IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF BUDDHA

Santa, a school student, was making a serious attempt at completing his examination paper within the given time when he suddenly stood up and started to dance. The examiner was taken aback. “What do you think are you doing?” she asked. “Well,” replied Santa, “there is a question here which says that there are marks for every step.” For us, now into our fourth year of making an annual trip to a place of historical and religious importance, the flagging off was with getting the steps of passage and arrival right. In fact, it was an exercise in coordination and logistics what with Harsha coming from Singapore, Ganesh from Vadodara, Gajanan from Katiar in Bihar, Rajesh from Mumbai and I, Vipul, Dilip and Vaidyanathan making our way to Gaya from Pune via Delhi and Patna.

Arrive we did at Gaya on the evening of Sunday, February 22, 2013 but not before crossing some hurdles. Vaidya, for instance, was carrying with him a weight measuring machine that was to be given to Gajanan and was asked by the security personnel at the Pune Airport to remove all the packaging and show them what it was, particularly so because just a day ago Hyderabad had suffered casualties due to a bomb blast and security across India had been beefed up in a typical knee-jerk reaction. And then I was in for a shocker when the scanner at the airport revealed a Swiss knife in my rucksack. What was the knife doing there? I had no clue at all! Fortunately, they didn’t march me to the nearest police station and we boarded the Go Air flight in time. In Kolkata, where Harsha, Ganesh and Rajesh had met up prior to taking the flight to Gaya, a search for sarees had almost led to missing the flight.

Anyway, after an evening well-spent on catching up with the latest in our lives and pulling each other’s legs into late hours, Monday morning saw the ‘pilgrim fathers’, as Gajanan had nicknamed the group, to set forth and explore the place. Our first major stop was the Mahabodhi Temple Complex in Gaya, famous for being the place where Gautama Buddha is said to have obtained enlightenment. For Buddhists, Bodh Gaya is the most important of the main four pilgrimage sites related to the life of Gautama Buddha, the other three being Kushinagar, Lumbini and Sarnath. In 2002, Mahabodhi Temple became a UNESCO World Heritage Site and though the complex is well-maintained, the surrounding town, by contrast, is dusty and obviously ill-planned. It is believed that a new development plan has been proposed to ensure a sustainable and prosperous future for Bodh Gaya, but has become controversial because such a plan may require the relocation of whole neighborhoods.

Next to the temple, to its western side, is the holy Bodhi tree. In the Pali Canon, the site is called Bodhimanda and the monastery there the Bodhimanda Vihara. The tallest tower is 55 metres in height. In approximately 250 BCE, about 200 years after the Buddha attained enlightenment, Buddhist Emperor Asoka visited Bodh Gaya with the intention of establishing a monastery and shrine. As part of the temple, he built the diamond throne, called the Vajrasana, attempting to mark the exact spot of Buddha’s enlightenment. Asoka is therefore considered the founder of the Mahabodhi Temple. One of the interesting features of the sprawling complex is the Mucalinda Lake in the centre of which is a sculpture of Buddha seated under the hood of a cobra. It is said that when Buddha was spending his sixth week of enlightenment here, the cobra and other creatures protected him from severe thunderstorms.

Incidentally, there have been several controversies regarding the temple involving both the management and claims made by Hindus and Buddhists regarding ownership or rights of access to the temple. In August 2005, individuals associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were stopped by police while attempting to enter the Mahabodhi Temple to make an offering of blessed water to a pedestal or broken pillar within the temple complex. BJP officials claimed that a pedestal within the temple may be part of a Shiva linga, and that Hindus should be permitted access to the temple to make offerings to the pedestal. In 2006, it was alleged that a branch of the Bodhi tree had been removed and sold to wealthy buyers in Thailand with the cooperation of senior members of the temple’s management committee. Former temple secretary, Kalicharan Yadav, has denied this claim, contending that the branch was removed much earlier as part of a needed pruning effort recommended by botanists working with the temple.

Making our way ahead in a Winger van with a variety of snacks such as bhakarwadis, anjir, khakhras, Shrewsberry biscuits etc pumping up our energy levels, our next halt was at Rajgir, which is said to be the first capital of the kingdom of Magadha, a state that would eventually evolve into the Mauryan Empire. Its date of origin is unknown, although ceramics dating to about 1,000 BC have been found in the city. This area was one of the favourite places for Gautama Buddha and the well known ‘Atanatiya’ conference was held atop the mountain called Vulture’s Peak. Known for the Vishwa Shanti Stupa, located at considerable height, one of the ‘adventurous’ aspects of the place is that you can take a ride in a cable car on a ropeway to ascend and descend. Rajgir is also famous for its hot water springs, locally known as Brahmakund, a sacred place for Hindus. The Vishwa Shanti Stupa, built in 1969, is one of the 80 peace pagodas in the world built to spread the message of peace and non-violence.

With a lunch of samosas, kachoris and noodles that smelt and tasted stale in one of the ‘dhaba’ type eating joints, we made our way to the ruins of the Nalanda University. This was an ancient center of higher learning in Bihar and flourished between the reign of Sakraditya (whose identity is uncertain and who might have been either Kumara Gupta I or Kumara Gupta II) and 1197 CE, supported by patronage from the Hindu Gupta rulers as well as Buddhist emperors. An official guide with good command over Hindi explained to us that the complex was built with red bricks and its ruins occupy an area of 14 hectares. At its peak, the university attracted scholars and students from as far away as Tibet, China, Greece and Persia and its architectural uniqueness lay in the way the spaces for learning, residence and meditation were clearly demarcated.

The university was ransacked and destroyed by an army under Bakhtiyar Khilji in 1193. The great library of Nalanda University was so vast that it is reported to have burned for six months after the invaders set fire to it. The destruction of the temples, monasteries, centers of learning at Nalanda were responsible for the demise of ancient Indian scientific thought in mathematics, astronomy, alchemy and anatomy. In its heyday, it accommodated over 10,000 students and 2,000 teachers. It was marked by a lofty wall and one gate with eight separate compounds and ten temples. On the grounds were lakes and parks. The library was located in a nine-storied building where meticulous copies of texts were produced. What really helped the excavators understand the functional layout of the place were the diaries of Chinese pilgrim Xuan Zang who left detailed accounts of the university in the 7th century.

Opposite the ruins is a museum that houses the various items of historical interest unearthed during the excavations and a little way ahead is the Xuan Zang Memorial Hall which has a beautiful tapestry covering two walls that provide an account of the traveller’s sojourn across India and other countries. Xuan Zang primarily became famous for his 17-year overland journey to India, which is recorded in detail in the classic Chinese text ‘Great Tang Records On The Western Regions’. The place is immaculately maintained though of course the same cannot be said for any of the towns in Bihar where, for one thing, there is no traffic discipline and you are likely to be either mowed down by a truck or be rendered deaf with the drivers’ habit of sounding their horns at a high pitch and for long periods of time.

With Gajanan, a colonel in the Indian Army, a stay at one of the army’s guesthouses seems to have become the highpoint of our trips, and so was the case here when he led us to the Ordnance Factory’s amazing quarters where we were all treated to a sumptuous dinner and a most comfortable overnight stay in the huge rooms. With easy banter flowing like a Ganga in full spate, the hours sped on quickly till it was now time to make a quick last visit before we returned to Patna for our return flights home. This was at Pawapuri, a holy site for Jains located about 101 kilometers from Patna. It is here that Mahavira attained nirvana or moksha in around 5^th century BCE. Mahavira, as the temple priest informed us, was the last of the 24 tirthankaras of the Jain faith and it was here that he was cremated. There was a great rush to collect his ashes, with the result that so much soil was removed from the place of his cremation that a pond was created. Now, an exquisite marble temple in the middle of a lotus pond, the Jal Mandir, stands magnificently on a rectangular island.

And so, finally, it was time to head back to Patna from where Harsha was to fly to Kolkata and proceed to Singapore while Ganesh was to make the Patna-Delhi-Ahmedabad trip to be able to drive onwards to Vadodara. Gajanan accompanied Harsha in Patna on another search for sarees while the rest of us satiated our hunger pants with vegetarian thalis just outside the airport and then flew to Pune but not before freezing the location for next year. It’s going to be Karnataka. And to end the tale on a lighter note, when Santa met Banta after a long time, he kept saying, “A-B, A-B, A-B….” When an exasperated Banta asked him the reason for this silly repetition, Santa replied: “No C for long time!” But that’s not going to happen to us. We are getting together again…..soon!

Text: Huned Contractor