The Buddha Valley- Awareness Generation Event today (31st October, 2015)

Nava Nalanda Mahavihara (NNM, Deemed University) organized a one-day awareness generation and sensitization event entitled ‘The Buddha Valley’ today at Jawahar Navaodaya Vidyalaya (JNV), Jeṭhian, Gaya District. 

The Buddha and later the followers of the Dhamma found the serene setting of Yasṭhivana, i.e., the present day Jeṭhian, a perfect place to practice the Dhamma. The 7^th CE Chinese monk-scholar Xuanzang stayed at Yasṭhivana monastery for two years. Xuanzang in his accounts has mentioned about many sacred spots associated with the Buddha in the Jeṭhian valley. The fact is also supported by rich ancient Buddhist remains spread over the Valley. The sacred Buddhist places in this Valley are yet to get its deserved attention on the Buddhist pilgrimage itineraries. The Jeṭhian valley should be developed as retreat destination for Buddhist practitioners. 

More than 200 people from more than 30 villages of the Valley participated in the event. The central objective of the event was to introduce the idea of ‘The Buddha Valley’ among the stakeholders. The programme was intended for exchange of ideas among stakeholders. The interaction of important officials from the District, concerned departments and Buddhist institutions with heritage volunteers from more than thirty villages of the Valley will help us identify of a step-wise ‘Buddha Valley’ revitalization plan.

Even the longest journey starts with a single step. ‘The Buddha Valley’ one-day program is designed to ensure that the first step is a step in the right direction towards unveiling sustainable Community-Heritage-Pilgrim interface.

      Welcome Address by Dr. Ravindra Panth, Director, NNM.

       Address by Ven.  Ani Paldron, Director, Root Institute, Bodhgaya.

 Address by Dr. Märt Läänemets, Senior Researcher, Centre for Oriental Studies, Institute of Cultural Research and Fine Arts, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Tartu.

Dr. Atul Kumar Verma, Director, Archaeology, Department of Art, Culture and Youth. Govt of Bihar

          Address by Chief Guest Shri K. Neshmani, Divisional Forest Officer, Gaya Division, Gaya.

15 Children of village Pathri  received Certificate of Appreciation for their contributions in making of Stupa at Buddhavana.

A Ven Monk with the Buddha Valley Brochure

Dr D Lama, Associate Professor, NNM Compering the Event

Vote of Thanks by Dr Arun Yadav, Assistant Professor, NNM

Many Heritage Leaders shared their views. Shri Sadhu Saran Singh addressing the audience. 

2nd Group photograph of Heritage Leaders from Villages of Buddha Valley and Students of NNM

Group photograph of senior people participants from the villages of the Buddha Valley

Times of India Reports on The Buddha Valley event



The Buddha Valley Map

Dhamma Pilgrimage in and around Nalanda for Vipassana meditationers

Nava Nalanda Mahavihara (NNM) is a research institute that specialises in the field of Pali and Buddhist studies. It integrates and unfolds knowledge in threefold manner as per the Buddhist tradition namely: Pariyatti (Theoretical Knowledge), Patipatti (Practice) and Pativeda (Experience). 

NNM has started 10-day courses of Vipassana at Nalanda. The objective is to facilitate opportunity to the Vipassana meditationers worldwide to practice at Nalanda, the place where the Buddha made his sublime wandering and gave important discourses. 

Many Vipassana meditators visiting Nalanda centre have expressed their desire to visit and meditate at the places associated with the Buddha’s sublime wandering in and around Nalanda. NNM has developed a small itinerary to most sacred places associated with the Buddha in vicinity of Nalanda for the interested participants on the 12th and 13^th Day of the 10-day course.

Dhamma Pilgrimage on 12^th Day

1. Parwati (ancient Indraśailaguhā)- Ancient cave where the Buddha had discourse with Lord Indra.

Aerial view of Parwati hill and the Buddha cave.

Sharing the legacy of Xuanzang with Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji

Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi visited Bodhgaya to participate in the ‘Global Hindu-Buddhism Initiative’ on 5^th September, 2015. The event was organized by International Buddhist Confederation (IBC), International Vivekananda Foundation and The Tokyo Foundation. The Prime Minister also inaugurated an Exhibition ‘Cetiya Carika- The Dhamma Pilgrimage’ prepared by Nava Nalanda Mahavihara (Deemed University).  The focus of the exhibition was the pilgrimage legacy of 7th CE Chinese monk-scholar, Xuanzang.

Hon'ble PM and Dr. R Panth, Director, Nava Nalanda Mahavihara untieing the Knot and inaugurating the Exhibition.

Pārwati Hill (Indraśailaguhā) - From Dream to Reality.

I as a part of a small documentation team from Nava Nalanda Mahavihara (NNM) first visited Pārwati Hill in 2006. The isolated hill is around 150 ft high; adjacent to the highway and a lush green landscape is visible from a distance. During the time of the Buddha (6^th BCE), the base of this isolated hill was covered with a forest, a beautiful jewel railing (manivedikā), and hence it was called Vediya Parwat (Vediya hill) (DA.iii.697).  The sacred cave on the south side of the hill is mentioned as Indraśailaguhā (also Indasālaguhā) in Buddhist literature (D.ii.263, 264). The Chinese monk Xuanzang (7^th CE) told how Lord Sakka asked the Buddha about matters relating to the forty-two doubts he had and how Lord Sakka recorded this in stone (Watters 2004). Another Chinese monk Faxian (5^th CE) also makes mention of the tracings on the rock (Beal 2005: 111).

Shri Narendra Prasadji, the headmaster of the village school, told us to all the important places on the hill and its surroundings. Narendra Prasadji also shared with us how he was making efforts in generating awareness among the villagers towards the sanctity of the place. 

The place in spite of being associated with the Buddha was in a deplorable condition. Majority of the villagers were ignorant about the sanctity of the place and the hill was the most preferred place for open defecation. As a result the hill and its surrounding became a filthy place.   Also, the place received very few international and national Buddhist pilgrims each year and this was the prime reason why local people were not very enthusiastic about the place.

On 22^nd Oct, 2009, NNM was given the opportunity to share its documentation of Buddhist sites in Bihar with the Chief Minister of Bihar and important state officials.  We shared with him how many of the sacred traces of the Buddha including Pārwati and Jeṭhian were in very bad shape and needed immediate attention. The Chief Minister took cognizance of this and Pārwati was brought under protection. (Bihar Ancient Monuments and ArchaeologicalSites, Remains And Art Treasures Act, 1976) 

On 22nd January, 2010, I got an opportunity to take the Hon’ble Chief Minister Shri Nitish Kumarji to visit Pārwati hill. The Chief Minister was very impressed with the site; he also got a firsthand glimpse of the sad situation of the place. Based on CM’s instructions, resources were allocated for the overall development of site under the 13^th Finance Commission.

I am happy that the collective efforts of the local community, NNM and Department of Youth, Art and Culture (DACY), Government of Bihar, the Pārwati hill is now ready. A boundary has been created around the Hill for its protection. A ramp has been made for easy access to the top of the Hill and the sacred cave. A pilgrim facilitation centre is under construction and will be ready soon.

On my visit to the place on 20^th June with Dr. Atul Verma, Director, Archaeology (DACY), I noticed  that the place was much cleaner than what it used to be earlier. Hopefully, the place will receive lots of pilgrims and hence livelihood opportunities are created for the local community. 

View from the sacred cave, Indraśailaguhā . The approach to the cave is now safe.

View from the sacred cave, Indraśailaguhā . The approach to the cave is now safe.

Boundary and tourist facilitation center under construction.

A ramp has been created that reaches to the top of the Hill.

Aditya Verma, Dr Atul Verma and I at Pārwati Hill

                                            --------------------------------------------

Development work at Pārwati is now almost complete. Another important village deeply associated with the Buddha that’s in queue for development is Jeṭhian. A development plan for the site is already submitted under the 13^th Finance Commission and we hope the place will be ready by 2016.

The development of sacred Buddhist pilgrimage sites Pārwati and Jeṭhian will complete my long cherished dream of the Buddha trail connecting Bodhgayā-Prāgbodhi-Jeṭhian-Rājgir-Pārwati.

A catch-up meeting at Jeṭhian

                                                       Some old memories        

Making presentation to Hon' Chief Minister, Shri Nitish Kumar Ji in 2009

With Hon' Chief Minister Shri Nitish Kumar ji at Pārwati Hill in 2010.

                           -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Many villages in Bihar are settled over ancient remains. Villagers most of the times are ignorant about the importance of these mounds and hence in recent years many of the mounds have been lost and some are under threat of extinction. Apsaḍh is one such very important place associated with the Buddha where the heritage is under threat. Buddhist literature mention about a brāhmin village Ambasaṇḍā that was South of Pārwati hill and its villagers heartedly welcomed the Buddha’s stay in this area during his cārikā (D.ii.263f). Over the centuries the name Ambasaṇḍā got corrupted and it became Apsaḍh.

Though the entire Apsaḍh village is settled over the ancient remains, there lies a very prominent mound in the centre of the village. The entire mound is encroached and many huts and dwelling houses have come up over the mound. The Government of Bihar with help of community members of the village has created a boundary for its protection. Fencing and boundary is not the long-term solution. The real protection is possible only when the community of Bihar realizes the importance of this heritage and its need for preservation.

A boundary being created to protect the ancient mound.

The mound is in the center of the village.

Bibliography:

Beal, S.; 2005, Travels of Fah-hian and Sung-Yun, Buddhist Pilgrims from China to India, Low Price Publications, Delhi: (Originally published London: Trubner and Co.: 1869).

Watters, Thomas; 2004, On Yuan Chwang’s Travels in India, (Edited by T. W. Rhys Davids and S.W. Bushell), Reprinted in LPP 2004, Low Price Publications, Delhi. (First published by Royal Asiatic Society, London, 1904-05), ISBN: 81-7536-344-4.

Abbreviations of Bibliography:

Source of Pāli references: http://www.palikanon.com/english/pali_names/dic_idx.html

 P.T.S.    Means published by the Pāli Text Society.

D.          Digha Nikāya, 3 vols. (P.T.S.).

DA.       Sumangala Vilāsinī, 3 vols. (P.T.S.).

Of Kites, Bribes and Relics

It has been a wonderful journey so far with my kite photographer friend, Yves Guichard. For the past eight years, we have been playing with a kite attached with a camera, viewing beautiful Buddhist monuments of Bihār and successfully capturing some breathtaking images of many sacred Buddhist sites in Bihār. Once again after a gap of four years, we took the Mahāparinirvāṇa trail, the last journey of the Buddha. The objective was to once again capture some of the stūpas along this trail. Unfortunately, the weather forecast was not on our side. With cloudy weather when we left Nālandā on the 28^th of February, we still wanted to take a chance that the weather would turn favourable the next day. The last journey of the Buddha started from Griddhakūṭa (Vulture’s Peak). Moving in stages he touched present day Silāo, Nālandā, Patnā then crossed the Ganges, stopping here and there until he reached Vaiśālī.

Our First stopover is a village called Birpur in Vaiśālī district.  Xuanzang visited many sacred places in the vicinity of Vaiśālī during his pilgrimage in the 7^th CE. The places visited by Xuanzang in Vaiśālī may be broadly divided into six groups. Three of these include the Ashokan Pillar site, Royal Precinct and Relic Stupa that have been correctly identified. One was the place where Mahāpajāpati Gotami, the foster mother of Buddha, and also the first of the ordained Bhikkhuni, attained nirvāṇa. In the course of the GIS study of Xuanzang’s description, I realized that Birpur could be that place. A few elderly people of Birpur joined in to help us with the survey. With their help we reached a place that up until a few years ago had a few mounds. These had been bulldozed, apparently for the dirt that was needed to create a new railway track being laid. I felt bad. I was in Vaiśālī in 2010, surveying villages. Had I visited Birpur in 2010, the story would have been different; at least we could have taken some pictures for future research that an ancient mound had existed at this place.  A large part of the places mentioned by Xuanzang are still buried under layers of biomass. The initial revelation was led by some very enthusiast, passionate western explorers in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries. The entire work of exploration, excavation, conservation, etc was institutionalized and the ASI was formed. Identification, excavation and conservation is a time-taking process and might take centuries to reveal Xuanzang’s complete pilgrimage. To begin with, we should have had a projection of Xuanzang’s description completed by now and villages and places that fall under it being informed with an information board put in place. Awareness is the key.  Many of the heritage sites are vandalized out of ignorance and this could be avoided if we generate awareness. Unfortunately the passion and commitment with which the ASI was formed in the 1860’s is now lost, buried deeper than the archaeological remains itself.                                                                                                                                                 

Yves Guichard (in center) at Birpur

                                                                                                     Next, we reached Kesariyā, the place where stands a majestic 110 ft stupa to commemorate the offering of the bowl by the Buddha to the people of Vaiśālī. With efforts of Dr. K K Muhammad the process of scientific clearance of the Kesariyā mound was initiated in 2000. Due to some complications, the excavation was halted. It was a nice feeling to see the scientific clearance of the stupa being restarted. A very welcome news indeed; hopefully in next few years the complete stupa will be revealed.

We also captured the dark side (unexcavated side) of the Kesariyā stūpa. Not sensational news like the announcement of the first pictures of the dark side of the moon taken by soviet capsule Luna-3 in 1959, but to me this image of the unexcavated side of stupa is equally fascinating as it revealed part of the stupa. Just imagine a large lump of earth with dense vegetation in the middle of nowhere. This led to variety of local legends. Cunningham in 1861 was told by the local people that in ancient times King Bena along with his family burned himself inside the mound after his wife drowned in the nearby tank. Therefore, the Kesariyā mound was locally called ‘Rajā Bena ke deorā’. In an excavation in 2000, it was revealed to be a terraced stupa, one-of-kind in the Buddhist World.   

Aerial view of Kesariyā stūpa

                                                                                                      After we finished taking the pictures with the kite, I was approached by two officials who were supervising scientific clearance work of the Kesariyā stūpa. They told me that it is a ASI protected site and photography was not allowed. I should have taken their permission. They allowed us to take pictures and for that we should pay them Rs. 2000. Whooping large amount! They further added how all the tourists (mainly foreigners) pay them 2000 bucks for being allowed to take pictures. So much of easy money! Feeling envious of these guys!

Further north (of the Kesariyā stūpa) are remains of some huge structure, locally called as ‘rani ki vass’ meaning the Queen’s place.  Cunningham in 1862 saw a life size image of Buddha, a common feature south of Ganges (Magadha) but a rarity in the north of Ganges. This must be a very important pilgrimage place as remains are spread in a large area. The place was vandalized in the 1880’s and a large number of bricks were removed for some construction (Road?). On his second visit in 1881 he found the image of the Buddha missing. Cunningham reported ‘removed by a Bengali gentleman from Ramgarh Indigo Factory and its current whereabouts are unknown.’ Recently I was told that the Buddha image is kept at Indian Museum, Kolkotta. Does Bihār realize the kind of potential it holds in terms of Buddhist pilgrimage? All it has to do is to open ‘rani ki vaas’ mound (excavation) and reinstate the life-size Buddha from Kolkotta museum here (restoration). But I don’t see this happening anytime soon. It’s just too complicated!                                                               

'Rani ki Vaas' Mound

On 1^st March we reached Sofā temple on the banks of the Pandai River.  The existing temple has been built over the remains of an ancient Hindu temple. We wanted to take an aerial picture of the temple but the wind was blowing too hard to play with the kite and soon it started drizzling. 

Sofā temple in the middle of river bed.

Sofā temple, new temple and the scattered ancient remains

                                                                                                       

                                                                                                       Our last stop of this Mahaparinirvana trail was the twin pillar site of Rampurwā. Rampurwā is the only place where two Ashokan Pillars have been discovered in close proximity. And this is very intriguing. I believe this site should be the true Kuśinagara, the place where the Buddha attained Nirvāṇa. For detail, you may visit my blog post Rampurwā: A compelling case of Kuśinārā.

At Rampurwā, I was extremely happy to see a Buddha statue installed over one of the stupa mounds. I was told by the local Hindu priest that a group of Vietnamese pilgrims enshrined this image last year.  So, it is no more only an Archaelogical site, the first step towards restoration of its livingness has begun.  For us these are ‘Ashokan Pillar’ (Inscribed or not) to them they are ‘Dhamma Pillars’ (the Pillars have Dhamma edicts). To us Ashoka installed them on trade routes but for them Ashoka marked sacred footsteps of the Buddha with Pillars with and without Dhamma edicts.

We say that it is a Buddhist circuit and Buddhist pilgrimage but instead, we promote them as an Archaeological site.   Interpretation does matter! These are living monuments, very sacred to the world. Awareness has to come; an opportunity for all of us to work upon. Let’s begin!!!

A newly enshrined image of Buddha at Rampurwā

Two Dhamma Pillars of Rampurwā



Seeking inspiration from King Ashoka.....his pillars were raised thousands of miles away from their quarries to motivate people to follow the Middle Path.