Scholars such as Stanislas Julien and Samuel Beal restored Pu-se-po-k'i-li as "Pushpagiri", and name of the country as Ota or "Udra".
[5] However, some other scholars, such as Dineshchandra Sircar and B. S. L. Hanumantha Rao, identify this "Puphagiri" with Pushpagiri Temple Complex in the present-day Cuddapah District of Andhra Pradesh.
[6][7] The 9th century Buddhist monk Prajna, after spending 18 years in various places including Nalanda, settled in an unnamed monastery of Wu-ch'a (identified with Odra), before going to China.
[11][12] Based on archaeological finds, K. C. Panigrahi (1961) hypothesized that Udayagiri, Lalitgiri and Ratnagiri formed a common complex, which was called Pushpagiri.
[16] In 1996, the Orissa Institute of Maritime and South East Asia Studies and the Odisha state's archaeology department started exploring the site.
[17][18] In 2000, an excavation conducted by the institute, under the supervision of archaeologist Debraj Pradhan, resulted in the discovery of a large stupa as well as several other archaeological artifacts.
According to B. N. Mukherjee of Calcutta University, who deciphered the Brahmi inscription, the stupa may have been erected by "a lay Buddhist worshipper called Ashoka".
[15] In 2005, the Odisha State Government began developing the Langudi Hills site as a tourist place by constructing roads and other facilities.
Kaima hill, in its immediate vicinity, contains a unique rock-cut elephant surrounded by four monolithic khondalite pillars; this dates from the Mauryan period in the 3rd century, BCE.
Deuli, a hill situated in the confluence of the Brahmani and Kimiria rivers, has preserved five rock-cut Buddhist chambers inside caves.