perhaps from the times of Buddha. For eg., Vinaya pitttaka, composed before the times of Mauryans, represents Tapussa (or Tapassu) and Bhallika (or Bhalluka or Bhalliya), the two merchant brothers of Utkala as offering the Buddha rice cakes and lump of honey in the eighth week of his enlightenment. The Ariguttara Nikaya commentary adds that the Buddha reciprocated by giving them eight handfuls of his hair which they subsequently enshrined in a magnificent caitya at Asitanjana.
Now, the latest excavations (November 2007) recognize that this is not a mere folktale but true. The scientists recognize that Asitnjana could be either Radhanagar (the ancient capital of Kalinga) or Tarapore, another site of excavations which revealed the names of Tapussu and Bhalliya. Several stupas of ancient origin are found in this region.
http://orissagov.nic.in/e-magazine/Orissareview/nov-2007/engpdf/Pages01-11.pdfAccording to the commentary of the Theragatha,
these two merchants also subsequently visited the Buddha at Rajagriha
and by that time Tapassu was renamed as Sotapanna and Devachikaupasaka,
and his name has been incorporated in the list of eminent upasakas of Lord Buddha. Bhallika, on the other hand, joined the Sangha and became an arhat. The Pujavaliya
text of Ceylon delineates that Tapassu and Bhallika after their
conversion visited the east coast of Sri Lanka, where they erected a
Chaitya to commemorate their visit. The
site where the merchant brothers reached in Ceylon might be identified
with Manthai harbour city, with which the ancient Oriya people had
tremendous maritime contact. The archaeological material of Radhanagara
has a striking similarity with the material found at Manthai harbour in
Sri Lanka i.e. Fine Grey Ware and Black Slipped Ware, Knobbed Bowls, or
Begging Bowls etc. Radhanagar (spelt as Rajnagar in 1929 Toposheet) is
situated in Jajpur district of Central Orissa.
(The contradicting references to these merchants belonging to North west or Burma can be laid to rest now)
After the demise of the Master, one of the tooth relics of Buddha was carried to Dantapura (this might be a later names as Danta means tooth) to be enshrined in a caitya therein. This information is supplied by Dathadhatuvamsa and Buddhavamsa.
The ancient text of Buddhists, The Mahcattarisaka Sutta of the Majjahimanikaya speaks of two tribes of Utkala (Orissa) named Vassa and Bhanna as renouncing their earlier faith in Ahetu vada, Akritya vada and Nastika vada in favor of Buddhism.
As per Chinese sources, Buddha had lauded Orissa as one of the twelve suitable places for the attainment of perfection.
That Buddhism has received the royal patronage is given in Kalingabodhi Jataka referring to Kalinga II, who has paid reverential honor to the Bodhi tree at Uruvela near Gaya for seven days.
the above liturgical and archaeological evidence amply proves that the Orissa was not only flourishing commercially, especially in maritime trade, but also was traditionally Buddhist in religion.
It is also evident that Kalinga was forming the connection between south and north. All the important trade routes between south India and north India have been developed through Kalinga.
An ambitous king like Priyadarsi naturally would want to control this trade route. Hence, the conquest of Kalinga.
It is here that Priyadarsi came into contact with Buddhism. In all probability, he must have seen how obedient and controlled the Kalingan army was, even in the face of a fatal defeat. In other words, he has seen how religion can be used to control masses, to command their total surrender and loyalty. Thus he has cooked up the story of his remorse and presented it all over his empire, which in fact, according to Taranatha, was acquired only after the conquest of Kalinga (Obviously, he grew quite powerful with the commercial support offered by Kalinga) While he has not converted to Buddhism at the time of Kalinga war , though he was genuinely respecting it, was clear from his edicts, there is an aspect to be considered here.
How true was his remorse? We can say his remorse was entirely false and was a tool invented by him to control the masses using religion is amply evident in two ways :
1. That he has carried further conquests as evidenced by Taranatha
2. That he has erected his story of remorse all over India but not in Kalinga, which clearly shows that he has not converted his so called remorse into action, atleast in Kalinga In fact, he must have seen Kalinga as a milch cow for his further conquests
In fact, he did not free Kalinga from his sovereignty and it was continued to be under his regent Tussa, as the excavations reveal.
Kishore patnaik