Thomas Eugene Donaldson

Thomas Eugene Donaldson is a world-renowned scholar in iconography (a branch of history that studies images). Born in 1933, he started his career as an instructor at University of North Dakota, USA, and retired as professor at Cleveland State University in 2011. His works on Odisha’s temple art and Buddhist sites are regarded as one of the finest studies in contemporary historical research. With 11 books and hundreds of research papers to his credit, he has immense love and fondness for Odisha. Donaldson had a chat with The Telegraph on Sunday on the sidelines of the concluding day of the international conference on Buddhist heritage at Udayagiri.

Will this type of international conference help in attracting more tourists to Odisha to explore the Buddhist sites?

Yes, certainly. Odisha’s potential as a Buddhist destination will definitely increase. Not only scholars and tour operators, common people will also be attracted to the state. We want to attract more tour groups so that the state’s fame spreads far and wide.

What else needs to be done to attract more tourists?

Odisha needs to develop more tourism infrastructure. When I first visited the Buddhist sites of Ratnagiri, Udayagiri and Lalitgiri in 1969, the infrastructure was very poor. But it has improved a lot over the years with better connectivity, faster roads and quicker travel, but there are many areas of improvement.

Can you suggest something specific for infrastructure development?

We need to have more clean, healthy, hotels and youth hostels with better ambience. For example, the venue at Pathrajpur on the second day of the international Buddhist conference was marred by a terrible toilet. It caused a lot of inconvenience to all the delegates. When we are expecting foreign tourists to come and visit our sites, we need to ensure cleaner and smarter environment for them and then only can dreams our take shape. Of course, this does not mean that the facilities should be expensive.

After the Golden Triangle (Bhubaneswar-Puri-Konark), it is bow the diamond triangle (Ratnagiri, Udayagiri and Lalitgiri) that is being promoted. But what about other sites? Any suggestions?

Development of infrastructure and communication facilities for other faraway places could be explored, but developing nearby areas is the priority because of their proximity to the state capital. More Buddhist sites in Jajpur district can also be developed. However, the most important thing is providing them with enough publicity and promotion so that their potential can reach out to a larger group of people inside and outside the country.

You have done an excellent job in studying the Hindu temples and Buddhist monuments. Is there more to your interests in Odisha?

I had studied some Jain monuments in the Western Odisha districts in the past, but the studies were not extensive. Now I am 80 plus and retired from Cleveland State University in 2011. I cannot carry out any more research work.