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| Sunday, 15 June 2003 |
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Pilgrimage to North India by Gerald de Alwis Respecting each others faith and belief is one of the cardinal principles of Christianity and in this frame of mind I was able to mix freely with my Buddhist friends and see for myself and appreciate the religious significance of some of the places of Buddhsit worship in North India. Having spent the first night in Delhi, we proceeded to Agra on the golden triangle route to see the Taj Mahal on the banks of Yamuna river, a magnificent edifice in memory of Mumtaz a favourite wife of Akbar. Sankassa was out next destination important in Buddhist history as the place where Lord Buddhas descended to earth from "THAUTHISA HEAVEN" after preaching the Dhamma to his mother. Sankassa is fast developing to meet the needs of increasing arrivals of tourists and pilgrims. Having stayed the night in Kanpur at Lanmark Hotel, we visited Kosambi and proceeded to Allahabad sacred to the Hindus where the confluence of the three rivers Yamuna, Ganga and Saraswathie meet. Hindus from all over the world throng in millions once every six and 12 years to bathe at this spot to cleanse their souls. We stayed 2 days in Varanasi being one of the oldest cities in India, is aptly described as a city of learning and burning. Our boat ride on the river ganges to see the rising sun was unique, the summer palaces built by the Maharajah's by the Ghats are now used for the poor people to spend the rest of their lives before being cremated at the Ganges and their ashes thrown into the river. It is a common sight to see bodies being brought to the cremation sight (The burning ghats). Women are dressed in coloured attire, the men in white, their bodies dipped into the river for the final bath are kept till their pyres are prepared for cremation after which the ashes are thrown into the river Ganges. Bodies of children under 12 years are never cremated but they are taken to mid-stream and with a heavy weight tied on to their body is allowed to submerge into water. Varanasi Varanasi is sacred to Buddhists as it was in Saranath the deer park where Lord Buddha preached his first sermon to the five disciples. The Asokan Pillar with the four lions facing the four directions us today used as the emblem of India. The group stayed 03 nights at Buddhagaya where Buddha attained enlightenment leaving our group to spend adequate time for veneration, meditation and religious discourses. The large number of temples built by Buddhist countries in keeping with their traditional forms of Architecture were a unique sight. We were able to see the ruins of the ancient capital of Rajgir, where King Bimbisara reigned. It reminded me of the Swiss Alphs when I went on the electrically operated chairlift to the hilltop on which the Japanese have erected a peace Pagoda. Coming to Nalanda, we saw the ruins of an ancient seat of learning where Fifteen Thousand resident Monks and Professors lived. Only one kilometer has been excavated. A Moghul Emperor named Baktiyar Khilji set fire killing all the resident monks, who were trapped inside whilst having their mid-day meal. It goes down in history that the seven storied Library was in flames for six months. We relaxed in Patna for 02 nights being the ancient capital "PATALIPUTRA" of King Dharmasoka. The museum in Patna was indeed worth seeing being one of the biggest museums in this part of India. Proceeding to Vaishali we crossed the Mahathma Ghandi bridge nearly 8 1/2 kilo meters long built across the mighty Ganges. The Licchavi Kingdom of Vaishali goes down in history as the Kingdom where Democracy was introduced to the world even before the Greeks in Europe. We stayed one night at Kushinara where Buddha passed away. The sorrow of our group was evident from their faces when they listened to the cassette describing the last journey of Buddha. The next day we crossed over to Nepal to visit Lumbini, the birthplace of Prince Siddhartha. At that point, we left the Indian border to cross the Nepal border there was a short stretch of land 200 yards wide called "No man's Land". After spending the night at Hotel Nirvana in Nepal we visited Kapilavastu, the ancient Kingdom of King Suddhodana "Lord Buddha's Father", and we saw the ruins of temples and palaces built by them. Our next destination was Sravasti, where we stayed two days. Lord Buddha spent 25 rainy seasons in Jethavana temple and at Poorvaramaya neighbouring the mighty Kosala Kingdom. We then proceeded to Lucknow and after lunch at Taj - View Hotel boarded the Super Luxury Air-conditioned Train to Delhi which took a mere six hours. To be honest, it was more comfortable than going in the plane. Dinner, refreshments were served by well attired Stewards. In New Delhi we spent the last two days at Oberoi Maidens in Delhi a plush comfortable hotel. We were taken on sight-seeing tours to see India gate, Parliament house, places where Mahatma Ghandi, Indira Ghandi were assassinated and cremated. The houses where Javaharlal Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi lived, died and cremated are imposing sights now preserved as museums. During our travels we had the opportunity of closely observing the manners, customs and the living conditions of the people and comparing with ancient France there are different segments of society in India as well, akin to (A) The Lords were the Rajahs who had a surfeit of wealth. (B) Bourgeois - the rich middle class (C) Proletariat - Lower class wage - earners. (D) Serfs - mainly women and children eking out a miserable existence largely depending on the munificence and charity of foreign visitors and benefactors. They received their benefaction with a benediction. Our itinerary plans were for our coach to stop randomly at different townships every two hours to stretch out limbs and then men, women with babies in their arms and children would throng and crowd round the bus pitifully soliciting gifts in kind or cash. They would endearingly touch the hands of visitors to coax them to part with gifts especially food. It was a most pathetic sight. At this stage we also made a survey of the living conditions of these very poor people surviving in tiny straw thatched mud huts and shanties co-existing with horses, donkeys, mules, pigs, sheep, goats, cattle, buffaloes and other animals in perfect peace and harmony. Our buffaloes and cattle are midgets in comparison with the North Indian species. They possess sagacious instinctivity. The cows will never yield their milk, even under death threat, to anyone other than to a member of her household and likewise they will never destroy or eat - up their crops. They go in search of abandoned fields or jungle pastures. People, animals co-exist For lack of abundant basic necessities of life, God has blessed and compensated them with the quality of love. People and animals co-exist like brothers and sisters of one family. The dung of animals is treasured more than fine silver and gold. The raw dung is collected into heaps and the members of the family congregate and mix them with their hands, making a roti-like paste, dry them in the sun and use as fuel and for keeping them warm in winter. The dry dung is collected into small mole-hills and mixed with straw chippings and used as inorganic manure for cultivation. Organic manure is unheard of in this part of the world. Thus the animals too play a very important role in the lives of the people and safeguard their health though they live a life of abject poverty and are in dire circumstances. During the long journey's we had to travel, and being a nature lover, I enjoyed and admired the long stretches of road passing through beautiful ranges of evergreen forest laiden with exotic flora. The landscape of North India is not extremely varied, yet picturesque, magnificent, friendly and gracious. Sometimes rugged and seldom monotonous. Apart from the mango groves, we passed, KI salute the Indian farmers for making use of every inch of the soil to plant thousands of acres of inorganically cultivated lands with paddy, sugar cane, dhall, ginger, maize and other cereals, through sheer hard labour using the traditionally old systems of cultivation. |
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