Which person, having even a slightest interest in Buddhism, will miss an opportunity to explore the land where prince Siddhartha gained enlightenment and became Lord Buddha? No one, I suppose, atleast not me. So it was more than obvious that I jumped up when my friend, Charles, declared that he would be visiting India on an official assignment and had taken a week extra to visit Bodhgaya and other places of Buddhist interest in Bihar. I had learnt a lot about Buddhism from books and friends, but had never visited India, the land where the religion actually originated. I knew that Buddhism is no more a dominant religion in India, very small percentage of people were actually Buddhists, hence there was little scope that I would get a chance to interact with Buddhist people in large number. Still the urge to visit the land of Buddha was too strong to resist.


Coming to India
So, along with my friend Charles, I landed at Delhi Airport a few weeks later. Charles had visited India earlier and was quiet well aware with the ways to tackle with a number of private tour operators who poured in large number to assist us. He located the representative of the hotel where we were supposed to stay and introduced him to me. Sankaran, that was his name. He appeared to be very sorry for reaching a bit late but we knew he was just on time. A few minutes later, he would not have found either of us, Charles knew the place so well that he had almost decided to hire a cab and head straight towards the hotel himself! On the way to the hotel, I realised that Sankaran was caught in traffic jam which was the reason for his delay.

Our plan was very simple, Charles had to complete his work first. This would take around 4-5 days after which we were to head towards Bihar to explore Buddhism. For these 4-5 days, I was left with Sankaran to explore Delhi and its surrounding area. I readily agreed and made sure that I visited every worthwhile attraction of Delhi – from Red Fort to Appu Ghar and more recent Akshardham temple – before heading towards other closeby attraction. Taj Mahal was on my wish list for a long and a visit to it was like a dream come true. The heat and pollution of India had little effect on my enthusiasm.

Exploring Bodhgaya
On our 6th day in India, the three of us caught a train to Gaya. It was a long but comfortable journey of around 990 kms before we reached Gaya, the main access to Bodh Gaya. Enroute, I learnt that Bihar, as a state, was plagued with chronic law and order problem and travellers were advised to take precaution to avoid any untoward incident. From the railway station, we took a taxi and reached our hotel in Bodh Gaya. It was early morning so the weather was pleasant. We refreshed ourselves and had a hearty breakfast. I love Indian food and therefore had no problem whatsoever even if they were a little too spicy.

From the hotel, we hired a rickshaw to reach the Mahabodhi temple complex, a world heritage site and the ultimate destination for a tourist interested in Buddha and Buddhism. The Mahabodhi Temple itself is a towering structure with a large gilded black stone image of the Buddha in bhumisparshamudra (earth touching posture). All around the temple, there was carved sculpted railing which is believed to have been built in the 1st century BC. Vajrasana was what we saw next. It is also called the Diamond Throne though it has no diamonds in it, infact it is built of red sandstone. The significance of the platform lies in it being the place where the Buddha sat in meditation.

After having a look at the Diamond throne, we proceeded to offer our respect to the fifth descendant of the original Bodhi tree under which Buddha gained enlightenment. This tree is highly revered by Buddhists from world over and at any given point of time in day, a number of monks and devotees can be seen performing prostrations before it. I was in for a surprise when I learnt that some monks even perform 1,00,000 prostrations at a time! We spent few hours exploring the complex and soaking in the serene environment that seemed to help connect with oneself.

Later, in the day, we visited the monasteries which have been established by the buddhist countries of the south and south east Asia. These monasteries are located within 1 km radius of the Mahabodhi temple and offer visitors insight into nuances of various schools of Buddhism. The Sujata Temple, 2 km west of Bodh Gaya, was another spot that we visited. About the temple, it is said that it was here that an emaciated Siddhartha, still in search for enlightenment, learnt that extreme austerity was as harmful as extreme indulgence. He was not taking food, but when He realised this, He accepted the offering of Kheer that was offered to Him by local tribeswoman named Sujata. We returned to our hotel before it got dark and rested. We had also managed to shop for some Buddhist items including a thangka and an edition of translated Buddhist text.


To Rajgir And Then Nalanda
The next day, we set out to discover the Buddhist heritage of Rajgir, the capital of Magadha empire in the bygone era. During those time, it was known as Rajgriha. The condition of the road was sad, because of which we took over three hours to cover a distance of 80 kms. However, once there, we did not leave out any site associated with Buddha and Buddhism. We visited the Gridhrakuta Hill, where the Buddha delievered His sermons and converted King Bimbisara; Venuvan and the Saptaparni Cave which is 1000 steps climb up from the hots springs. We also enjoyed a ride on a tonga, a horse drawn carriage. This ride, for me, was both enjoyable and an irritating experience. The tongawala kept on talking loudly throughout our ride. I wished he could just keep quiet for a while and let the three of us observe what was happening around. But that was not to be, so we just smiled at each other and let him speak.

That night we put up at a hotel Tathagat Vihar. The hotel was clean and the rooms were comfortable. There was also a television so the three of just sat till late in the night and saw television and chatted. In the morning, we were a bit relaxed, did not want to leave the bed early. At around nine, we ultimately got up and dressed ourselves. Today, we were to visit Nalanda to explore the ruins of the most well known Buddhist university of the erstwhile era. A bus that was headed towards Bihar Sharief, dropped us at Nalanda. It was just a ten km ride and the bus conductor charged us a meagre Rs. 4. From there, we again took a tonga which dropped us infront of the university gates. Luckily, this time, the tongawala was very good, he told us about his life, which though not very easy, was happy. He had a little baby girl and everytime he spoke about her, his face lit up with affection.

I knew a lot about Nalanda from my readings and was also carrying a printouts of text that gave details about the ruins. Hence, I knew exactly what to look out for. The Sariputra Stupa (temple site 3), the most imposing structure of Nalanda; the Archaeological Museum and temple site 2 were amongst the first ones I explored. Sankaran also knew a lot, so we enjoyed a good discussion as we explored the ruins for around a couple of hours.

Finally, To the Capital City - Patna
By lunch time, we returned to our hotel in Rajgir and packed our bags. Sankaran had already arranged a car for us so we quickly had our lunch and left for Patna, the capital city of Bihar. Patna was around 100 kms away and road again, was not good. It was one tirirng experience. By the time we reached Patna, it was already evening. We checked into hotel Chanakya and stayed in our rooms till next morning. This hotel was a reputed one in the city and definitely much better than ones in Bodhgaya or Rajgir. Dinner was served to us in the room itself.

Next day we explored Patna. Though there weren’t any worthwhile Buddhist attractions, yet the city seemed vibrant. We visited the Patna Museum which has a pretty good collection of Buddhist items, ranging from Buddha statues to Tibetan Thangka. Other attractions that we visited were Golghar, Patna planetarium and Biological Park. We also shopped at the famous Patna and Hathua market and picked up some sovenirs.

Next day, in the morning, we took a flight to Delhi and from there caught another flight back home. The journey was satisfying, though I would have loved to stay back and explore more of Buddhist attractions of the country.

James. England