Nalanda - insatiable in offering

Where did the Ananda attain Parinirvana

2011-09-29T11:22:00.004+05:30

Xuanzang and Fahein’s- Journey to Ananda’s Parinirvana Stupa

Fahein and Xuanzang both went to Ananda’s Parinirvana Stupa to pay their homage. While Xuanzang touched on two places in between, Fahein went directly to Ananda’s Parinirvana place from Vaishali. We have projected the descriptions of both pilgrimages on a GIS map in order to locate the sites mentioned by Fahein and Xuanzang (Fig-1).

Table- 1a- Matrix of sites described by Xuanzang and Fahein

From	to	Xuanzang		Fahein
		Distance	Direction	Distance	Direction
Vaishali	2nd Council (Place)	14-15 Li	SE
2nd Council Stupa	Swetpura	80-90 Li	S
Swetpura	Ananda Stupa	30 Li	SE
Vaishali	Ananda stupa			4Yojan	E

Fig-1- GIS Projection of Sites mentioned by Xuanzang and Fahein (table-1a & 1b)

From the GIS projection of Xuanzang’s description of places visited (Table 1a), we are able to deduct with a fair amount of certainty the most possible places that match those sites in the description (Table 1b). These places are the most appropriate places for the description available and the antiquities found at the site. Further scientific exploration and excavation is needed to reach any conclusion.

Table-1-b- Matrix of possible places

Place of 2^nd Council

The 2^nd Council meeting place was the first place mentioned by Xuanzang as he left Vaishali. This site is located 15 Li south-east of Vaishali. At the site of the council, he mentioned a great stupa (See fig. 2). According to Xuanzang, two different conversions of Li were given in his accounts.
15 Li is between 4.5km (1 Li=300 m) to 6 km (1 Li= 400 m)
Within this distance range from Vaishali, are located a group of villages, with Bhagwanpur (25° 56’ 39 N, 85° 07’ 16 E) being the most suitable place among them to match Xuanzang’s description. Bhagwanpur Village is settled on a big mound spread over a large area. In the western corner of the village is a tank (pond) and by its side is big stupa shaped mound (Fig 3 and 4). On top of the mound is a temple. The temple is very popular among the locals.

Fig-2- GIS Projection for Possible places for 2nd Council

Figure 3- The Stupa shaped Mound and temple on the top (Bhagwanpur)

Figure 4- The Tank by the temple west of Village Bhagwanpur

Swetpura Monastery and Ashokan Stupa

Eighty to ninety Li south of the 2^nd Council meeting place (Bhagwanpur) one arrives at Hajipur by the northern banks of the River Ganges. In the biography of Xuanzang, Swetpura Monastery is mentioned as 100 Li south of Vaishali (The Life of HIUEN-TSIANG by SHAMAN HWUI LI, S.Beal,-Book-III- P-101).With many ancient remains, Hajipur seems to be a promising site for the Swetpura Monastery. This site needs systematic study to locate the remains of the Swetpura monastery where Xuanzang collected the Bodhisattava-Pitaka (The Life of HIUEN-TSIANG by SHAMAN HWUI LI, S.Beal,-Book-III- P-101). Xuanzang mentioned that near the monastery was an Ashokan stupa marking the place where the Buddha looked back north to Vaishali as he was going south towards Magadha. The aerial distance (GIS) between Vaishali and Hajipur is 43 km and it is from here that Xuanzang crossed Ganges as mentioned in Life

Figure 5- GIS Map with the places discussed

Figure 6- Ramcahura Temple on top of a Stupa mound at Hajipur

Ananda Parinirvana Stupa

Ananda was the cousin of the Buddha and also his attendant. The Pali Canon is silent on Ananda's death, but the commentaries mention that Ananda lived one hundred and twenty years (DhA.ii.99 ;). He is bracketed with Bakkula, as having lived to a great age (AA.ii.596). The description of the Parinirvana of Ananda is mentioned by the pilgrims Fahein (The records of Buddhist kingdoms By James Legge, P- 89) and Xuanzang. Both of them mention the same story with minor differences, probably an old tradition which they were told here. As per the description of Fahien, when Ananda was on his way from Magadha to Vaishali, there to die, Ajatasattu heard that he was going, and, with his retinue, followed him up to the River (Ganges). The chiefs of Vesali (Vaishali) also heard the news and went out to meet him, and both parties reached the river banks. Ananda, not wishing to incur the displeasure of either party, entered into the state of Samadhi in the middle of the river and his body went up in flames (Fig-7). His remains were divided into two portions, one for each party, and they built a chetiya for the enshrinement. Xuanzang visited the half body relic stupas of Ananda at Vaishali and Rajgriha (Ref. Buddhist records of the western world- S. Beal, Book-VII, P-73, Book-IX, p-160).

Figure 7- Approaching army from both the sides and Ananda attaining Parinirvana in the middle of the River Ganges

Xuanzang and Fahein both visited Ananda’s parinirvana place from Vaishali (See fig-1). While Xuanzang came via Swetpura Monastery, Fahein came directly from Vaishali. Xuanzang gives a more elaborate description of the events behind the Parinirvana of Ananda and the Parinirvana itself. According to him, Ananda became the patriarch of the sangha after the Parinirvana of the Buddha and Maha Kassapa. Ananda guided the sangha from some monastery in the woods near Rajgriha. One day a monk on being reminded by Ananda to recite the true teachings of the Buddha replied, “Your reverence is of great age; your interpretation is of the words is mistaken one……” Ananda realized that the time for his parinirvana had come and he decided to attain parinirvana at Vaishali. And from here the story matches that of Fahein, except for a detail mentioned by Xuanzang that Ananda attained parinirvana in a boat in the River Ganges

The description by Xuanzang and Fahein further leads us at Chechar. Fahein says 4 Yojan east, but Chechar is actually 53 km (Aerial Distance) southeast of Vaishali. Fahein further adds that the place is also a confluence of five rivers. We find three major rivers meeting at Fathua and Chechar. River Gandak meets from North, the Ganges coming from West and Punpun joining Ganges from south. Satellite images suggest changing courses of the River Sone in past allowed it to join the Ganges near Fathua (Fig 7, Fig 15b). River Punpun was the main stream draining into Ganges near Fathua.

Antiquities of Chechar are well established and the finds suggests the place was once an important Buddhist centre; and probably a gateway to the trade route north of Ganges, connecting Vaishali and further North up to Kapilavastu. Floods and the changing course of the Rivers Ganges and Gandak have washed off the northern shore, revealing many antiquities. Shri Ram Pukar Singh who is working for the preservation and promotion of the heritage of Chechar has collected many of such antiquities in his private museum.

Figure 8- The North Bank of the River Ganges – Temple of Chechar in view

Figure 9- The shore cut by annual floods and the changing course of rivers

Figure 10- An ancient image of Buddha in the Temple by the river shore

Figure 11- Shri Ram Pukar Singh's Museum of Antiquities collected from Chechar

Figure 12- Listening to Shri Ram Pukar Singh Ji

Some precious antiquities at the Chechar Museum

Terracotta Head

Terracotta Bowl

Northern Black Polish Ware

Terracotta items

Xuanzang and Fahein mentioned stupas to mark the Parinirvana of Ananda on each bank of the River Ganges by the respective kings of Vaishali and Magadha. The kings received the half body relics of Ananda and built a relic stupa over them at Vaishali and Rajgriha. Shri Ram Pukar Singh has identified two stupas in the vicinity of Chechar and one of these could be the stupa marking the Parinirvana of Ananda. Both of the mounds are very big and are spread over a large area. The first mound is at Madurapur (85° 20’ 22” E 24° 37’ 49” N). The mound is 80 ft high and is spread over a 2 acre area (See fig. 12). At the top of the stupa mound is a modern temple constructed over lots of bricks dating from the Mauryan Period (2nd century BCE) (See fig. 13, 14). The second probable site for the Ananda Stupa is Bazidpur Mound (85° 22’ 43” E 24° 36’ 39” N) which is also very imposing (See fig. 15).

Figure 13- Madurapur Mound with temple on the top

Figure 14- Mauryan Bricks at the Madurapur mound

Figure 15- Bazidpur Mound with a school at the top

Fatehpur Diar (85° 20’ 28” E 24° 34’ 20” N) the site of Parinirvana of Ananda?

Fahein stated that Ananda attained his parinirvana in the middle of the river while Xuanzang mentioned that it happened in a boat in the middle of the Ganges. Both of the pilgrims wrote about the tradition of the time that Ananda attained Parinirvana in the middle of the river and, probably in a boat as mentioned by Xuanzang. Possibly this corruption of the story stems from it being told over the centuries interwoven with possible myths associated with the basic story of Ananda’s parinirvana. What seems more probable is that Ananda attained parinirvana on the island in between Chechar and Fathua, the two places on north and south banks of the Ganges. The island also called Diar and is a very large stretch of land between Chechar and Fathua which measures 35 km in length and 19 km wide. There are now more than 20 villages on Diar Island. While talking to the people of Fatehpur Village they revealed that the entire island gets flooded during the monsoons but that the Village Fatehpur remains the safest of all the villages of Diar because it is at a higher altitude than all the rest (Fig 16-a, b, c and d). There are no ancient antiquities on the surface to suggest ancient habitation; however, at the house of Shri Mundrika Singh ji, we received an unexpected surprise. He showed us some ancient bricks which were found in the course of the building of his house. They reused many of the bricks they unearthed in the process. There were thousands of such bricks some 15 to 20 ft below the surface. The size of the brick is 14” X 7.5” X 4.25” (fig 18, 19 and 20). The size of the brick and the depth of the find suggest these to be ancient bricks but further study is needed. It also suggests that a brick structure, most likely a stupa or something similar is buried deep in the earth. The location is in the exact path between Chechar and Fathua. Centuries of silting by successive floods have buried an ancient past, most probably a Buddhist one, and a stupa to mark the event of Parinirvana of Ananda.

Figure 16-a- Ananda’s Parinirvana Stupa site by the River Ganges

Figure 16 b – River confluence near Chechar (place of Ananda’s Parinirvana)

Figure 16 c – A large Island formed at the confluence of rivers. The Village Fatehpur is marked by a circle in the picture

Figure 16-d- The site of Ananda’s Parinirvana on the island; a stupa to mark this event is located at the north bank of the Ganges and the Chechar – Fathua transit points, in place since ancient times

Figure 17-Shri Mundrika Singh ji sharing folklore

Figure 18- Ancient Brick found at Fatehpur

Figure 20 – The Brick weighs more than 10 kg.

Figure 19 – Ancient bricks unearthed find many uses

References

Barabar group of hills under threat

2011-08-16T18:36:00.005+05:30

Irreversible Damage to the heritage of Barabar Hills
Times of India Reports

Ancient Magadha was a major centre of learning for seekers of the true teachings of the Buddha. The Magadha was abundant with Buddhist monasteries up through the 13th century CE, and most likely the place was collectively called “Vihara.” The contribution of this “Vihara” to the larger mankind, as we understand it, is in the very nascent stage. Because of the vastness of this heritage and its long history it is impossible to predict how long the research may take to estimate its contributions, and whether research of the “Vihara” can ever be considered “completed”. Hill ranges and isolated hills dotting the landscape of ancient Magadha are scattered with ancient remains of the sublime wanderings of the Buddha. Chinese monk scholar, Venerable Xuanzang (7^th century CE), provided description in his travelogue of some important places and events associated with the Buddha; many of these are associated with these hills.

The social, economical and political compulsions of recent times have put this long preserved and cherished heritage landscape under threat of extinction. “Legal”, illegal, “planned” and unplanned mining activities have created irreversible damage not only to the physical character of heritage places, but also to the social and economic structure of the area where the mining is happening. Hills are integral components of this landscape of the “Vihara”, and damage to these silent witnesses of cultural past of the “Vihara” will result in the loss of integrity and authenticity, thus diminishing the significance of the ‘Vihara.”

Beautiful landscape of Barabar group of hills......landscape an integral part of heritage

Surroundings of the Barabar hills

Barabar group of hills and its heritage

25° 0’ N, 85° 3’ E

Mahadeo Temple on the summit of Chhoti Barabar Hills is a very important pilgrimage centre for Hindus. In ancient times Badi and Chhoti Barabar Hills were part of the Buddhist pilgrimage as suggested by the Venerable Xuanzang’s travelogues. Xuanzang further talks about Gunamati Monastery and Shilabhadra Monastery which are identified with the ancient remains of Dharaut and Kuri Sarai Villages (Ref. Buddhist Records of the Western World- S. Beal, Book-VIII P-104). Kuri Sarai site is also a protected site by Archaeological survey of India. Apart from this, the Hill has seven rock-cut caves (Protected Sites of Archaeological Survey of India) and numerous important inscriptions. The Barabar group of hills and its surrounding area has many villages with documented and undocumented Buddhist remains. All together this makes the Barabar group of hills a unique heritage landscape. The rampant mining activities carried out in many of the hills of the Barabar group of hills have damaged the heritage fabric of the place and the once beautiful landscape is now replete with ugly scars. The cracks have already appeared in the rock-cut caves. The mining activities are only going to further aggravate the situation. These rock cut caves are the oldest polished caves in the world and a legacy of Ashoka the great (3^rd BCE).

An important pilgrimage centre for Hindus

Map of Barabar Group of Hills

Xuanzang's Route through Barabar Hills

Villages with Buddhist remains in Barabar Group of Hills

Buddhist images at Village Dakra

Stupa remains over the Dharawat hills

The Hills have seven Mauryan Rock cut caves

The Rock cut caves are already damaged.....mining will make situation worse

Village Kharauna with Buddhist remains

Village Makhpa with ancient remains

Heritage hills being Plundered

Pictures of damages spot 3 and 4 in this picture

Damages at Spot 3

Mining activities at Dakra Village

Helpless villagers ... mute spectators

Bodhgaya-Rajgir hill range

24° 47’ 57 N, 85° 8’ 23 E (Lat- Long of the place in Fig-7)

Bodhgaya- Rajgir Hill Range has many important places connected with the sublime wanderings of the Buddha. Bodhgaya, Pragbodhi, Tapobana, Buddhavana, Jethian, Rajgir and Giriyak Peak together make a perfect “Footsteps of the Buddha” heritage trail dotted with antiquities mentioned by Venerable Xuanzang. The mining activities here have permanently defaced these hills, leaving ugly scars. If these mining activities continue, some of these hills will disappear from the scene within a few months.

Xuanzang route through the Bodh Gaya-Rajgir Hills

The Hill on brink of extinction...

Hill at the Kari Matokhar village (Seikhpura District)

25° 7’ 49 N, 85° 48’ 28 E

The Seikhpura Hills as mentioned by Xuanzang should be the site of Kapotika Monastery (Ref. Buddhist records of the western world- S. Beal, Book-IX P-183,).The ancient remains of the Village Kari Matokhar suggest this place to be an important Buddhist centre in ancient times. The mining activities have completely destroyed the landscape of the place.

Xuanzang route through Rajgir to Seikhpura

Numerous broken Buddhist sculptures....speaking the past of the place

We should not forget that this landscape was a pious pilgrimage for the Buddhists from all over the world for more than 1500 years. These tangible and intangible remains of the “Footsteps of the Buddha” shall always be very sacred for the followers of the teachings of the Buddha. These remnants hold importance in forming not only the Bihar's heritage but also that of the World. Even the present knowledge and understanding about the Buddhist heritage of Bihar is compelling enough to protect, preserve and conceive a long-term, holistic, sustainable livelihood plan weaved around these heritage resources.

What we have lost is now lost for ever, there is a need to estimate the losses and defining the heritage zones that should be protected and preserved at any cost. Heritage zone doesn’t necessitate moving the local communities to another place but implies a long-term sustainable integrated development plan for such areas. We should remember Heritage is what we have been bequeathed with and it’s our collective responsibility and carries an obligation to pass it to posterity in most refined manner.

TIMES OF INDIA Reports....

Fahein and Xuanzang – North of the Ganges

2011-07-24T10:10:00.001+05:30

Retracing the “Echoes of the Footsteps of the Buddha”, in Bihar, with the Fahein and Xuanzang has reached us to set of places north of Ganges (Table-1). Both the Pilgrims have almost taken the same route and same set of places (Fig-1 and 2). A comparison of pilgrimage of both the Pilgrims gives us opportunity to “read” the minds of Xuanzang and Fahien, i.e. their sense of distance and direction and what they found worth detailing. These set of places has received maximum attention by the explorers and archaeologists in last two centuries.

Figure 1-The Xuanzang's Travel North of Ganges in Bihar-Nepal

Figure 2-The Fahein's Travel North of Ganges in Bihar-Nepal

There is a two century gap between their pilgrimages. This time gap between the pilgrimages of Fahein and Xuanzang gives us an opportunity to observe the different time periods and the demography of the villages and sites of their pilgrimage. A difference in their ages at the time of their pilgrimage was also reflected in their written accounts; Fahein was a monk in his sixties when he took the pilgrimage and Xuanzang was in his twenties. While Xuanzang had visited a greater number of sites and left a greatly detailed travelogue, Fahein most likely visited and documented only places of great importance to the pilgrimage. Another important difference is the unit of measurement they used to mark distances. Xuanzang converted the distance into the Chinese equivalent “Li,” a more stable measurement, while Fahein used the Indian measurement unit “Yojan,” for the long distances, a vague measurement which varies from place to place. For smaller distances Fahein has used “Li”, this could mean he collected information for the long distances on hearsay and he estimated the short distance by himself. There could be some difference in their detailing for Xuanzang was already acquaint with Sanskrit when he visited India but Fahein learnt Sanskrit at Patliputra, i.e. almost at the end of his pilgrimage.
Tangible and intangible remains of the Ancient pilgrimage were buried in layers of biomass and puzzles that required to be deciphered layer by layer. The first explorers had very limited sources and insufficient tools to analyze information. Before moving further we briefly take a look at the growth of the understanding about the “Li” and “Yojan”, in recent times. A correct approximation for “Li” and “Yojan” was always very crucial for the explorers and archaeologist for correct identification of places and making of the Map of Ancient Pilgrimage (also India). The understanding about the “Li” and “Yojan” depended a lot on the understanding of demography, flood, rivers and land-use pattern during the time of Pilgrimage and when the process of rediscovery started.

Value of Li and Yojan

These are some values of Li and Yojan estimated by Orientalists and early explorers (Table-2) (Source- Ancient Geography of India, by Alexander Cunningham)

Fahien recorded places in “Yojan.” “Yojan” and “Kos” are the Indian units for measurement of long distances. Xuanzang gave the equivalent of “Yojan” in terms of “Li”. He stated that traditionally one Yojan equaled 40 Li, but at the time of his visits, it was only 30 Li, but Xuanzang doesn’t mention which equivalent (30 or 40 Li) was used by him.

Li- is a traditional measurement unit in China which found its origin in 2600 BC by the Yellow Emperor. Its values have changed with various historical periods where, for instance, 1 Li amounted to 644 meters during the Qing Dynasty. At the time of Xuanzang when the Tang Dynasty (618- 907 AD) was in power, the value was approximately 323 mt. The present value of One Li is 500 mt.

Yojan - was the longest unit of measurement employed in ancient India and had many different meanings. Yojan, emanating from Yoga, was used to indicate the distance a cow could pull a cart. Xuanzang in his “Travels” accounts has elaborately defined the measurement units existing in India during that point of time. Yojan according to him was the distance covered by a royal army in a single day. Clearly, the Yojan value differed in different places at different times. Yojan was further divided into Krosa. Krosa or Kos, for example, meant the distance at which a cow could be heard. One “Kos” for a Buddhist monk meant the distance of an ideal place to live (monastery) from a village.

Jain tradition= 1 Yojan= 4 Kos=9 miles

As per Kautaliya’ Arthasastra 4 Kos= 1 Yojan= 9 Miles

Table 2- Value of Li and Yojan by different orientalists

	Contributors	Unit	Value	Region
1	Auriel Stein	1 Yojan	6 Miles	Uniformly
2	Samuel Beal	4 -5 Li	1 Mile	Uniformly
3	Cunningham	6 Li	1 Mile, 1 Li= 372 m	Magadha Region
4	T.W.Rhys. Davids	1 Yojan	7-8 Miles	Uniformly
5	Kittoe	1 Yojan	4 Kos	Magadha Region
6	Cunningham	1 Yojan	7-8 Miles	Uniformly
7	Beal	1 Yojan	4 Miles	Magadha Region

Cunningham’s Estimation

Let us now study how Cunningham came to his values based on his observations. Limited from the available technology at the time, Alexander Cunningham determined the values by calculating an average distance between places a set distance apart. Cunningham went into the roots of traditional measurement systems and calculated both the values of “Li” and “Yojan.” He corroborated the values with the real distance in miles between the places mentioned by Fahien and Xuanzang. While Fahien recorded distance in “Yojan” and Xuanzang used “Li”, in order to estimate the measurements of “Li” and “Yojan,” Cunningham recorded the distance between popular sites and found the equivalent of Li and Yojan in terms of meters and miles by calculating averages.

From	To	Fahien	Xuanzang
Sravasti	Kapila	13 Yojan	500Li
Kapila	Kushinagar	12 Yojan	485 Li
Nalanda	Giriyak	1 Yojan	58 Li
Vaishali	Ganges	4 Yojan	135 Li
	Total	30 Yojan	1178 Li

1 Yojan= 39.25 Li

From	To	Fahien	British roads
Bheda	Mathura	80 Yojan	536 Miles
Mathura	Saniska	18 Yojan	115.75 Miles
Saniska	Kanauj	7 Yojan	50 Miles
Banaras	Patna	22 Yojan	152 Miles
Patna	Champa	18 Yojan	136.5 Miles
Champa	Tamluk	50 Yojan	316 Miles
Nalanda	Giriyak	1 Yojan	9 Miles
	Total	196 Yojan	779.25 Miles

1 Yojan of Fahien = 6.71 Miles

From	To	Xuanzang	British Roads
Madawar	Govisn	400Li	66 Miles
Koshambi	Kusapura	700 Li	114 Miles
Sravasti	Kapila	500 Li	85 Miles
Kushinagar	Banaras	700 Li	120 Miles
Banaras	Ghazipur	300Li	48 Miles
Ghazipur	Vaishali	580 Li	103 Miles
	Total	3360 Li	567 Miles

1 Mile= 5.925 Li, 1 Li = 329 Meters

1 Li of Xuanzang (Cunningham’s Estimation) = 329 mts= 0.169 miles

All later explorers and archaeologists have used the values mentioned by Cunningham as a standard. But the calculation by Cunningham was based on assumptions that were faulty. One basic mistake in the calculation done by Cunningham is that Fahien never visited Nalanda Mahavihara instead he talks about Nala, the birth place of Sariputra. And Sariputra’s birth place as per Xuanzang was 20 Li southeast of the meeting place of Bimbisara and Buddha, which is around 14 Li southwest of Nalanda Mahavihara. Hence, the place of Nalanda mentioned for the comparison is different for Fahien and Xuanzang. Also, he assumes Giriyak as being the site of Indrasaila Guha which is again wrong as the Indrasaila Guha was later identified near Parwati Village which is further northeast of Giriyak. Therefore, it is unclear how Cunningham comes up with the figure of 58 Li between Nalanda to Giriyak.

“Li” and “Yojan” using Geographic information System (GIS)

Research is a dynamic process. As improved technology in recent times becomes available, we can now calculate a better approximation for “Li” and “Yojan.” With an available set of identified places, we shall estimate the values using the Geographic Information System (GIS) tools.

We have two set of established places visited by Fahein and here we can use GIS tools to find a value of Fahein’s Yojan.

Table 3- GIS estimation for Fahein

From	to	Yojan	Minimum Distance (GIS Estimate)	Average
Patliputra	Parwati	9	69 km	7.5 km
Parwati	Rajgriha	2	25 km	12.5 km

For Xuanzang’s value of Li, we use three sets of places visited by Xuanzang and the corresponding minimum distances between these places.

Table 4- GIS estimation for Xuanzang

From	To	Xuanzang’s measure	Min Distance (GIS Estimate)	Average
Nalanda	Telhada	3Y	27 km	1 Y= 9 Kms
Jethian	Tapobana	10 Li	3 km	1 Li= 330 m
New Fort, Rajgriha	Nalanda	30 Li	14 km	1 Li= 520 m

We find that the values vary to a large extant even for small distances. Most likely, we have not accounted for the specifics around land use and pack and track routes of ancient times. We also cannot discount the fact that the measurements listed in the accounts may have been merely approximations based on hearsay and not actual measurements made by the monks themselves.

Instead of one fixed value of Li and Yojan we shall use a buffer of values (one Minimum and one Maximum) for calculation purpose.

For Li we shall have

1 Li= 300 Mts (Min) - 400Mts (Max)

1 Yojan= 8 Miles (Min) – 10 Miles (Max)

We have tabulated the Description of Xuanzang and Fahein from Sravasti to Ananda’s parinirvana place, just to compare their individual approaches. We observe Xuanzang has given detailed description of the relics and events associated with the place.

From Table-5, we find Xuanzang talks more about the contributions of King Ashoka at all the pilgrimage places, Fahein mentions King Ashoka only at Ramagrama i.e. when Raja Ashoka open the stupa to remove the Relics for rising the 84000 Stupas. Another important difference is their accounting of the inscribed Ashokan pillars. Fahien is completely silent about the tall inscribed pillars except at the Alms Bowl Stupa (on his way to Vaishali, and of which Xuanzang is silent). Why did Fahein fail to mention these imposing conspicuous pillars, which Xuanzang says were inscribed with the historic events occurring at those sites? One possible reason could be that the pillars were inscribed with Ashokan Brahmi, a script that was more than 600 years old, and which Fahein was unable to read or find a translator to read it to him.

Vaishali and around

2011-06-20T19:26:00.001+05:30

After traveling through Chen-chu (Ghazipur), Xuanzang arrived at Vaishali from Sarnath. The capital city Vaishali, 60-70 Li in circuit, was in ruins with very few inhabitants as described by Xuanzang (Life- Book-III, P-100). Within the city there was a royal precinct 4 to 5 Li in circuit. Based on the description by Xuanzang, the remains of Raja Vishal Ka Garh (Fig-1) have been identified as the Royal Precinct.
Read More- Li and Yojan

Xuanzang's journey to Vaishali

A. Area of the Royal Precinct= 4 to 5 Li (Mean is 4.5 Li)

1 Li= 350 m (approximately)

Total circumference of the city in metres= 4.5 (Li) X 350 m= 1575 metres

2 X π X R = 1575 m

2 X 3.14 X R= 1575 m

Radius of the capital city (R) = 250 m

Figure 1 - Royal Precinct, marked by a 250m radius circle on the toposheet

B- Area of the capital city- 60- 70 Li (mean is 65 Li)

1 Li= 350 m (approximately)

Total circumference of the city in metres= 65 X 350 m= 22750 metres

2 X π X R = 22750 m

Radius of the capital city= 3622 m

Figure 2- GIS projection of the capital city based on Xuanzang’s description

Figure 3- Royal Precinct, capital city and present habitation

Figure 4- Satellite image of the Capital City

If we plot a circle with radius of 3622 m around the royal precinct we can draw the approximate area/boundary of the palace city, Vaishali. (Fig-2).

Today, we find many present-day villages that are actually part of the ancient capital city, old foundations of which were seen by Xuanzang in the 7^th CE (Fig-3).

Reviewing the descriptions of Vaishali and the surrounding area by Xuanzang and Fahein, we can identify six major points of interest visited by these monk pilgrims (see tables 3, 4, 5). At the time of Xuanzang, Vaishali was already in a dilapidated condition. Two hundred years before Xuanzang, Fahein found the entire area engulfed by forest. The descriptions of both Xuanzang and Fahein are tabulated in Table-2, below. In the tables below the places visited have been grouped together and numbered. In column one of Table 2, nine different groups of sites have been identified. These are 1) Royal Precinct, 2) Sangharama, 3) Chakramdas, 4) Kolhua, 5) Basokund, 6) Buddha Stupa, 7) Bowl Stupa, 8) Stupa for Chakarvartin Raja and 9) Stupa for 2^nd council.

A careful observation of Xuanzang’s descriptions from his “Life” and “Travels” reveals that he stayed in a Sangharama (2^nd Group) in Vaishali and traveled from this point to the other sites (see Table 3). Outside of the capital city of Vaishali, Xuanzang mentions the Royal Precinct as his point of reference. The description of the Ashokan Pillar (4^th Group – Kolhua) is well established beyond any doubt and is thus used as our reference point for GIS distance measurement.

Fahein, when compared to Xuanzang’s pilgrimage did not record visiting sites in groups 1, 2, 4, and 5. Fahein who described this area of Vaishali as a dense forest, only focused on sites around the Buddha Stupa (6^th Group), as is evident in Table 2. Column 2 describes the movement (From-To) of Xuanzang within Vaishali and places outside Vaishali.

Table 2- Matrix of Description of Fahein and Xuanzang

Table 3- Analysis of the Xuanzang's Description

Archaeological Profile based on the accounts published in Directory of Bihar Archaeology- B. P Sinha, Page-210 to 226

Phases of excavations at Vaishali and around began with a systematic excavation in 1903-04 by Bloch, followed by Spooner in 1913-14. A large excavation covering a wide area resumed in 1958 through 1962. This excavation was carried out by K.P Jayaswal Research Institute under Dr. A.S Altekar and S.R. Rai. Tabulated below in Table-4 is the summary of excavations at various sites.

The excavations were partial and in most of the cases just trail trenches were taken to ascertain the earliest settlements pattern. As evident from the table, more is still needed to be done. Except for the Relic Stupa (Table-4) and the Royal Precinct (Raja Vishal ka Gadh) most of the other places require further systematic excavation work.

Figure 5-GIS Projection of Xuanzang’s Description (Vaishali)


Figure 6- GIS projection of Xuanzang’s Description on Toposheet

Figure 7 - Archaeological Profile of Vaishali based on Excavation reports

Place-1- Royal Precinct

Lat and Long- 26° 59’ 12 N, 85° 7’ 34 E

The identification of Raja Vishal ka Gadh (the Mound of King Vishal) as the remains of the Royal Precinct was done by A. Cunningham in 1861-62 (ASI, AR-1, p-98-185) on the basis of Xuanzang’s description. Excavations carried out by Bloch (ASI, AR-1903-04, p-18) and Spooner (ASI, AR-1913-14, p-55-56) found much secular sealing and a few seals from the 3^rdcentury BCE suggest this to be an ancient site. Excavations in 1950 by Krishnadeva revealed two different phases of fort construction. The earlier phase was resting on a layer of NBPW (northern black polished ware) and some PGW (painted grey ware) shreds were found. All of the finds indicate that this site was a vibrant place in the 6^th century BCE (Ref- Directory of Bihar Archaeology- B. P Sinha, P- 211).

Figure 8 -Satellite image of the remains of the Royal Precinct

Figure 9- Excavated Remains at the Royal Precinct of Vaishali

Figure 10- Raja Vishal ka Gadh (Royal Precinct mentioned by Xuanzang

2^nd Group of places- Chakramdas

Lat & Long- 26° 59’ 42 N, 85° 6’ 31 E

Table 5- 2nd Group of Places

The village, Chakramdas, is settled over an ancient mound. At the centre of the village is a high mound called “Nonkhar”, by the villagers. The Nonkhar is a stupa shaped mound almost 30 ft high at the centre and quite possibly one of the stupas mentioned by Xuanzang. Explorations by P.C Mukherji in 1897 and Bloch in 1903 (Ref-The Antiquarian remains of Bihar, D.R. Patil p-29) were done to establish the link between the account by Xuanzang and the antiquities found in this surrounding area. Some excavation in the village Chakramdas revealed it to be a very ancient village with occupational deposits dating between 500 BCE and 500 CE.

Figure 11- 2nd group of Places- Village Chakramdas

Figure 12 -Surface Potsherds of the Village Chakramdas

Figure 13- High stupa-like mound at the centre of the Village Chakramdas

3^rd Group of places—Relic Stupa
Lat and Long- 26° 59’ 47 N, 85° 7’ 1 E

Based on the description of Xuanzang, excavations were carried out at this site from 1958 to 1962. The highlights of the excavations were,

The mound was 2’ 10” high and 50’ in diameter
The mound was disturbed and brick robbing were reported
The stupa was built from layers of piled-up mud.
Stupa was enlarged with new bricks four times after its initial construction
Seven layers were demarcated
The 4^th (also last) enlargement took place in the 1^stcentury CE, 3^rd enlargement in the 2^nd century BCE, 2nd enlargement in the 3^rd century BCE, and 1st enlargement took place from 350-250 BCE, and the finds suggest the stupa was built in 550-660 BCE.
A relic casket was found during the course of excavation, it contained only ashes with some earth, and one punched marked coin, two glass beads, one conch, and one thin small piece of gold.
Excavations revealed that the casket was removed from its original place and redeposit at a higher height during the first enlargement. (Ref- Directory of Bihar Archaeology- B. P Sinha, P- 212-13)
Excavation around the relic stupa suggests there was a change in the river bed of the River Gandak around 100 CE. Because the relic stupa was surrounded by the river for a long period of time, the foundations of the stupa were undermined (Fig-15, 16 and 17).

Figure 14 Excavated remains of the Relic Stupa

Figure 15- Old river beds as visible in the satellite image

Figure 16- Old river beds of the River Gandak in and around ancient Vaishali

Figure 17- Excavation in progress at Relic Stupa (in 1958-1962) (Pic-Courtesy ASI)

4^th Group of Places- Kolhua
Lat and Long 26° 0’ 46 N, 85° 6’ 29 E

Table 6- 4th Group of Places

The Ashokan Pillar was first reported by Mr. Law in January 1784. A sketch was made by J. R. Elphinstone in 1814 and the first descriptive account of this pillar was published by Stephenson in 1835. In 1861 and 1880 Cunningham executed detailed exploration and provided some substantial data about the site in consonance with Xuanzang’s travelogue.

Figure 18- Ashokan Pillar and Stupas at Kolhua Site

As per the local tradition, the pillar was a walking stick of the legendary mythological character Bhimsen of epic Mahabharata. Excavation revealed the pillar with the lion capital to be 12.65 m, highly polished except for the lower portion 1.68 m from the base. The lion capital measures 3’ 6”. The stupa and the tank mentioned by Xuanzang have been successfully excavated.

Cunningham in 1861 found a sanyasi settled down near the pillar with a small residence and a court-yard enclosing the pillar (Fig-20). Prior to Cunningham, Stephenson mentioned in 1835 a similar account of this being converted to a place of worship. The pillar when discovered was just 18’ exposed in the court-yard of a 10’ high mound. (Ref-The Antiquarian remains of Bihar, D.R. Patil p-210-213)

Figure 19- Excavation in progress at Kolhua

Figure 20- First images of Ashokan pillar as discovered in 19th century(Courtsey-ASI)

5^th Group of Places - Basokund
Lat & Long- 26° 0’ 24 N, 85° 7’ 47 E

Table 7- 5th Group of Place

Xuanzang’s description takes us to a place called Basokund. This place has no visible remains like mounds and surface pottery from ancient times. V. Smith in his report has suggested the villages Chak Abora and Abu Chak as places to look for this set of places mentioned by Xuanzang. Both of the villages are in the immediate surrounding area of Basokund. Basokund is an important pilgrimage place for Jains, the followers of the Lord Mahavira. Jains’ believe that the Lord Mahavira birth place Kundalgrama and his village Vaniyagrama to be in this locality. The village Bania (near Basokund) has revealed some Jaina antiquities as mentioned by V. Smith. Hoernle has identified Basokund as Kundalgrama (Ref-The Antiquarian remains of Bihar, D.R. Patil p-34). But the most appropriate site for the Xuanzang description is Village Birpur (5-A) in Fig-22.This place has very rich antiquities suggesting it was a flourishing habitation site in ancient times (See table-3). Village Birpur and immediate surrounding are the most appropriate places for the Amrapali House and Vimalakirti House.

Figure 21- Jain Pilgrimage centre at Basokund

Figure 22- GIS projection of Xuanzang’s description

6^th Group of Places
Lat and Long -26° 1’ 24 N, 85° 5’ 59 E

Table 8- 6th Group of Places

This group of places (Table-8) is mentioned in detail by Fahein and Xuanzang. Fahein probably did not visit further east towards the Relic Stupa and Ashokan Pillar site. Both of the pilgrims mentioned the multitude of relics from Buddha’s time in this area and a few prominent relics were described in great detail by both the pilgrims. Fahein suggests the 6^th group of places to be outside the “City”, and we see village Bakhra is outside the “Capital City”, described by Xuanzang (Fig-23). Another evidence for Bakhra group of mounds to be appropriate for the 6th group of description (Table-8) is that this group mentions about the stupa to mark Buddha taking last glace at the Vaishali city as he left for Kushinara, and, this place should obviously be outside the city area as Bakhra is. The ancient remains at Bakhra Village is full of mounds and ancient remains, but the whole mound of Bakhra is now occupied by houses and modern structures. Few mounds in the vicinity are still prominent and it is possible that these high mounds are actually remains of the ancient stupas described by both the pilgrims.
Bakhra group of Mounds

Whole of the Bakhra Village is actually a big mound with a few mound very prominent suggesting to be some stupa remains. We identified 8 such stupa shaped mounds in the village as mentioned in map Fig-24 to 26. The ancient remains in shape of mound (Fig as 27 to32) are amid habitation and are in very bad shape.

Fig-23- Bakhra Group of places same as mentioned by Fahein

Fig-24- Identified Mound in Bakhra village

Fig-25- A closer view of placement of Mounds

Fig-26- The Mound placement on the Toposheet

Figure 27- Aerial View of Stupa 1 and 2 of Fig 24 -26

Figure 28- view from East of Stupa 1 and 2 of Fig 24-26 (Bakhra)

Figure 29- Mound 7 & 8 of Fig no-24-26

Figure 30- Mound no-6 of Fig 24-26

Figure 31- Mound 3 of Fig- 24-26

Figure 32- Mound 5 of Fig 24-26

Fahein’s “City”
The description by Fahein has some confusion regarding the direction and distances of the places. He has grouped the double-galleried Vihara and Ananda’s half body relic tope together and has placed them north of “City.” Whereas Xuanzang has placed both of them NW of the Sangharama (2 in Fig-23), and the Sangharama is 3-4 Li N of the Royal Precinct (1 in Fig 23). Ideally both of the stupas should be 12 to 15 Li NW from the Royal Precinct. This puts a question mark as to what Fahein means when he mentions “City.” Both of the stupas being discussed are part of the 6^th Group of places (6 in Fig 23), and in fig-23 we find it should be outside the palace city. Fahein in his description has mentioned the three group of places (stupas and structures) that he mention with respect to “City” (Table-9), but Xuanzang places all three sets (of Fahein) of places in 6^th group of places NW of the Royal Precinct (6 in Fig 23).

Xuanzang’s 6^th Group of places (Fig 23)

Based on Xuanzang’s description, we have many suppositions for the movement of Xuanzang in this locality ((6 in Fig 23). His description is not very elaborate to clearly match it with the stupa mound at the present Bakhra village, as there are 8 prominent high mounds still existing in the Bakhra region (6 in Fig 23). They may be related in some way to the prominent structure discussed by Xuanzang. As we move from the 2^nd group of places, i.e. Chakramdas Village (remains of Sangharama, 2 in Fig 23); we encounter two stupas adjacent to each other (1 and 2 in fig 24 to 28). The distance and direction mentioned by Xuanzang hints this to be the stupa to mark Buddha’s last glance at Vaishali City. But Xuanzang doesn’t mention about any other stupa adjacent to this and both of the stupas are prominent structures and deserved to be mentioned by Xuanzang. In his description of structures in this vicinity he mentioned only once about two stupas found near together which were the stupa by Ambapali Vihara and the stupa to mark the Buddha’s announcement of his parinirvana. We can have two suppositions; both of the suppositions is to identify stupa 1 and 2 (fig-24 to 28) with Xuanzang’s description. This is because both of the stupas are clearly demarcated from the cluster of stupas in the middle of the Bakhra village. Any specific identification of stupas in the cluster is difficult in the present day scenario without any descriptive history or excavations. In the first supposition, Xuanzang moves north to the corner of the cluster from the 2^nd Group of places (Chakramdas Village) and reaches stupa 1 & 2 (Fig-33 & 34) at the end. In this case, stupa 1 and 2 are stupas G and H of table 8.Xuanzang moves further northwest from this point. In the 2^nd supposition he reaches stupa 1 and 2 (Fig-35) first and in 2nd supposition stupa 1 or 2 is stupa A of table 8.

Figure 33- Supposition-1 (Xuanzang’s description)

Figure 34- Supposition 1, (Xuanzang’s Description)

Figure 35- Supposition 2 (Xuanzang’s Description)

The Bakhra which as per Xuanzang’s description should be in the 6^th Group of places is a large area and the mounds are scattered among this large area. We find that, in and around Vaishali, Fahein’s “East”, conflicts with Xuanzang’s “South.” For example, as per Xuanzang, Ananda’s Parinirvana place should be southeast of Vaishali but Fahein mention this to be east. The “Bowl Stupa” as per Xuanzang should be northwest of Vaishali but Fahein mentions this to be west of Vaishali.

One thing evident from Fahein’s description is that he visited only the 6^th Group of places (Fig-23) and did not visit the rest of the groups of sites, which were amid dense forest or surrounded by water. We have tried to group Fahein’s description and match it with Xuanzang’s description in order to reach some conclusion about the “City” mentioned by Fahein (Table 9).

Table 9- Fahein’s description clubbed with Xuanzang’s description

At the core of the puzzle of Fahein’s description is “Ambapali Vihara,” which according to him was in the “City.” Xuanzang described Ambapali twice: first mentioning Ambapali’s residence in the 5^th group of places (Fig-23) and again him mentioning Ambapali’s garden and Vihara in the 6^th Group of places (fig-23). In the City area, Xuanzang talks about one monastery in 2^nd group of places (Fig-23). Fahein possibly stayed at Ambapali Vihara that was in “City”, and he visited other places from the Ambapali Vihara in “City”. Xuanzang also stayed in a monastery and he too mentions the places in reference to the Sangharama (2 in Fig 23). This Sangharama where Xuanzang stayed is part of the “Palace City” area as per the Xuanzang description (Fig 23). It is possible both the Pilgrims stayed in the same monastery and that Fahein made a mistake in taking note because if we take Fahein’s “Ambapali Vihara” to be the same as Xuanzang’s Sangharama (monastery) in the 2^nd Group of places a comparative conclusion can be reached. Also in that case, the distances and direction mentioned by Fahein for his places are in agreement with Xuanzang’s description.

Table 10- Building on the Fahein’s description

The table-10 is prepared with the premise that Xuanzang’s Sangharama (2nd Group of places, Fig-23) is the same as the “Ambapali Vihara” described by Fahein (Fig-36).

We observe stupa “C”, described by Xuanzang is aligned “3 Li northwest” and “3 Li south,” as well.
It appears that stupa D, E, C and B of Xuanzang are in close proximity and among the stupas D, E, C and B, “D” is at the north, “B” is in south and “E” and “C” in between.
Stupas G and H of Xuanzang appear to be in a direction east of stupas D, E, C and B.
Stupas A and A1 of Fahein are nearest to the “City” and this goes well with Supposition-1 for Xuanzang description fig no-34
The Table suggests that Fahein’s “South” should not be an actual “South”, but rather relative to the structures as “Northwest.” The premise for this observation is that stupa “C” of Xuanzang is in both of the groups “northwest of the City” and “south of the City” groups described by Fahein.

Based on the match between Fahein and Xuanzang description (table-10) we have a conjecture of the Stupa alignment for the Fahein’s description in Fig- 36.We tabulate the suppositions and findings to find most appropriate alignment of the mounds (Ancient remains) of Bakhra village:

Figure 36- Fahein’s Description for Vaishali

Description of 7^th, 8^th and 9^th group of Places

Table 11

7^th and 8^th group of places from Table 8
“Alms-Bowl Offering” of Licchavis and Stupa of the “Chakarvartin Raja”

Although the event of the “Bowl Offering” is not mentioned in the Mahaparinirvana Sutta, both of the pilgrims mentioned the “Bowl Offering” place of the Licchavis but with very little unanimity in their accounts as to the actual site. The exception is that both pilgrims agree on the story of the event. As per the story, the Licchavis of Vaishali accompanied the Buddha on his last journey to Kushinara despite the Buddha requesting them to return back. They would not go back and at reaching this point, the Buddha offered the Licchavis his alms-bowl as a pledge of his regard. Xuanzang mentions a great stupa erected at the place of this event. Fahein visited the “Bowl offering” place while on his way from Kushinara to Vaishali. “Bowl offering” as per Fahein description is almost equidistant from Kushinara and Vaishali. He traveled 12 Yojan from Kushinara to reach the Bowl offering place and found a Stone Pillar engraved with the sequence of events and he is silent about the Stupa. He traveled 10 Yojan further to reach Vaishali. Xuanzang on the other hand gives his description of the “Bowl offering” and further the “Chakarvartin Raja” stupa from Vaishali. While Fahein is silent about any stupa at this place, Xuanzang is silent about any Pillar at the place. Xuanzang’s Biography by Hwui Li (Life) doesn’t mention Xuanzang visiting these stupas but his “Records of Western Regions,” (Travels) has a description of these stupas as “Great.” We cannot deny the possibility of Xuanzang not visiting the place himself but possibly collected the information from people in Vaishali (as he did many other times in his travelogue).

In the direction mentioned by Xuanzang and Fahein lie two big Stupas at Keshariya and Nandangarh and two pillars at Areraj and Nandangarh. The question is which place among this fits both Xuanzang’s and Fahein’s descriptions. We will first explore Fahein’s description of two stone pillars between Rampurwa (Kushinara) and Vaishali. The first pillar is at Lauriya Nandangarh and the second at Areraj.

Table 12- Distances between places for Fahein’s Bowl offering Pillar

The value of “Yojan” varies from 8 km to 10 km. For our purposes, we will use the estimated distance of 9 km equals 1 Yojan and 350 m equals 1 Li.

Fahein traveled 12 Yojan SE to reach the “Alms-bowl” stone pillar, or 108 km, which fits perfectly for Rampurwa to Areraj (103 km) (Table 12, Fig-37). But from the Bowl Stupa, he traveled 10 Yojans to reach Vaishali, or about 90 kilometers. The actual distance between Areraj and Vaishali is only 53 kilometers. This discrepancy may have been due to the different demography of the time. Other factors may have been Fahein’s age (in his 60s). We do know that Fahein made other such errors in his details about other places he described.

Areraj Pillar is an inscribed pillar but according to Fahein’s records the inscription mention about the event of “Alms-bowl offering”. While script had changed a lot in the centuries between Ashokan Brahmi (3^rd century BCE, when it was inscribed) and the Gupta Brahmi (5th century CE when Fahein visited), there is a possibility that nobody with Fahein could read the inscription and so he may have just mentioned the tradition already existing at the place.

Xuanzang mentioned the “Alms-bowl” Stupa to be 50-60 Li northwest; or 20 kilometers. In this case Keshariya Stupa is very far (48 km) (table-12, Fig-37).

There can be two possibilities

The Bowl Stupa is somewhere between Keshariya and Vaishali and the place needs more investigation. But we have to always remember Xuanzang says this stupa to be a “Great” Stupa suggesting big size of the structure.
We have to consider the fact that Xuanzang mentions a great Stupa, and Keshariya stupa (Fig-40) is the first big stupa we encounter as we move out of Vaishali towards the Kushinara. Also in his “Biography”, there is no mention about these two stupas. These two stupas find mention in his “Records” and it is possible that he may not have visited the place himself but as a devout pilgrim for record purpose, he just collected the best of information as possible at Vaishali. And if we take this with Fahein’s description of an inscribed pillar at the place, then Keshariya stands a fair chance because an inscribed pillar at Areraj is just 5 kilometers from the Keshariya Stupa and these structures are part of the same area.

Figure 37- Kushinara to Vaishali

Figure 38- Areraj Pillar

Figure 39- Inscription over the Areraj pillar

Figure 40- Keshariya Stupa (More than 110 Ft High)

Figure 41- Nandangarh Pillar

Stupa of Chakarvartin Raja

Xuanzang mentions about another great stupa 200 Li NW of Vaishali. This stupa has some connection with Jataka where the Buddha as a Bodhisattva was king called Mahadeva of this place. Xuanzang says this city to be “old and long-deserted”.

Cunningham in his report has suggested the Keshariya stupa to be more appropriate for the description. Our study suggests Keshariya to be more appropriate for the Alms-bowl stupa and Lauriya Nandangarh stupa (Fig-43) best suited for the 2^nd stupa i.e. “Chakarvartin Raja” stupa. As per the Xuanzang’s description this was 200 Li North-west, this is approximately 70 Kms (@ 350 Mts/ Li) and the distance between Nandangarh Stupa and Vaishali is 105 Kms, need not mention we have already discussed Xuanzang probably didn’t visit the place himself and collected the information at Vaishali, hence an error for distance should be discounted. The vast ancient antiquities spread in Nandangarh suggest this to be a very ancient place and fits the description. The place has many ancient Burial stupas (Fig-42) from Vedic times as suggested by the excavations here. The place also boasts of an Ashokan Pillar suggesting this to be an important place possibly a trade route.

The big Buddhist stupa in the middle of the city suggests this to be an important stupa to mark some important event as Xuanzang has mentioned.

Figure 42- Cluster of Burial Stupas at Nandangarh

Figure 43- Nandangarh Stupa

Reaching the Dhamma land

2011-06-06T12:27:00.001+05:30

Of the early Buddhist pilgrimage to India from China and the surrounding areas, very few written records were actually left by the pilgrims. Even if they had left some records, these most likely would have been lost during persecution of the religion by hostile monarchs. Only the most important records like those of Fahein, Xuanzang and I-Tsing were preserved since over the centuries they were reproduced by many monasteries spread throughout Japan, Korea and China. Many kings also had these records reprinted and edited because they contained very important information about places of interest to them.

The latest evidence suggests that Buddhism made inroads into China in the 3^rdcentury BCE with Emperor Ming (58–75 CE) precipitating the first introduction of Buddhist teachings into China. Without any evidence to suggest when the pilgrimage from China to Mid-India actually began, we do have the pilgrimage record made by Fahein and a group of monks in 399 CE which suggests that already by the 5^th century CE there was an established pilgrimage route reaching the “Main-land” (India). Around 250 CE, we find mention of Chi-Meng visiting to Hwa-Chi (Patliputra). Chi-Meng was from Turfan and took pilgrimage to Patliputra to collect the manuscript “Seng-Ki-Liuh” (Rules of Priesthood) (Ref. Travels of Fah-Hian and Sung-Yun Translated by S. Beal, P-XXV- Introduction). It was probably not until the 3rd century CE that the Buddhist pilgrimage left its nascent stages, when monks would take the journey along the trade route to the western region to learn, collect and experience the Dhamma. This pilgrimage lasted until the 13^th century when the Dhamma slowly disappeared from the land of its origin. The records of the last official reported pilgrimages to the western regions are in 965 CE, when monk Tai-Yuen took the pilgrimage and returned with relics and a Sanskrit manuscript written on palm leaves. In that same year about 157 monks took permission from the emperor to visit India (Ref. Travels of Fah-Hian and Sung-Yun Translated by S. Beal, P-XLVI- Introduction).

The route taken by the pilgrims was often based on the most convenient way to reach the mainland of the Dhamma. Prominent monks who left records of their pilgrimage to India wrote about the routes that they took, such as I-Tsing who took the sea route in 675-85 CE, Fahein (399-414CE) who took the Northern Silk Route to India and returned by the sea route, and Xuanzang (629-644CE) who took the northern route referred to as the Route of Desert and Mountains. We can divide the pilgrimage taken by the monk pilgrims from China and the surrounding areas into three parts:

1. The routes

2. The sacred places visited

3. The places visited to collect the sastra/manuscripts.

Although there is sparse recorded information from pilgrims about the Buddhist pilgrimage from China, Korea and Japan to India, the few records we do have give us important information we need in order to understand the pilgrimage. For analysis we have prepared a matrix of the available information about pilgrims who took pilgrimage to India. The record is compiled from the records of Fahein, Xuanzang and I-Tsing, during a very small period of time, i.e., between the 5^th century CE and 7^th century CE. Tables 1 and 2 provide the route information and tables 3 and 4 provide the sacred places visited and the purpose of the visits.

Following Fahein’s pilgrimage route, we can see from Table 1 that four monks, Fahein, Hwui King, Tao Ching, and Hwui Ying, traveled from China to India via the Gobi Desert through Takshila, Purushapura and across the Khyber Mountain Range. Of these four, one completed the pilgrimage and returned by the Sea Route, one died along the way, one remained in India, and one turned back at the mountains. Five other monks reportedly traveled the same route in but without any mention of crossing the Khyber Mountain Range. Of these five, three most likely turned back early on and two turned back at Purushapura. One monk traveled through the Gobi Desert and then crossed the Tsung Ling Mountains. He also turned back at Purushapura. Two monks took the land route through Khotan, Kashmir, Udayana, Gandhara, and Nagarhara. The records do not reveal the outcome of their pilgrimage.

Table 1- The Pilgrimage Routes Part

Following the route of Xuanzang, Table 2 indicates that the majority of monks took a sea route to India and then 27 out of the 41 monks attempting the pilgrimage died at some point along the way. Only two monks, Xuanzang and I-Tsing are reported to have successfully completed their pilgrimage and returned to China. Records do not indicate whether or not 11 out of the 41 monks completed their pilgrimages.

Table-2- Pilgrimage route-2

From the information in Table 3, the monks following in the footsteps of Fahein were determined to obtain sastras, complete copies of the Dhamma rules. Although the records do not indicate how many of these monks were successful in collecting any sastras, it is most likely that most of the monks turned back before reaching the “Main-land” India.

Table 3- Purpose of the Pilgrimage Part 1

Following in the footsteps of Xuanzang, the monks took pilgrimage to India for a variety of reasons ranging from obtaining sculptures and manuscripts to paying reverence to sacred vestiges to searching for the true Dhamma teachings and sacred relics. Although we have the travelogues of Xuanzang, records of I-Tsing, and mention of Taou-Sing’s pilgrimage completion and return to China, very little is left of the other monk’s journeys. Because more than half of these monks taking pilgrimage to India died along the way, more research is needed to determine what exactly was collected by those that actually returned to China or via their traveling parties.

Table 4- The Purpose of the Pilgrimage Part 2

Analysis of the Pilgrimage

Graph A- Out of a total of 96 pilgrims, 44 returned back to their homelands after completing only half or less of the pilgrimage. Fifty-two pilgrims continued on the pilgrimage to reach the Main-Land (India). With 46% of monks completing only half or less of the pilgrimage and only 54% of monks continuing on the pilgrimage, it is safe to speculate that this journey was an arduous one and only the strongest and most dedicated of monks succeeded.

Graph B- Of 96 Pilgrims who made the attempt for the Pilgrimage, 44 returned at or before the halfway point and eleven died along the way. It is known from the records that a total of 55 out of the original 96 pilgrims failed to complete the pilgrimage to the Main-Land (India). Forty-one actually made it to the Main-Land, which brings the success rate to 43 percent.

44 returned back midway (from table 1 and 2)

11 Died on the way (from table 1 and 2)

Total number = 55 couldn’t make it finally
% of total Monks who made attempt for Pilgrimage, who finally completed the Pilgrimage by making it to Main-Land (India) - 43%

Graph C- Of 96 Pilgrims who made the attempt for the Pilgrimage and reached the Main-Land (India), seventeen monk pilgrims died in India and one confirmed report of a monk pilgrim who remained in India. Only twenty-three pilgrims reached the Main-Land (India) and possibly successfully returned to their homelands (Of these 23 monks many were still In Main-Land in various monasteries when It-Sing prepared his accounts).

(From table-1 and 2)

44 returned back midway

11 Died on the way

17 Died in India

1 Stayed back in India
Total number of Monks who could make it back to their country- 96- 44-11-17-1= 23 Pilgrims

% of total Monks who made attempt for Pilgrimage, who returned back to their homeland making the Pilgrimage- 24%

Five different routes were taken by the pilgrims to reach the Main-Land (India): the Sea Route, the Northern Route, the Land and Sea Route, the Nepal-Tibet Route, and the Northern plus Nepal Route. Of these routes, the Sea Route was the most popular.

This analysis is a very small fragment of the total number of pilgrimages that occurred during 13 centuries but is provided to give a general overview. About 46% of the pilgrims returned even before the arduous and long pilgrimage was halfway completed. Looking at this large number of pilgrims who returned midway, we can speculate that a reason for changing their minds midway may have been due in part to the tremendous difficulties that they encountered. 21% (12 of 52) of the pilgrims who were resolute to move ahead, died on the way due to disease or drowning when their ship sank in the deep oceans. Of the 40 pilgrims out of total 96 who made it to India, 18 either died in India or chose to remain in India. The number of monks who remained or died in India could be larger since many monks were still in India when I-Tsing wrote about them. Another revealing factor is the route taken by the pilgrims. The Sea route and the Northern land route (Silk Route) were equally popular among the pilgrims. Both the routes had flourishing Buddhist centres along the way that would help revitalize the pilgrims in what was otherwise a long and arduous journey.

The Routes

1-Northern Route also known as the Silk Route

A- Wuwie, I-Gu, Kuchih, Poh-Lu-Ka, Su-She, Samei-Kin, Balkh, Kunduz, Bamiyan, Nagarhara, Mo-Tu-Lo (Route taken by Xuanzang)

B- Hwo-Kunduz, Potona, Usa, Yarkiang, Khotan, Niya, Hami (Route taken by Xuanzang)

2- Southern Sea Route

Condore (Guangzahou) / Hangzhou , Sribhoja (Palembang, in Sumatra), Quedah, Nagapatam-Ceylon

Quedah- Arakan- Tamralipti (Taken by I-tsing, P- XXV, Life)

3- Nepal - Tibet Route (Taken by Hiuen-Chiu and a few other pilgrims mentioned by I-Tsing)

Pilgrims in their accounts have mentioned India and collectively called it the Western Region (Life, S. Beal, Book 1, p-16) or out of respect for the land of the Buddha, they at times would also call it the “Main-Land” (Mentioned by It-Sing, Life, P- XXXII). As mentioned in Introduction of “Records of the Buddhistic Kingdoms” by Fahein, (Translated by J. Legge), Fahein mentions Central India as “Main-Land” and not a border-land (to China), which was not looked upon kindly by many people in China. For devout Buddhists, the birth place of Buddhism was the centre of the earth, hence the Main-Land. Within India they further divided regions into Mid-Land, Martha Country, Northern India, Magadha, Eastern India, Southern India, etc. The whole of India from 1^st century CE to 12^th century CE was a hub of Buddhist activities and attracted many scholars from Buddhist countries (China, Japan, Korea).

As monk pilgrims joined caravans of Silk Route traders or boarded mercantile ships, the traders would benefit in the process by receiving the teachings of the Buddha from the eminent monk scholars. This exchange of Dhamma teachings for transportation allowed the monks to take the teaching of the Buddha to distant lands. Others traveling with the caravans would also take interest in attending the monk’s Dhamma talks, when the opportunities arose. We know from the Travelogues of Xuanzang how he traveled with big caravans and gave evening Dhamma talks. Xuanzang became so popular along the Silk Route that caravans preceding him would alert people of the cities and villages along the route that Xuanzang was coming. In this way, Xuanzang was received at the gate of many places like Okini and Kuccha by the king, monks and the laity of the area ((Life, S. Beal, Book 1, p-37, 38). Such stopovers would help the monks collect the necessary recommendations and replenishments needed to continue on their journey. This pilgrimage from Changan to Mainland India was estimated to be 6000 km in length. It would take more than a year to reach the heart of the Dhamma land. Many would perish and others would turn back, but only a few would successfully complete it.

1- Northern Route – also known as the Silk Route

A- Changan, Wuwie, I-Gu, Turfan, Kuchih, Poh-Lu-Ka, Su-She, Barmarkand, Samei-Kin, Kashgar, Balkh, Kunduz, Bamiyan, Nagarhara, Mo-Tu-Lo, Lahore, Main-Land (Mathura, Sarnath, Bodhi Tree) (Route taken by Xuanzang)

B- Changan, Wuwei, Hwo-Kunduz, Potona, Usa, Yarkiang, Khotan,Yarkand, Niya, Hami, Kashgar, Balkh, Bamiyan, Lahore, Main-Land (Mathura, Sarnath, Bodhi Tree) ( Route taken by Xuanzang)

2- Sea Route – The Southern Sea Route

Condore (Guangzahou) / Hangzhou ,Sribhoja (Palembang, in Sumatra), Quedah, Nagapatam-Ceylon

Quedah- Arakan- Tamralipti (Taken by I-Tsing, P- XXV, Life)

An important objective of many pilgrims was to collect Buddhist literature and for this it was important to learn Sanskrit and other subjects. Before reaching the Main-Land, Xuanzang stayed in Kashmir to learn Hetuvidya (P- 70, Life), so that, he could debate well with the scholars there and to better understand the true teachings of the Buddha. I-Tsing stayed at Sribhoja (Near Sumatra, Indonesia) for six months (P- XXVI, Life), and also recommended sribhoja for aspirant monks interested in learning Sanskrit. Like Sribhoja, Tamralipti was another important centre for Sanskrit preferred by the pilgrims who took the sea route.

The travelogues of Fahein motivated generations of pilgrims to take the arduous journey to the land of Buddha. Probably Xuanzang, himself, was motivated by the pilgrimage of Fahein. Xuanzang documented rich detailed accounts of villages and cities along the way, monasteries and Buddhist schools, finding of relics and collecting of sastras (Manuscripts). In fact, Xuanzang created a complete guide book for people seeking pilgrimage to relics and to learn the sastras. Xuanzang took pain in converting almost all distances along the pilgrimage route into Li, the standard Chinese unit. Because of all of his wonderful efforts, his book is still one of the classics in China. Almost all dynasties after the Tang Dynasty made a copy for each dynasty. The book has traveled wide and is still preserved in temples of Japan and Korea.

Mahaparinirvana Sutta, Pali Cannon and the Travelogues

2011-05-25T12:41:00.004+05:30

The last journey of the Buddha as mentioned in the Mahaparinirvana Sutta is the story of the last two years of the Buddha. The last journey of the Buddha was an important event for the followers of the Buddha as is evident from the travelogues of the monk pilgrims, Fahein and Xuanzang. Both of the pilgrims visited many places associated with this last journey of the Buddha and they told how these important places and events were marked with stupas, chaityas, pillars and viharas. Important events associated with these last two years of the Buddha are also scattered within other various suttas and texts, needing only to be arranged in sequence in order to track his complete movement. Another important needed task is to identify the places associated with the Buddha’s last two years as mentioned in the Mahaparinirvana Sutta and other Pali texts.

For analysis, a matrix of places and events mentioned in the Mahaparinirvana Sutta and the corresponding reference to events mentioned in Xuanzang’s travelogues has been prepared. The final journey of the Buddha, as mentioned in the Mahaparinirvana Sutta, begins at Griddhkuta (vulture's peak) and ends at Kushinara. At the end of the Mahaparinirvana Sutta, the distribution of relics of the Buddha was discussed (table-1).

Table 1 - Events of the last two years of the Buddha (from the Mahaparinirvana Sutta)

Figure 1- Tentative Route of the Buddha (Refer table1)

Buddha made his 44^th Vassa (rainy season retreat, June/July to September) at Sravasti and it is possible that upon reaching Griddhkuta (Vulture's peak) from Sravasti, he started his last journey. We know from the Mahaparinirvana Sutta that the Buddha in Veshak (May) entered into his 80^th year and then he did his 45^th Vassa at Beluva. We also know that the Buddha attained Mahaparinirvana in May, also his 80^th Birthday. So the question is whether the Buddha continued towards Kushinara from Beluva as mentioned in the Mahaparinirvana Sutta or if he visited some other places in-between those months (September to May). An important event that took place six months before the Mahaparinirvana of the Buddha is the Parinirvana of Sariputta and Maha Moggallana. And the sequence of the events that followed is tabulated in Table 2.

Table 2 - Events in the last two years of the Buddha (based on Pali sources)

Figure 2- Places visited by Buddha in last 2 Years (from Table 2

We know from Pali sources that Sariputta took permission from the Buddha before leaving for Nalaka to attain Parinirvana there. We also know from the Cunda Sutta that the Cunda arrived at Sravasti with the relics of Sariputta, and the Buddha went to Rajgriha and then Nalaka to enshrine the relics of Sariputta and Maha Moggallana. The Ukkacela Sutta mentions about the Buddha coming to Ukkacela on his way to Vesali and at a gathering of the monks uttered high praise of the two chief disciples (Sariputta and Maha Moggallana) and spoke of the loss the Order had sustained by their death (S.v.163f). The Sequence of events in addition to the Mahaparinirvana Sutta which happened in the last two years of the Buddha is tabulated in Table-2.

Table 3- Chart of the Buddha's last two years (Table 1 + Table 2)

Table 3 is an effort to sequence all of the events mentioned in the Mahaparinirvana Sutta and other incidents that happened in the last two years of the Buddha’s life as mentioned in other Pali sources. Columns 4 and 5 are an estimate of the probable month in which that event is supposed to have happened. We have very little evidence of the exact months of events; the tabulation is more of a conjecture based on what little evidence has been found from the references mentioned in the last column.

Table 4- Places mentioned by Xuanzang and their identification

Figure 3- The complete travel of the Buddha in his last two years based on Table-3

Total distance traveled by the Buddha in his last two years

The evidences suggests that the last journey of the Buddha as mentioned in Mahaparinirvana Sutta (table 1, Fig,1) is not the only journey he took in his last two years. There are many other events mentioned in other Pali sources (table 2, Fig-2) that took place in the Buddha’s last two years, i.e. during his Mahaparinirvana Sutta (journey). If we put all that together we find that the Buddha’s retinue walked over 1650 kilometers in the last two years (Refer table- 5).

1650 kilometers is the GIS distance (i.e., shortest) connecting the major places he visited; the actual distances through trade routes must be much more. Many places like Nalaka, Ukkacela and Kushinara are yet not identified and we have used Xuanzang’s description to put these places on the map for calculation purposes. The actual distance might be anything between 2000 to 2500 kilometers in which the Buddha walked during his last days.

Table 5- Distance between the places visited by The Buddha

Reference material used

Tribute to the Buddha: Vihara

2011-05-11T16:27:00.008+05:30

Bihar inherited its name from the word Vihara, confirming the abundance of quiet meditation and resting spaces for Buddhist monks. It is generally believed that when the Bakhtiyar Khilji (1192 CE) invaded, he named the tract around Odantpuri (present Bihar Sharif) as Vihar (Bihar), for this area had numerous Viharas (monasteries) in its vicinity. (Ref. History of Bengal, Vol. II, p.3). This fact is further confirmed in the modern day by the presence of Buddhist remains scattered in and around this area.

Based on similar history of the villages in this area, it is generally concluded that villages with names that end with the sound “Aama”, derived from the base word "Arama" or rest (e.g., Ghosrawan), were Buddhist monasteries with their names being corrupted in later centuries. There are many such places, villages with the “Aama” ending, in the Buddhacharika, the places where the Buddha made his sublime wandering. But, the concentration of such “Aama” villages is noticeably very high in the Magadha region. The Buddhacharika, as per the Pali sources and Xuanzang’s description, is indicated as located at Kuru Pradesh (Delhi, Panipat and around) in West to Champa in the East. But the Buddha spent maximum time preaching around three regions (Empires), Rajgriha, Vaishali and Sravasti.
Read more- Villages with "Aama" Suffix

Fig-1- A tentative Buddhacharika based on the description of Xuanzang and Pali literature

Fig-2- "Aama" suffix villages in Districts of Bihar

Fig-3- Ancient Magadha Empire

Fig-4- Number of Aama suffix villages in Ancient Magadha

After Buddha attained Mahaparinirvana, this land of his that he traced with words of Wisdom was embellished with stupas, chaityas, pillars and viharas in order to fill the void of his absence and to continue furthering his teachings. His footsteps were adorned by his followers, which is still dominating symbol today.

Magadha, where the Buddha spent so many years sharing his sublime teachings, was a hub for monastic activities. A conglomeration of monasteries flourished and perpetuated the Buddha’s teachings long after the Buddha’s departure from this material world. Monks from the Southeast Asia region and beyond flocked to the Magadha region for the pure and unbiased teachings of the Buddha. About 1000 years after the Buddha’s parinirvana, Fahein, a celebrated Chinese Scholar, visited here and left a detailed account of early 5^th century Magadha. He stayed for two years from 409 to 411 AD at Patliputra, the capital city of Magadha, in order to learn and gain access to the original teachings of Buddha. This was the only place where he could find manuscripts of the Vinaya Sutra, which he carried back, along with many others, when he returned to China (Records of the Buddhistic Kingdoms, By Fahein (James Legge), Chapter XXXVI).

A similar account is left behind by Xuanzang who visited Magadha in 636 CE, which reads that at that time, Magadha boasted the presence of more than 50 monasteries, all of them flourishing (Buddhist Records of the Western World, Translated by S. Beal, Book-VIII, P-82). The growth didn’t stop there as four decades later when I-Tsing visited, he continued to rave about the Buddhist monasteries where Xuanzang left off. In his travelogue, I-Tsing expressed the gratitude that many monks and scholars from China and Korea felt as they ventured into the blessed land. Many never left and remained here in the land of the supreme knowledge on until they attained parinirvana. It is possible that the patronage to set up Viharas in the Magadha region did not end with the Gupta Period (4^th CE to 6^th CE), but rather, it was further reinforced by the Pala and Sena Kings, as suggested by the vast remains of the Pala sculptures in villages of this region. Probably the figure of 50 monasteries given by Xuanzang in the early 7^th century CE further multiplied between the 8^th and 12^th centuries CE, during the Pala-Sena Dynasties.

Monasteries at the time did not restrict their teachings to religious Buddhists texts alone but extended their teaching much beyond into the various disciplines of science, mathematics, logic, medicine and more. Magadha was probably the first and for a long time the only truly cosmopolitan study centre known in the world. In this large Vihara, a conglomerate of Viharas spread throughout the geographic unit and students often ventured from one Vihara to another to gain knowledge from a particular specialty or shastra. Xuanzang during his travel, stayed at many monasteries, including Tiladhaka Monastery (now Telhada) for two months (The Life of Hieun-Tsiang, By Shaman Hwui Lu, Translated by S. Beal, p-153). He also discussed in detail the Shilabhadra Monastery and Gunamati Monastery, both in the Magadhan boundary.

Inscriptions found during the course of excavations suggest that the patronage for these monasteries crossed political boundaries and kings from various Buddhist countries made contributions to support this larger Vihara. While these findings have helped reveal many details of the Vihara, we have barely scratched the surface. Almost the whole of ancient “Vihara” is still buried under layers of biomass accumulated over it during the last 8 centuries. More excavations are yet to be made to help us realize the full extent of the contributions of the Viharas to the Magadha region.

The Vihara revealed a monastic system of interdependence between lay society and monks. This was an ideal example that not only flourished in this part of the world but inspired many such establishments throughout the Buddhist countries. Monks at Nalanda University did not seek alms, instead the local community provided for any necessities of the monks at the university. Xuanzang, Hwui Lun and I-Tsing described in their travelogues the ration quota that each monk received. It was the local businesses and kings who dedicated their entire villages’ revenue to Nalanda. Xuanzang and I-Tsing concurred that the local villages supported Nalanda Sangharama; and this association of mutual reliance and respect with all of its ups and downs continued to flourish for more than 1700 years until about the 13th century CE. It is hard to guess if all monasteries gained such a privilege or if it was the scale and status of Nalanda that attracted such favored treatment.

The very unique arrangement of this large scale Vihara was due to provide inspiration. The tangibles and intangibles of this larger Vihara enthused many kings and kingdoms and one such very evident example is the building of the Sam-Ye Monastery in Tibet, which was inspired by the art and architecture of the Odantapuri Monastery (The Lotus-Born: The Life Story of Padmasambhava, p-290, By Yeshe Tsogyal, Dilgo Khyentse)

Buddhist monasteries not only adopted educational responsibilities, their arts and crafts arena also included Hindu deities. The two religions with overlapping boundaries maintained their uniqueness as they coexisted for centuries. Many sculptures that are found scattered in villages today, broken into pieces and yet treasured for the value and culture they stand for are the result of this confluence. Besides maintaining Hindu traditions, these villages over ancient monasteries have given us a galaxy of Buddhist icons. The present day community, which has been living with this fast disappearing treasure, has accommodated the rich heritage as part of their own rituals regardless of Buddhist or Hindu religious origins. Most villages in the region have a dedicated space called “Goraiyya Sthan” where all the ancient stone sculptures are collected and worshiped from ancient times. The term “Goraiyya Sthan” seems a probable corruption of the Guru (teacher) + Sthan (place).

This conglomeration, corruption or inclusion between religions, however it is perceived, has its own pros and cons. After the sharp decline of Buddhism in this region, the only way to continue the heritage was to adopt it and merge it with the existing religious belief structures. The modern generation could not be in a better place to judge a better scenario. Puritans may wish that all was found intact as the Buddha had left it but instead we find Buddhism living among the people today rather than preserved in museums, a treat that cannot be denied.

All the stories of the Buddha, that were already part of the folklore at the time of Xuanzang, Fahien, I-Tsing and others, became even more corrupted beyond recognition. It was not until the rediscovery by the Orientalists in the 19^th century that these stories have been revived. Well received by the world, this rediscovery brought to light a vast heritage into the eyes of the world. Appreciation across the globe led to further decline or de-conglomeration of the heritage as the best of the sculptures where removed to museums to Europe and other large cities of India, like museums in Calcutta, Delhi and Patna. This removal of the heritage had a positive side in that the artifacts have been preserved and are still accessible to the vast public of the world; in contrast to the many artifacts that were left behind and which in recent years have been smuggled out of this living museum.

There is no confirmed boundary of ancient Magadha, but all studies suggest a boundary which extends from the Ganges in the north to the Vindhyan Range in the south, to the River Sone in the west, and to the River Champa in the east (The Historical Geography and topography of Bihar by- M. S. Pandey, P-104). Our tribute to the Buddha Vihara concentrates on all the Magadhan villages with found Buddhist remains. These were part of the larger Vihara, either as individual monastic units or these villages with Buddhist remains once supported the Ancient Nalanda University.
Our next set of posts will be a tribute to this live museum. The ancient Magadha patronized the Buddha, and later cradled the Viharas for 1700 odd years to meet the insatiable need of monk students here and from across the oceans and Himalayan range. Magadha, with a cluster of Vihara, became known as ‘Large Vihara.’ Our posts will pay tribute to the present condition of Magadha, its people and their ancestors who held it together and continue to do so today. What are the plans and dreams for the future of Buddhism in Magadha, this land that has patronized a whole culture and has contributed to the entire world culture.

We also will pay tribute to all the kings who chose to support the Large Vihara. We will also pay tribute to the many generations of people: the farmers, artisans, weavers, and others, who for generations did whatever they could without knowing what their small lifetime contribution meant in this 2000 year journey of the heritage. After Buddhists left the scene, people continued to protect and preserve the remains in the best possible way they knew. We will take you through our rediscovery of this ancient Buddhist heritage and how these villagers have taken care of the heritage for us to now cherish and feel a sense of pride towards. We will also pay tribute to the many monks who visited this land to study and contribute to the teachings of the Buddha.

All of these many people have contributed to the vibration of the Magadha region. It is our continued desire to present to you in the following blogs the present situation of this ancient culture.

Gurupāda - A new begining.....

2011-01-03T06:47:00.002+05:30

A New Beginning at the Gurupāda

Gurupāda is 35 km from Bodh Gaya. To reach the base of the hill, one has to start at the village of Gurpa. Gurpa can be reached by train from Gaya and by road from Bodh Gaya. Changeless, Gurpa is still in its pristine form, as it must have been at the time of the Buddha. Xuanzang and Fahein suggested that it was a dense forest with many wild animals. Gurpa Hill is around 1 km walk from the Gurpa Village. The Hill is almost 200 meters high and one has to take around 1500 steps to reach the summit.

The Grand Chord Railway Line passing by the Gurpa Hill

Gurpa Village getting ready to begin the day

A temple on our approach to Gurpa Hill

Venerable Anand Bhante who founded the “Asian Buddhist Culture Centre” (ABCC), a Bodh Gaya based Non-Government Organisation, has taken the initiative to revive the neglected site of Gurupāda. Venerable Zi-Yin, a Taiwanese monk, has generously contributed to making steps to reach the top and a stupa on the top of the Gurpa Hill.

H.H Karmapa on the occasion of the inaugural of the Gurpa Hill Stupa

The Bhikkhu Sangha and the laity climbing the summit

Ven. Zi-Yin from Taiwan and his followers, who facilitated the construction
of the steps and stupa on Gurpa Hill

Ven. Anand Bhante of ABCC took the initiative
of the revival of the legacy of Gurupada

Construction of Stupa on the summit

Nava Nalanda Mahavihara Sanskritik Gram (NNMSG) is currently working on the master plan for the development of the site. Community participation is an integral part of any such initiative by the NNMSG. The community of Gurpa, especially the youth, is very participative and enthusiastic. Two of the youth from this village participated in the workshop ““Buddhist Heritage, Culture, Community and Tourism” organised by NNMSG on 27^th September 2010.

Community involvement programme by NNMSG…

Engaged Buddhism Workshop

Youths from Gurpa Village being felicitated at the workshop

Children of Gurpa

The warm hospitality offered to us by the community of Gurpa

A dharmshala (rest house) at Gurpa for the pilgrims visiting Gurpa Hill, now a Hindu pilgrim place

The custodians of the rich heritage of Gurpa

Gurupāda / Kukkutapāda Giri / Cockfoot’s Mountain, and the Maitreya Buddha

2011-01-02T05:30:00.002+05:30

The place where Maha Kassapa is waiting for the future Buddha (Maitreya)

Pali literature is silent about the last days of the Maha Kassapa, but Xuanzang has provided us the details of his visit to the Gurupāda (On Yuan Chwang’s Travels in India, Thomas Watters Vol-II, P-144-145). Maha Kassapa and Ananda survived the Mahaparinirvana of the Buddha. About thirty years after the assembly of the First Council, Maha Kassapa entrusted his duties to Ananda, and handed over the Buddha’s alms-bowl to him as a symbol of continuing the faithful preservation of the Dhamma. Then Maha Kassapa went to the Buddha’s Stupa to pay homage and make offerings. He returned to Rajgriha to pay last respects to King Ajatsatru, but the guards told him that the king was sleeping and should not be disturbed. Maha Kassapa went his way and arrived at Kukkutapādagiri. The Kukkutapāda Mountain has the shape of three feet of a cock as there are three small mountains standing on it

Gurupada- the Cock-foot mountain from a distance

When Maha Kassapa arrived at this mountain, the three mountains split and formed a seat to receive him. Maha Kassapa covered it with grass and sat down. He decided, ‘I will preserve my body with my miraculous power and cover it with my rag-robes.’ Then the three mountains enclosed his body. King Ajatsatru was deeply grieved by the news of Maha Kassapa’s departure. He went to Kukkutapāda Mountain with Ananda. When they reached there, the three mountains opened and they saw Maha Kassapa sitting up straight and meditating. Some Buddhist texts mention that Ajatshatru built a stupa on the top of the hill.

Remains of Ajatsatru Stone stupa a the top of the Gurpa Hill

Maha Kassapa image to mark the place where he took Samadhi on Gurupada Hills

Xuanzang mentions that, Kassapa did not die; he dwells in the Kukkutagiri Mountains, wrapt in samādhi, awaiting the arrival of Matriyea Buddha. Gurupāda is the place where the future Buddha i.e. Matriyea Buddha will arrive and receive the robes of Gautma Buddha (Historical Buddha), that Gautma Buddha exchanged with Maha Kassapa while on way from Bahuputtaka Nigrodha to Rajgriha.

Fahein (4^th CE) and Xuanzang (7^th CE) both mention that Maha Kassapa still dwells at the hill. And will take Parinirvana only after handing over the robes to the Future Buddha (i.e. Matriyea Buddha)

Fahein further mentions that Gurupāda place was visited by monks from various Buddhist countries (Records of Buddhist nations, Fahein- James Legge, chapter-XXXIII). By the end of 10^th century this was so popular among the devouts in China and South-East Asian countries that the then emperor of china decided to create a Kukkutapāda in China to prevent the Buddhist devouts from taking this arduous pilgrimage that was full of perils.

Jizu Mountain, Yunan (Jizu Mountain- the cockfoot mountain of China) is the Gurupāda as per the traditions in China.

Jizu Mountain

Identification of Gurupada (25° 32’ 57 N, 85° 18’ 13 E)

Identification of the Gurpa as Gurupāda is done on the basis of the antiquities found at the site. Details of the Hill, its shape, size and the path etc at the Gurpa is same as mentioned by Xuanzang and Fahein. Xuanzang and Fahein both visited the place and the details of its location are contradictory. While Xuanzang mentions it to be in the direction further of Niranjana River, but distance mentioned by Xuanzang is incomplete. He talks about hermitage place of Udra-ramaputra and a stone pillar to mark his hermitage on other side of river Moha and Gurupāda is 100 Li East, from this stone pillar ((On Yuan Chwang’s Travels in India, Thomas Watters Vol-II, P-143). Fahein maintains Gurpa to be just three Li South of Bodhi Tree (Records of Buddhist nations, Fahein- James Legge, chapter-XXXIII).

Various identifications of Gurupada (Auriel Stein, Cunningham and Banerjee (the Accepted one))

This led to many identification of Kukkutapādagiri, but eventually the Gurpa hill (25° 32’ 57 N, 85° 18’ 13 E) identified by R.D. Banerjee in 1906 was accepted as the actual site of Kukkutapādagiri (The Antiquarian remains of Bihar, Dr D.R. Patil, P-157). The detailed description of the hill by Xuanzang was the basis of this identification. In 1901, Auriel Stein wrongly identified Hasra Kol (85°12’56”E, 25°46’57”N) as Kukkutapādagiri (The Antiquarian remains of Bihar, Dr D.R. Patil, P-164). Alexander Cunningham in 1860’s visited Kurkihara, a village 35 Km NE of Bodh Gaya. According to him Kurkihara (85°15’ 11”E, 25°49’52”N) was corrupted from Kurak-Vihara, and Kukkuta in Sanskrit is same as Kurak in Hindi. This is how Cunningham concluded Kurkihara to be the site of Kukkutapādagiri. One Kilometer NE of Kurkihara is a hill which, Cunningham associated with the hill mentioned by Xuanzang (The Antiquarian remains of Bihar, Dr D.R. Patil, P-225)

View from the top of the Hill

Final few steps to the top of the Gurpa Hill as described by Xuanzang

Gurupāda is one Buddhist place that has the same name since the times of Xuanzang and Fahein. This hill is now a pilgrimage place for Hindus who visit this place in the month of Sawan (July-August) as a part of annual pilgrimage. The place according to local Hindu tradition is Vishnupāda, and the Footprints on the top of the hill as per the traditions are of Lord Vishnu. This is a strong link of how the Gurupāda of Buddhist times became Vishnupāda after the Buddhism declined in India. And the pilgrimage character of the place continued even after that probably the pilgrimage never ceased just a change of the colour of the robes.

Footprints (Gurupada) with Pala period Inscription being worshiped as Vishnupada

Votive Stupa on the top of the Hill

Footprints on the top of the Hill

Maha Kassapa and the Buddha- The Exchange of Robes

2010-12-24T11:30:00.003+05:30

Pali literature (SA.ii.128; ThagA.ii.145; AA.i.102; Mtu.iii.50) mentions that on the road between Nalanda and Rajgriha the Buddha sat down under a fig tree to await his future disciple. The moment Kassapa laid eyes on the Buddha he knew that he had found his Master. The Buddha stood in all his radiance, surrounded by an aura. Falling at the Buddha’s feet and saluting him respectfully, Kassapa asked permission to enter the Noble Order. There after the Buddha dispensed a discourse and then both of them walked back to Rajgriha. On the way the Buddha wanted to rest under the root of a tree. Kassapa then took his outer robe, folded it four-fold and asked the Buddha to sit on it. The Buddha accepted Kassapa’s robe and commented on its softness. Hearing this, Kassapa immediately offered his robe to the Buddha by saying, “May the Blessed One, out of compassion for me, accept this robe.” The Buddha then asked Kassapa if he would wear the worn-out, coarse rag-robe that he was wearing. Full of joy, Kassapa accepted the Buddha’s rag-robe and agreed to wear it. Kassapa was the only monk with whom the Buddha had exchanged robes.

These two events i.e. the meeting of the Buddha and Maha Kassapa and the exchange of the robes took place at two different places in between Rajgriha and Nalanda.

In 1935, an 9^th CE, inscription on a broken pedestal was found at some place in Silao (85°25’37”E, 25°5’16”N)

(Epigraphia Indica, Vol XXV PP-327). The sculpture found was broken and the inscription was incomplete, it mentioned about Maha Kassapa and Gurupāda (place where Maha Kassapa is waiting for the future Buddha).

the Sculpture with inscription found near Silao ( figure from Epigraphia Indica, Vol XXV)

The 9th CE inscription ( figure from Epigraphia Indica, Vol XXV)

Translation of the Inscription

Xuanzang in his descriptions has mentioned about a place on the route between Nalanda to Indrasaila Guha and Nalanda to Kalapinaka (birthplace of Sariputta). This place according to him was where Raja Bimbisara received the Buddha after the Buddha’s enlightenment. But the Pali literature suggests this event took place at Jethian (also Yasthivana, Latthivana, and Latthivanuyyāna) (Vin.i.35ff. DhA.i.88; AA.i.166; BuA.18).

also Chief Minister's Visit to the Jethian Buddhist site

The first meeting place of the Buddha and Bimbisara as per Xuanzang ( around Nalanda) and pali sources (Jethain)

Xuanzang has mentioned about this event in “Travels” (Records of western Nations by S. Beal) and “Life” (Life of Hiuen-Tsiang by Hwui Lu- translated by S. Beal) . According to the "Life” this meeting place (marked in Red in the Fig below) was 30 Li West of Indrasaila Guha (Life-P-119) and as per the “travels” it was 4 Li East of Kulika and 20 Li NW of Kalapinaka (Travels-P-90, Book-II) as depicted in the figure below.

"Life" and "Travels" description of the meeting place (marked in red)of the Buddha and Bimbisara

The earliest Buddhist literature mentions that after the enlightenment , the first journey of the Buddha to Rajgriha to meet raja Bimbisara started at Gaya. Logically the place mentioned by Xuanzang doesn't fit in the route of Gaya to Rajgriha. Jethian as mentioned by the Pali literature is the place of the first meeting between the two.The place (where raja Bimbisara received the Buddha) mentioned by Xuanzang lies in between Nalanda and Rajgriha, this place to be more likely to be the place of meeting between the Buddha and Maha Kassapa (as suggested by Pali literature- SA.ii.128; ThagA.ii.145; AA.i.102; Mtu.iii.50).

It is possible that Xuanzang made an error and instead of Maha Kassapa mentions Raja Bimbisara. Village Kul (85°27’27”E, 25°6’52”N), 2 Km, south of remains of the ancient Nalanda university (Nalanda before the Mahavihara) is more suitable for the meeting place as suggested by the description with some concessions in distance as mentioned by Xuanzang.

If we take Kul to be the meeting place between the Buddha and Maha Kassapa then Silao fits to be the place where the exchange of Robes took place as aptly suggested by the broken inscription found here.

Meeting place (Kul) and the Exchange of Robes place (Silao)

Aerial View of the Mound in village Kul

The Mound of Kul

The Buddhist Remains of Kul