PILGRIM NATION: THE STORY OF ENLIGHTENMENT
Devdutt Pattanaik, Mumbai Mirror | Jul 24, 2016
Siddhartha, a Nepalese prince of the Sakya clan, was determined to discover the cause of suffering. He fasted as a way of gaining wisdom under the peepal tree at the site. When awareness dawned, he became the Buddha.
Have you heard of Bodhiraksita? He is the first 'documented' pilgrim in Indian
history. According to local inscriptions, he travelled from Sri Lanka in the
1st century BCE, to Bodhgaya, in Bihar, located a 100 kilometres from modern
Patna, to see the famous bodhi or pipal tree under which Buddha got his
enlightenment. Of course, during his visit, he would not have seen the 180 feet
tall pyramidal Mahabodhi temple, full of images of Buddha, Bodhisattvas, fierce
gods and goddesses such as Yamantaka and Vajravarahi who are part of later
Mahayana and Tantrik Buddhism. This brick structure was built only five hundred
years after his visit, in Gupta times.
Today when we visit Bodhgaya as part of the Buddhist tourist trail and
encounter people from China and Japan and Korea and Thailand, and Europe, and
America, we assume this pilgrim spot was always there, since 2,500 years ago,
when Siddhartha Gautama of the Sakya clan attained enlightenment here. But that
is not so. In fact in the early 19th century, no one in India had any idea
about Buddhism. Buddha, at best, was an avatar of Vishnu mentioned in some
Puranas. The Mahabodhi temple and the lands around had been since 16th century
under the control of a Hindu mahant.
It was British historians and archaeologists who played a key role in the
re-discovery of Buddhism. Sir Edwin Arnold wrote the Light of Asia that told
the story of Buddha's enlightenment. Sir Alexander Cunningham played a key role
in identifying the Buddhist nature of the dilapidated structures in Bodhgaya.
And Anagarika Dharmapala of Sri Lanka played a key role in restoring the site
to his glory. He initiated a legal process to enable Buddhists to reclaim the
site in the late 19th century. He died in 1933 and it is only in 1949 that the
Government of India, acknowledged it as a Buddhist shrine. Over the years,
there are claims and counter claims in matters of its administration, with some
Hindus claiming it is also a Hindu shrine, though increasingly the management
is being given to Buddhists, not just those from India, but from all over the
world. Now Bodhgaya is a UNESCO World heritage site.
Two thousand five hundred years ago, when Siddhartha, a Nepalese prince of the
Sakya clan, from Kapilavastu, came to this region he described it thus,
"There I saw a beautiful stretch of countryside, a beautiful grove, a
clear flowing river, a lovely ford and a village nearby for support. And I
thought to myself, 'Indeed, this is a good place for a young man set on
striving.'" Nearby was the village of Uruvela on the banks of the
Neranjara (Phalgu) river. Later this village was reamed as Sambodhi, Mahabodhi,
and finally, by the 18th century, as Bodhgaya.
The prince was determined to discover the cause of suffering. He had lived a
sheltered life, and only after marriage had he encountered death, disease and
old age. Traumatised, he had left his wife and newborn son, and spent years
wandering in the forests, meeting sages and hermits, as a seeker. He came to be
known as the ascetic Gotama. They told him that fasting was a way of gaining
wisdom. So the prince stopped eating and drinking until he was too weak to even
walk. That is when a lady called Sujata gave him some milk and honey, revived
his health. A few days later, after deep meditation under the peepal tree,
awareness dawned. He suddenly 'woke up' in realisation. He had become the
Buddha.
Based on local legend, and the architecture of the Mahabodhi temple, we are
told that after enlightenment, Buddha sat under the tree for a week. Then stood
before the tree staring unblinkingly at it for a week. Then he paced up and
down, eighteen times, along a path where lotus flowers bloomed. Then sat under
nearby trees, meeting local sages, priests and merchants, who fed him, and
heard what he had to say. In the seventh week he sat near a pond and was
protected by the hood of Vasuki, king of serpents, during a thunderstorm. Today
there are shrines to mark all these places.
Ashoka visited this site in the 3rd century BCE and established the Vajrasana,
or the diamond seat. One of Ashoka's wives became so jealous of the king's
fondness for the Buddhist religion that she had the holy tree poisoned or cut.
Luckily, Ashoka's daughter, Sanghamitra, had taken a sapling of this tree to
Sri Lanka and so sent a sapling back to be replanted here. Today, there are
sandstone railings around this tree dated to 100 BCE with images of the sun-god
Surya, and wealth-goddess Lakshmi, even images of centaurs and flying horses, suggesting
Greek influence, and granite railings dated to 300 CE with images of eagles and
lotus flowers. The temple was built around 1500 years ago, periodically
restored by local kings, including the Burmese king in the 19th century and
finally the British archeological society. Today the upper portion of the
temple is gold plated thanks to generous donation by the king of Thailand. For
centuries Bodhgaya was visited by monks and royalty from Sri Lanka, Tibet,
Kazhakistan, Cambodia, Vietnam, and China, where Buddhism spread, and their
records speak of how the temple housed an image of Buddha that was carved in
the very likeness of Buddha. (The image currently enshrined is dated to 10th
century and was placed at this site by Alexander Cunningham, the British
archeologist who played a key role restoring the site; he found the image in
the ruins). Sri Lankan kings build a monastery here to house pilgrims in the
4th century. But in the 13th century, the shrine was desecrated by Muslim
marauders, and despite attempts of Pala kings of Bengal to revive it, it
eventually was forgotten. But as the Buddha said, not everything lasts forever.
And now the memory of this ancient way of life has been given a new life,
restored to much of its former glory.