1st Saṃghassa Patiṭṭhāpako Mahā Kassapo Sati Cārikā

A Mindful-Walk was organized today on Basant Panchammi at Silao to pay Dhamma tribute to Venerable Mahakassapa for his contributions to the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha. Venerable Mahakassapa was third prominent disciple of the Buddha who became the head of the Sangha after the Mahaparinirvana of the Buddha and played a very important role in preserving the teachings of the Buddha by convening the first Buddhist Council at Rajagriha. Venerable Monks, Officials from district administration and Community from Silao in large number came together in making this event a success.

In Buddhist literature we find mention of a very important event of “Exchange of Robes” between the Buddha and Venerable Mahakassapa somewhere between Rajagirha and Nalanda.

A beautiful sketch depicting Venerable Mahakassapa recieving robes from the Buddha by Andree Francois 

In 1934 a broken sculpture from Pala Period (8-12^th CE) of Venerable Mahakassapa was discovered at Silao. The sculpture had a long inscription in Brahmi script mentioning about the historic event of “Exchange of Robes” between the Buddha and Maha Kassapa. The sculpture was relocated in 2010. The Mindful-Walk was organized at the Sacred-Historical place to revive the sanctity of the place and bring it back on the Buddhist pilgrimage radar.

Mahakassapa place ready to recieve Pilgrims

Venerable Bhikkhu Sangha and the Community walking through the bylanes of Silao..Facilitating Awareness Generation

Venerable Bhikkhu Sangha and the community offering prayer at the sacred site of "Exchange of Robes"

Broken sculpture of Mahakassapa with inscription mentioning about the Historic event of "Exchange of Robes"

 

    Important dignitaries present on the ocassion gave talks on Legacy of Mahakassapa and importance of the Place

Read more: Legacy of Mahakassapa

Silao, the place of "Exchange of Robes" between the Buddha and Mahakassapa ready to recieve pilgrims

An inscription at the base of a partial sculpture rediscovered in Silao in Januray, 2011 provides an image of the exchange of robes between Mahakassapa and the Buddha as based on the reference to this very same sculpture in the Epigraphica Indica (Vol XXV).

Read More- Rediscovery of Mahakassapa inscription

The village collective were the broken sculpture was rediscovered



Mahakassapa Image rediscovered

 On 18th March, 2011 a small function was organised to celebrate the find and generate awareness towards the importance of the place. In the same function the concept of Mahakassapa Arama was discussed. Venerable Withoon Putami, from Thailand promised to develop the place and facilitate revitalisation of this sacred place.

Read More- Mahakassapa arama (park) announced

Function held on 18th March, 2011

The place getting a facelift with new construction at the place

 

Venerable monks led by Venerable Vithoon Putaami did worshiping at the place on 30th November, 2012 to revive the sanctity of the place. The place is now ready to recieve the pilgrims. The devouts of the teachings of the Buddha and Mahakassapa may again visit the place and offer their prayers. The local community participated at this event and is very pleased that this site is associated with an eminent disciple of the Buddha. 

 



Worshiping in process..

Team of Venerable Monks, Local community members and some lay disciples from Thailand

 A Mindful-Walk is being organized for 14 February,2013 to pay tribute to Venerable Mahakassapa and his contributions to the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha.

Rediscovery of the Silao (Maha Kassapa) Sculpture

An important event in the story of  The Buddha, The Dhamma and The Sangha is the meeting between the Buddha and Maha Kassapa


An inscription on a broken sculpture was discovered by a team of explorers near Silao  (25° 25’ 57 N, 85° 5’ 17 E) in 1934. Published in Epigraphica Indica, Vol XXV, the sculpture (pictured below) was thought to be lost to the world. But based on the picture of the sculpture, the inscription and its translation, we have taken on the challenge to rediscover this piece of history.

The Picture of the Broken Sculpture as Published in Epigraphica Indica

The Impression of the Inscription

The Translation of the Inscription

We discussed the matter with Bhola and Vijay Singh, residents of Silao. Together we went to Mamasthan, a place of worship among the local people. It is situated 500 m northeast of Silao. A team of South-East Asian pilgrims visited the site some 20 years ago and deemed that this could be the place of the historic meeting mentioned in Buddhist Literature between the Buddha and the Maha Kassapa. But when asked about the sculpture mentioned in the Epigraphia Indica, Bhola and Vijay had no idea of the whereabouts of the sculpture.  They had never heard about any such sculpture ever found.

Vijay Singh and Bhola at Mamasthan

With our first attempt yielding no clues, we then decided to visit all the places of worship in the SilaoVillage where the historical collectives are safely kept. After visiting a couple of places to no avail, we reached Mahadevsthan near the house of Rakesh. The Mahadevsthan has many sculptures collected from nearby places and among this collection in one corner was the historic piece of art that will help in the revival of  the ancient Buddhist Pilgrimage.

The Picture of the Broken Sculpture as Published in Epigraphica Indica

The historic piece of sculpture waiting to be rediscovered

Other antiquities of Mahadevsthan

Community members from the Silao Village

Rakesh, whose forefathers were landlords who built Mahadevsthan, informed us about this ancient house where all these sculpture were found and how they came to be at the Mahadevsthan.

Ancient house of Rakesh

This is just first piece of the jigsaw puzzle, and the next is to locate the place where where the team who visited in 1934 found this image. To do this, pictures of this sculpture need to be circulated around the area in order to reach village elders, who may provide the key to solving this puzzle. At present, the community is very happy with this discovery and hope that this will help in reviving the lost glory of the place.

The elated community members