What is "oddiyana"

(Skt. Oḍḍiyāna; , ), a small country in early medieval India, is ascribed importance in the development and dissemination of Vajrayana Buddhism. It is conventionally placed in Pakistan's Swat valley although a case can also be made for its location in the Indian state of Odisha. Later Tibetan traditions view it as a legendary heavenly place inaccessible to ordinary mortals. Padmasambhava, the 8th-century Buddhist master who was instrumental in the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet, was believed to have been born in Oddiyana.