How ancient Buddhist rock cut temples of Maharashtra were constructed?

A couple of years back, I took upon myself a task of visiting  many of the rock cut Buddhist temples in Maharashtra state of India, excavated on near vertical cliff faces,  situated along the forested deep valleys of the Western Ghat, Satamala and Kannad Ghat mountains in western and northern parts of the state. These included, Karle’n, Bhaje, Ajanta, Nashik and Pitalkhore rock cut temples.

Visiting these rock-cut temples is not a particularly easy or simple task. For example in Karle’n and Bhaje, one needs to climb a stiff mountainside before one can hope to reach the excavated caves. In Pitalkhore, one has to go to the trough of a deep and wooded valley before the caves can be even seen.

Pitalkhore Caves

I often wondered how these rock cut temples were constructed or excavated as all these have come up in the period from 300 BCE to around 300 CE, with the possible exception of Ajanta where excavation work went on for much longer period. All these rock cut temples were excavated in remote jungle areas and must have taken hundreds of years to build. This means that the monks and the labourers employed by them, had to live on the cliff sides for years, which were difficult even to approach. It must have needed a tremendous effort just to organize the logistics of this kind of endeavour. 

 Chaityagriha at Bhaje

This week, I chanced to see some photographs uploaded on the net by “Discover China,” an official Chinese agency involved in media/news and publishing. These photographs really set me thinking and gave me the clues regarding construction of the rock cut temples of Maharashtra. The photos showed the Hanging Temple in Mount Hengshan, China’s Shanxi Province, which was constructed in between the fourth and sixth centuries CE, almost in the similar time frame, when rock cut temples in Maharashtra were excavated.

The Henshan Hanging temples, built on a cliff side, which is 75 m or 246 ft above the ground, have been constructed totally out of wood as that must have been the only raw material available to builders then. What makes these temples so interesting is their vicinity to the famous rock cut temples of the Yungang Grottoes, the ancient Chinese Buddhist temple grottoes.

Yungang Grettos

Yungang Grottos, excavated in fifth and sixth centuries CE are considered as one of the three most famous ancient Buddhist sculptural sites of China,  besides grottos of  Longmen and Mogao. The Yungang caves have a remarkable resemblance with Ellora caves, near Aurangabad city in India and boast of 252 caves with more than 51,000 Buddha statues and statuettes. UNESCO considers the Yungang Grottos as masterpiece of early Chinese Buddhist cave art that represents the successful fusion of Buddhist religious symbolic art from south and central Asia with Chinese cultural traditions and has awarded it the status of a world heritage site.

The Yungang  grottos are located 16 Kms west of the Chinese city  of Datong in the province of Shanxi, whereas  the Henshan Hanging temples have been constructed  near mount Hengshan located 64 Kms northwest of the same city. This means that both these ancient places are in the vicinity and were built in the same time frame. It may not be totally inaccurate thing to say that similar techniques were perhaps used for construction of these places. 

Coming back to Henshan temples, the temple has been erected on oak wood pillars with the structure kept in place with oak crossbeams fitted into holes chiseled into the cliffs. The main supportive structure is hidden inside the bedrock. Wikipedia says that the monastery is located in the small canyon basin, and the body of the building hangs from the middle of the cliff under the prominent summit, protecting the temple from rain erosion and sunlight.

The structure looks so delicately poised that it appears impossible that it has survived for last 1400 years. The reasons for its survival are obvious. It has been well maintained by the Buddhist monks with patronage from successive Chinese dynasties and Governments because Buddhism still continues to be one of the dominant religions of the country.

Compare this with rock cut temples of Maharashtra. Buddhism started declining around sixth century CE in India. Famous Chinese traveller Xuen Zhang mentions about this in his travel book regretting the fact that Buddhism is on decline in the land of its origin. No wonder that the Buddhist rock cut temples in Maharashtra slowly lost their patronage over centuries and were abandoned one after another. Today, by looking at the caves it is impossible to imagine their former glory.

That is why we need to look at Chinese ancient structures to give us a glimpse or an idea of how ancient Indian Buddhist structures must have looked like. Henshan hanging temple, I think, is one such perfect example that can tell how Ajanta, Ellora and Pitalkhore were constructed and  must have looked in their glory days.

20^th June 2015

Amaravati all set to gain its past glory

Amaravati is a tiny town, situated 35 Km north of the city of Guntur on the right or the south bank of river Krishna, in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, which has been bifurcated very recently. In local language it is known as “Dipaldinne,” which means a Hill of the Lamp.

Amaravati and the adjoining areas have had been great seats of Buddhist learning and religion at the beginning of our era. The famous Chinese monk and pilgrim, Xuel Zang mentions in his travelogue from 7^th century that at Amaravati, though many Buddhist monasteries were deserted by then, at least twenty were still in use with a thousand monks living there.

Few readers would be able to imagine that this obscure tiny town in the interior, once boasted of a grand monument that could be compared or perhaps was even grander than the famous Taj Mahal and was visited by thousands of Buddhist pilgrims every day. The monument in form of a great Buddhist Stupa, was however lost in the passage of time and all that remained was a mound of earth. This mound was eventually called the 'Hill of the lamp' by local people and the town got its name from this hillock.

In the year 1796, a local landlord wanting to shift to Amaravati, started quarrying rocks from nearby mounds of earth to build his house. He also attempted to dig the 'Hill of the lamp' and to utmost surprise of everyone around found stone slabs with sculptured bass reliefs. The news reached a British officer Colonel Colin Mackenzie, who was a passionate collector and student of antiquity. He visited the spot and immediately perceived that the mound of earth was in fact a great Stupa having about Ninety feet diameter and Twenty feet height. Mackenzie returned to the site in March 1816 armed with a team of draftsmen and surveyors. For next 2 years they made detailed plans and drawings of the monument.

After the great Stupa was discovered, a mad rush began amongst British officers to acquire the stone slabs of the Stupa. Many slabs were also distributed by the officers to various museums within India. In 1845, another British officer carried out excavation in the south west part of the mound and found large number of fragments. He sent them to Madras, where they lay neglected and exposed. In 1856 a new museum was opened in Madras. Edward Balfour, officer-in charge of the museum, decided to collect all the pieces and catalogue them. Finally 121 stone slabs were sent to England in 1859. They were sent from a museum to museum and finally in 1880 they reached British museum, where they are exhibited since.

In 1880, Duke of Buckingham, then Governor of Madras, ordered complete excavation of the site. The site not converted to a large pit. More than 400 fragments were recovered mostly from the outer railing and were sent to museum at madras, where they can be seen even today. A few balance pieces are exhibited at the site in a small museum. This is the sad story, how a great monument built by Satavahana kings, somewhere around first or second century CE, was totally destroyed, after discovery, instead of being renovated and rebuilt for the future generations. From whatever that is left of the great monument, one can easily imagine its grandeur and also the importance and glory that Amaravati must have enjoyed in the past, very well comparable to Taj Mahal itself.

So, how this great monument really looked like? At the centre was a giant solid dome of a Stupa some one hundred and forty-eight feet in diameter. This was surrounded by two highly sculptured stone railings. The inner railing actually almost touched the drum of the Stupa and carried all the decoration on it. The outer railing constructed from limestone slabs, was One hundred and ninety two feet in diameter and was pierced by four gates provided in cardinal directions. The outer railing was also elaborately carved with bass reliefs depicting many scenes from Jataka stories and Buddha's life. It is not knows how such a great monument was slowly forgotten and became totally neglected. It soon became a pile of rubble and in a few centuries of time became a mound of earth and with its disappearence, the famous town of Amaravati also became a forgotten obscure town in the interior of 'Andhradesa.'

It is now reported that this obscure town, will hit the limelight again in future, as it has been selected as the possible site of the new of capital of the bifurcated Andhara Pradesh state. The present Chief Minister of the state is known for his acumen for conceiving and building things, from what he did in the Hyderabad city few decades earlier. He is keen to build the new capital on both sides of the river with all modern facilities and world class transportation.

It seems that after lapse of more than two millenniums Amaravati is all set to gain it's lost glory as it's star is rising again. Perhaps it might become even more famous than in the past.

4^th July 2014

Terrorists target the Buddha

When Prince Gautama Siddhartha, achieved his divine attainment or raised his status from a Bodhisattva to a Buddha, the ordinary Peepal (Ficus religiosa ) tree, under which he sat for those four weeks, also changed its status and became a Bodhi or the tree of supreme knowledge. It is therefore no wonder that in the Buddhist world, this Bodhi tree is considered as one of the most revered symbol of high religious importance. The original Bodhi tree was destroyed during course of time. The place, where this Peepal or Bodhi tree stood once, was known by the names such as Uruvela, Sambodhi, Vajrasana or Mahabodhi. The present name for this place, Bodh-Gaya, did not come into use until the 18th century CE. The Buddhist Vihara here at this place was known historically as Bodhimanda-vihāra. Now it is called the Mahabodhi Temple. Bodhi-Gaya is located about 110 Km from Patna, capital of Bihar state of India.

It is believed that 250 years after the Enlightenment of the Buddha, Emperor Asoka of India had visited Bodh Gaya. He is believed to be the founder of the original Mahabodhi temple. Emperor Asoka had asked his son Mahindra, who had become a monk, to visit Sri Lanka along with his sister Sanghamitra on a proselytizing mission to promote the Buddhist religion. Mahindra and Sanghamitra had carried over to Sri Lanka, a sapling of the original Bodhi tree, under which Prince Gautama Siddharth had achieved divine attainment. When the original Bodhi tree in India was destroyed, a sapling of the Bodhi tree in Sri Lanka was brought back to India and planted at Bodh Gaya. A fifth generation tree of this very tree, is what visitors see here today.

I have tried to narrate this slice of ancient history just to highlight the importance and great reverence, the Mahabodhi temple has in the minds of Buddhists and the Buddhist world. For most of them, Mahabodhi temple symbolizes the Buddha himself. The original Mahabodhi temple built by Emperor Ashoka, no longer stands now, but was rebuilt by another ruler in 5^th century CE. This new temple is an exquisite 50-meter (160-foot) high structure and is considered bt many as an architectural marvel built of bricks. UNESCO has declared it as a world heritage site not only because of temple's religious and historical significance but because of it's profound influence on architecture in India. Temple's sculpted stone balustrades are considered as outstanding early examples of sculptural reliefs in stone.

The Bodhi tree inside the temple complex, standing in place of the original tree, which actually is a fifth-generation peepul tree as mentioned above, stands about 24 meters high and is known to be 115 years old. Hundreds of thousands of Buddhist pilgrims visit Mahabodhi temple. They come from Japan, China, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and several other countries. The recent visitors include many VIP's such as the Dalai Lama of Tibet; the former military dictator of Myanmar, General Than Shwe; and President Mahinda Rajapaksha of Sri Lanka.

Realizing the significance of the temple to Buddhist world, an attempt was made by some, so far unknown, terrorists, to plant several explosive devices in the temple campus on 7/7/2013. Nine low intensity bombs went off within a span of fifteen minutes, on early Sunday morning, inside the Mahabodhi temple complex. Four explosions occurred inside the temple complex, three others happened in a nearby monastery and an eighth exploded near a statue of Buddha. Two other bombs were defused.

Fortunately, there were no fatalities and the blasts only caused some injuries to a couple of monks; one from Nepal and another from Myanmar, though there were about 200 people present in the temple premises, when the blasts took place. According to a person present, the temple was engulfed in black smoke. And there was a great panic near the temple for the first time ever.

The reasons for the panic are easy to understand. Mahabodhi temple epitomizes everything that Buddhism stands for. Traditionally there never was any elaborate security cover for the temple with temple gate just manned by mere two armed security personnel. Some private guards have been employed by the temple management to handle the light security requirements inside the temple. There are few metal detectors and close circuit cameras installed near the gate too. All the CCTV cameras in the Mahabodhi temple premises, have been fully functional.

Though no terrorist organization has made a claim, the needle of suspicion is towards an Islamic militant group, Indian Mujahideen because about 9 months ago, The Delhi Police Special Cell had, on the basis of revelations made by alleged Indian Mujahideen terrorist Sayed Maqbool, shared the inputs with Government of Bihar state, where this temple is located, that this banned outfit planned to target the Buddhist shrines in Bodh Gaya. However, this warning had gone in vain as Bihar police did not take up any concrete action plan for safeguarding the temple.

But why select MahaBodhi temple? This was the question that quizzed many people, as really speaking, Mahabodhi temple epitomizes teachings of peace and tranquility. An Indian newspaper 'The Hindu' reports that “There have been intelligence inputs that [some Islamist groups] were planning to target Buddhists and their religious sites with foreigners in mind, as a retaliation for atrocities being committed upon Muslims in Myanmar. This follows the ongoing sectarian violence between Rohingya Muslims and Buddhists in Myanmar.” Terrorists had planned these attacks as a revenge for atrocities being committed upon Muslims in Myanmar.

What this means is that echoes of the sectarian violence between Buddhists and Muslims in Myanmar have now reached the shores of India. All of the Buddhist revered sites in India now come under this shadow and it would be necessary for the Government to provide same level of security at these places too, as is being done at some of the important Hindu temples like Somanath or Dwarka. What an irony of fate it is, that the places that epitomize the Buddha himself, have to be now protected with armed guards, metal detectors and closed circuit televisions.

09/07/2013

Garland bearers of the Buddha

Last year, after visiting New Delhi’s National museum, I wrote a series of articles about antique objects displayed in the museum, from parts of the ancient silk route ( presently in Xinjiang province of China), which were collected by one of great explorers of last century, Sir Aurel Stein. In one of the articles, I had written about an exceptionally bright painting done on the dado of a wall, along the northern circular passage of a shrine, at a place called ‘Miran’.
Sometime back, a reader, after reading my post , inquired with me about another picture painted on the same wall and supposed to be displayed in Delhi museum. Since I had not seen that painting, I was rather curious and requested her to send me a copy of the painting by mail. This painting is rather unusual as it shows a men carrying a huge garland of flowers of a wavy kind of construction. The reader also had mentioned to me, that a similar type of bass relief showing similar wavy garland and bearers, which was supposedly to be from Gandhar kingdom (present location Pakistan, around Peshawar city), is displayed in the Musee Guimet,Paris. Needless to say that I got very much interested in this curious  wavy garland and it’s bearers. 

Wavy garland with bearers from Shrine at Miran in China

Bass relief from Musee Guimet, Paris

I carried out a search for similar garlands and garland bearers on the net. To my surprise, I found that almost all major museums had similar ‘garland bearers carrying a garland’ bass relief panels in their exhibits. Even many private collections boasted of ‘garland bearers with that wavy garland design’ panels. It was obvious that this was a very popular motif and was not something unique or extra ordinarily exquisite. 

The Miran wall paintings are supposedly from 3^rd or 4^th century. Most of the Gandhar bass reliefs are from 2^nd or 3^rd century. Obviously this was a popular motif of that period. 

Amarawati is a small town near east cost of India. This town from Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh state of India, is located on the southern bank of the mighty Krishna river. Little south of this town a splendid Stupa was discovered at the end of eighteenth century. This stupa consisted of a solid dome of 148 feet dimeter on a pedestal or a base. A stone railing of 192 feet diameter was constructed around the central stupa. This outer railing consisted of 9 feet high upright stone pillars supported by round cross bars. The railing was crowned by a 2 feet high coping rounded at the top. Besides this, the central dome also had two rings of copings. These were much smaller in height. The outer face of the outer rail coping was carved with a continuous garland carried on the shoulders of young men, sometimes accompanied by women. The loops of the garland were filled with various motifs. One of the smaller copings also had similar continuous garland carried by dwarfs. 

Amaravati Stupa rail copings with garland motif

It is generally believed that the construction of the stupa was done sometimes between beginning of second century to 3^rd century. The continuous garland pattern around the complete outer rail and dome of the stupa explains, why so many of these relief panels with garland designs have been found in Gandhara, as there must have many stupas and each one had a coping with carved panels of garlands. Since each stupa had number of these panels used in the coping, the total number of available panels in ruins from this region was bound to be a big number. This explains why so many of these carved panels are found all over the world museums.



The most surprising fact however is that three places, one near the Hindu Kush mountains, one place in south India at a distance of 1330 miles from it, and a third place deep inside China, again at a distance of 1029 miles from it, had similar garland motifs on the religious shrines there.

Bharhut rail copings with lotus stem pattern

There were two or three major stupas in India at the turn of the first millennium. The one at Bharhut was supposed to be constructed between 250 to 200 BC and has a very similar construction as Amarawati stupa. It is interesting to note that rail coping in this stupa does not carry garland design at all, but shows a purely Indian, lotus stem pattern. Similarly stupa at Sanchi, constructed sometime during first century AD, also does not carry any continuous garland designs. 

Celestial Garland bearers at Sanchi

    

 Celestial Garlan bearer from Bharhut   stupa

At both these places, small figurines do appear on pillar carvings, carrying garlands, but there is no continuous garland design. Another curious but well known observation is that both Sanchi and Bharhut stupas were constructed during Hinayana phase of Buddhism in India and do not show Buddha in human form anywhere.
It is obvious from this discussion that the continuous garland motif was used in Gandhara sometimes during second century and the motif was well accepted by the Mahayana school and its use spread widely all over India and China. 

I quote here from a publication of the Peshawar museum, which explains cultural history of Gandhara, It says that,
“ The cosmopolitan nature of Gandhara art is the likely product of cultural interaction due to invasions,immigration, emigration, diplomatic links and trade communications. Together these factors led to a unigication of an array of various stylistic traditions obtained from Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Persians, Central Asians, Chinese and Indians.”

Carrying this point further another well known archeologist and historian of India, Vincent Smith says that

“ the interaction of Greek and Buddhist culture flourished in the area of Gandhara, in today’s northern Pakistan, before spreading further into India, influencing the art of Mathura, and then the Hindu art of the Gupta empire, which was to extend to the rest of South-East Asia. The influence of Greco-Buddhist art also spread northward towards Central Asia, strongly affecting the art of the Tarim Basin, and ultimately the arts of China, Korea, and Japan.
Scenes of cupids holding rich garlands, sometimes adorned with fruits, is another very popular Gandharan motif, directly inspired from Greek art. It is sometimes argued that the only concession to Indian art appears in the anklets worn by the cupids. These scenes had a very broad influence, as far as Amaravati on the eastern coast of India, where the cupids are replaced by Yakshas.”

In New York’s Metropolitan Museum of art, there is an exhibit, the citation for which reads as “ Marble sarcophagus with garlands and the myth of Theseus and Ariadne [Roman, Hadrianic or early Antonine] .” Now a sarcophagus in simple English means a coffin. It appears that the garland with cupids motif was so popular with Greeks and Romans, that it was used even on a coffin.
Finally a word about the cupids. Though Gandhara engravers used the naked figurines of cupid on the bass reliefs, it probably was not palatable in Tarim basin of China and in south India. Cupids therefore took form of dwarfs and ordinary men and women. 

The Garland bearing Yaksha from Amaravati Stupa (Note that he is dressed and not naked)

Few months back, I visited Buddhist caves in the city of Junagadh; Gujarat state of India. These caves are supposed to be dug at the beginning of the first Millinium. The caves are decorated with beautifully carved supporting pillars. At the bottom of the pillars, just near the bottom rung, I noticed faint traces of a wavy design. On careful scrutiny, I realised that it was the famous design of garland bearers. I was quite astonished to see that design here, because this meant that this part of the cave was dug obvuiously much later, probably in second century CE. 

 Garland bearers carved on pillars in Buddhist caves at Junagadh, Gujarat state

The flower garland motif became popular when Mahayana school of Buddhism became prevalent in India. The Avatamsaka Sūtra (Sanskrit: महावैपुल्यबुद्धावतंसकसूत्र >Mahāvaipulya Buddhāvatamsaka Sūtra) is one of the most influential Mahayana sutras of East Asian Buddhism. The title is rendered in English as Flower Garland Sutra, Flower Adornment Sutra, or Flower Ornament Scripture. Is this the reason for the garland motif, picked up from Greco-Romans, to become popular, over such a large area where Buddhism was practiced? No one would know for sure.

The return of the Bodhi tree

The Biographies of Buddha like “Lalitavistara” , “Mahavastu” and “Nidankatha” describe in great details the story of divine attainment of the “Bodhi” or supreme knowledge by Sakya tribe Prince Gautama Siddhartha. This story has been described in essence in a research volume titled as “2500 years of Buddhism” and I quote from this Book.

“ At the end of six years of penance, when he was thirty six years old, he (Prince Gautama Siddhartha) felt that in the course of the day he would become a Buddha, an awakened one. At noon he was offered a bowl of milk pudding by Sujata, a rich merchant's daughter, who was devoted to him and in the evening a grass cutter gave him bundles of dry grass on which to sleep. He regarded these as good omens and sitting firmly under a Peepal(Ficus religiosa ) tree on a cushion made of grass, he said “Let my skin, my nerves and bones waste away, let my life-blood dry up, I will not leave this posture until I have perfect attainment.” His resolute attempt set Mara, the god of evil, thinking that he should not allow Gautama to escape from his thraldom. He caused a violent thunderstorm to frighten the Bodhisattva that Glutamate then was, but in vain! All the missiles hurled by Mara at his victim turned into flowers. Mara tried to tempt him with promises of rebirths in heaven but the Bodhisattva, or the one destined to achieve enlightenment would not bend. Mara was discomfited in the end and his army fled in all directions. This battle off course, was a metaphorical conflict between the higher and lower aspirations in Gautama’s mind. During the night Gautama discovered the law of Causation, a cycle of 12 causes and effects conditioning the universe. This law had not been thought before by any philosopher. Its authorship raised Gautama from his status as Bodhisattva to that of Buddha.

He exclaimed solemnly;

Truly when thing grow plain

To the ardent, meditating brahmana

Routing the hosts of Mara does he stand

Like as the sun when lighting up the sky

He spent four weeks in contemplation under the tree, now called the Bodhi, after which he set out on his travels.”

I have quoted these lines in detail just to highlight the fact that when Prince Gautama Siddhartha achieved his divine attainment or raised his status from a Bodhisattva to a Buddha, the ordinary Peepal (Ficus religiosa ) tree, under which he sat for those four weeks, also changed its status and became a Bodhi or the tree of supreme knowledge. It is therefore no wonder that in the Buddhist world, this Bodhi tree is considered as one of the most revered symbol of high religious importance. The original Bodhi tree was destroyed during course of time.

The place, where this Peepal or Bodhi tree stood once, was known by the names such as Uruvela, Sambodhi, Vajrasana or Mahabodhi. The present name for this place, Bodh-Gaya, did not come into use until the 18th century CE. The Buddhist Vihara here at this place was known historically as Bodhimanda-vihāra. Now it is called the Mahabodhi Temple. Bodhi-Gaya is located about 110 Km from Patna, capital of Bihar state of India.

It is believed that 250 years after the Enlightenment of the Buddha, Emperor Asoka of India had visited Bodh Gaya. He is believed to be the founder of the original Mahabodhi temple. Emperor Asoka's first wife, known as Devi or Vedisa-Mahadevi was the daughter of a merchant from Vedisa near Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh state of India. Emperor Asoka had met her in the merchant's house, when traveling to Ujjain. Devi was from a family of Sakya tribe, to which, Prince Gautama Siddhartha had belonged. Emperor Asoka had a son known as Mahindra and a daughter known as Sanghamitra from Devi. She howver never followed him to capital of the empire, Pataliputta and stayed at Sanchi, where the famous Stupa still stands. Emperor Asoka had asked his son Mahindra, who had become a monk, to visit Sri Lanka along with his sister Sanghamitra on a proselytizing mission to promote the Buddhist religion. Mahindra and Sanghamitra had carried over to Sri Lanka, a sapling of the original Bodhi tree, under which Prince Gautama Siddharth had achieved divine attainment.

While travelling to Sri Lanka, Mahindra had stayed over at Sanchi to meet his mother Devi. Later, the sapling of Bodhi tree, which he had carried with him was planted at Mahamegha Uyana, the royal park to the south of the city of Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka sometime around 244 BCE. This tree exists even now and is considered as the most sacred tree in the world. In spite of having this tree in their own country, Singhalese monks still wanted and continued to worship the original Bodhi tree in India. Later during rule of Samudragupta (Grandson of Emperor Asoka). King of Sri Lanka Kittisirimegha, erected a Sangharama or a Vihara with the permission of King Samudragupta. The present Mahabodhi temple at Bodh Gaya has been built at the site of this Vihara.

When the original Bodhi tree in India was destroyed, a sapling of the Bodhi tree in Sri Lanka was brought back to India and planted at Bodh Gaya. It is this tree that visitors see here today. Famed Chinese traveller XuenZang had visited Bodh Gaya sometime in the year 637 CE. He describes this Vihara as,

“ Outside the northern gate of the wall of the Bodhi tree is the Mahabodhi sangharama. It was built by a former king of Sinhhala (Sri Lanka) This edifice has six halls, with towers of observation (temple towers) of three storeys; it is surrounded by a wall of defence thirty or forty feet high. The utmost skill of the artist has been employed; the ornamentation is in the richest colours (red and blue). The statue of Buddha is cast of gold and silver, decorated with gems and precious stones. The stupas are high and large in proportion, and beautifully ornamented ; they contain relics of Buddha. The priests of this convent are more than 1000 men; they study the Great Vehicle and belong to the Sthavira school. They carefully observe the Dharma Vinaya, and their conduct is pure and correct.”

I have indulged freely in  all this ancient history of India for a special reason. The present Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is on a personal visit to India, returned a slice of the history back to India, this week, when he planted a sapling of the Bodhi tree, from Mahamegha Uyana, the royal park to the south of the city of Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka, in Sanchi, India. This is the tree, that has grown out of the sapling taken by Emperor Asoka's son and daughter to Shri Lanka.

This sapling was planted at Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh state of India, where the great stupa from the times of Emperor Asoka, still stands. Sanchi was the place from where Emperor Asoka's son and daughter had commenced their journey to Sri Lanka and it is in fitness of the things that the sapling of the tree which was carried out of Sanchi in 244 BCE is brought back there again after two millennia.

The sapling was planted at the foundation venue of a proposed university in Sanchi, which will take shape over 100 acres, at a cost of Rs 300 crore and promises to follow higher education patterned in classical ancient Indian universities like Takshashila and Nalanda.

From Sanchi to Sri Lanka and back to sanchi; the most sacred tree in the world has now completed its return trip.

23 September 2012