THE FINAL DESTINATION OF BUDDHA- KUSHINARA

SRILANKAN PILGRIMS IN FRONT OF THE TEMPLE

In 483 BC, Buddha chose Kushinara now called Kushinagar as the last place that he would live in. He announced at Vaishali that he was leaving Vaishali for ever, then at Kesaria he gave his begging bowl to the people of  Vaishali and asked them to go back to their own town and not grieve for him.

Kushinagar is in UP near the river Hiranyavati. The place is not far from the Nepal border and also Kapilvastu to which place Siddhartha belonged. Reaching it was quite a tough job. The distance from Kesariya was hardly 124 kms, yet it took us over five hours to reach as the road was in a very bad condition. In some places I did think that perhaps walking would have been a wiser option!

During the days of the Buddha,the Mallas were the rulers here, and this place was one of the sixteen Maha-jana-padas of 6th century BC.

THE TEMPLE

As one enters the small town, the first place one sees is the Parinirvana Temple. This is the exact place where Buddha died. As the story goes Ananda his disciple was not very happy and the Buddha told him "Don't grieve, Ananda!  The nature of things dictates that we must leave those dear to us. Everything born contains its own cessation. I too, Ananda, am grown old, and full of years, my journey is drawing to its close, I am turning 80 years of age, and just as a worn-out cart can only with much additional care be made to move along, so too the body of the Buddha can only be kept going with much additional care".

THE SERENE FACE

The present temple at the parinirvana spot was built by the Indian Government in 1956 as part of the commemoration of the 2,500th year of the Mahaparinivana or 2500 BE (Buddhist Era). Inside this temple, one can see the famous Reclining Buddha image lying on its right side with the head to the north, facing the west. The statue is 6.1 m long and is made of Chunar sandstone. This statue was made in the 5th Century AD.

THE RECLINING STATUE

On reaching Kushinara,I went inside the temple and sat in a corner.The thought that 2500 years ago the great Buddha lay down here to die was very over whelming.

On the next morning of our stay I again visited the temple early in the morning. A whole procession of Buddhists from Srilanka were circambulating the temple. They were holding lit candles and lotus flowers in their hands. It was a silent procession. Every one was wearing white. This was the same group that I had earlier seen at Bodhgaya. They were on a  pilgrimage to visit all the places connected with the life of the Buddha.

PILGRIMS FROM BENGAL

There was another group of devotees from Bengal. They were accompanied by their Bhikhu. The Devotees sat and listened to the discourse given by the Bhikhu. They too were traveling to all the places connected with the life of Buddha. 

THAI PILGRIMS

I spent a long time inside the temple and watched as the various groups of people brought in long cheevars(cloth) for the Buddha. They would keep the cheevar on the statue  and move on. These cheevars were in golden colour and were very beautifully decorated. There must have been at least 15 cheevars donated by the Srilankans. Once they had gone then came the Thai devotees. They were fewer in number, but they too offered the Cheevar and then sat down to pray.

RAMABHAR STUPA

After the death of Buddha, he was cremated at the bank of the river Hiranyavati. A stupa was built over the place It is now called the Ramabhar Stupa, earlier it was called Mukut-bandhana Chaitya.

The ashes were then collected and divided into eight portions. The claimants of the ashes were  Ajatshatru of Magadha, Licchavis of Vaishali, Shakyas of Kapilvastu to which clan Siddhartha belonged, Bulis of Allakappa, Kolis of Ramagama to which clan his mother Mahamaya belonged, Mallas of Kushinara, Mallas of Pava and the Vethadipa Brahman. All of them took the ashes and built stupas over the ashes. Later Asoka in the 3rd Century BC built 84000 stupas over the ashes removed from some of these eight Stupas and divided into smaller portions.

After visiting the Ramabhar Stupa we visited the Museum. The building is quite big but the stuff inside is just too little.

BURMESE TEMPLE

There are a number of temples built by  other countries in Kushinara. The temple made by the Burmese is located close to the Ramambhar Stupa and is quite beautiful.

OUTSIDE THE TEMPLE

The compassionate Buddha on his death bed told the assembled people not to blame Cunda who had served Buddha his last meal, after which he had fallen ill. He left us a message that compassion and forgiveness are great virtues.  Before his death he asked all the assembled Bhikhus if they had any doubts about the Dhamma or the Sangha. They were all invited to get their doubts cleared. Buddha asked them this question three times. When no one had any doubts, he said his last words, which were, "Listen, Bhikhus, I say this, all conditioned things are subject to decay, strive with diligence for your liberation".

That's me!

Leaving Kushinagar I thought about death. 
Death is only the culmination of the journey of this body. What lives on is the memory of what a person did during this journey. How many people did he /she reach out to. 
What legacy did he/she leave for humanity. What difference did he/she make to the world which he inhabited. Did his/her existence bring a smile on the face of  people whom he touched. 

Will people remember me  long after I am gone? 

Buddha the great teacher died at Kushinara about 2500 years ago, but his thoughts, philosophy, live on trying to make us all better human beings. In a world ridden with war, strife, disparity and discrimination his message of peace, compassion, kindness, equality are eternal solutions for all times to come. 

THE MOST BESOTTED VAISHALI.

COMPLETE LION PILLAR AT VAISHALI

 In those days, around 2500 years ago, in the fertile land of the terai(wet land), where huge rivers like the Ganga, Gandak, Sone, Pun pun, Ghaghra, Kosi flowed, there was a sort of Democracy practiced, which was called Ganarajya. Gana means clan and rajya here means rule.The ruler was elected for a year. He was elected by 7707 Rajas and had a Council of nine people to assist him in administration. These rajas were male heads  of families belonging to the Kshatriya clan. Interestingly around the same time in 507 BC, an Athenian leader Cleisthenes introduced a system of political reforms that was called demokratia or Rule by the people. Here too the ruler was elected by male citizens of Athens who were over the age of 18.

There were 16 confederacies in North India then and the Vajji Mahajanapada had its capital at Vaishali  which was the seat of the Lichchavi Ganarajya. Being in the terai region with plenty of river water which brought a lot of silt with it, this fertile land was very prosperous. When food is a plenty and all needs are met, then human race progresses and flourishes and development takes place in other aspects of life. Perhaps that is the reason why this area gave us our Historical glory, great culture and intellectual and reformative Religions. The great Buddha and Mahavira were born in this era and area.

Continuing on my journey from Patna on the path that Gautama the Buddha traversed 2500 years ago, while crossing the mighty Ganga, I  looked at  the vast expanse of water with reverence as it had allowed such a great civilization to flourish here. Perhaps that is the reason why this humongous Ganga is considered sacred! So many rivers have already flown into the Ganga by this time that all the soil, and culture seems to have converged together.

KING VISHAL'S PALACE- RUINS

After crossing the Ganga, I reached one of the most important cities of ancient India "Vaishali". Today Vaishali is just a bit bigger than a small town of rural India. All that might, beauty and  glory that it once possessed has vanished. Time has taken its toll and what once was a much coveted City and where Buddha stayed and preached for many years, no longer wields the power it did once upon a time!

This was the place where King Vishal ruled. There are some ruins where one can see what once must have been very glorious. If Bimbisar and his son Ajatshatru of Rajgrih wanted to conquer Vaishali there must have been something worth conquering here!

This was the place where the most beautiful girl of the Region was made the Nagar-vadhu or Bride of the City! What a sad state of affairs! The most beautiful girl would be chosen, would be trained in the arts of music and dance, but she would also have to be the courtesan who would have to be the bride of  anyone who could pay her price. Amrapali was one such City bride. It is said that this tradition was started by King Manudev of the Lichchavi clan who wished to possess Amrapali and therefore set up this practice as Amrapali wanted to marry someone else.The village of Ambada Chowk is  the place where Amrapali lived. A Girls School is built upon the place where it is said once lived Amrapali.  Amrapali had become a disciple of the Buddha and had renounced the World and joined the Bhikhshu  Sangha.

THIS CONTAINED RELICS OF BUDDHA NOW OPEN

As we moved away from the ruins of the palace of King Vishal, we reached the pond where the Abhishek or anointment of the King was done every year. Near by is the Stupa where the relics of the Buddha were preserved. This Stupa was opened by Asoka in the 3rd Century BC. The Relics were removed and smaller portions were distributed all over India where it is believed that 84,000 Stupas were built over the distributed relics.

 Vaishali was the place where at the age of 80, Buddha gave his last discourse and declared to the people that he was departing from Vaishali and would soon be leaving the world forever. The people of Vaishali were very upset at this disclosure and kept following him on his journey away from Vaishali. The Buddha then gave them his Bhiksha patra as a token and told them to return back to their homes.

STUPA OF ANANDA

As one leaves Vaishali one reaches the Stupa where the relics of Buddha's most favorite shishya (disciple) Anand are preserved. There is a beautiful Asoka Pillar here with a sitting Lion on the top. Thankfully this is a complete Pillar and not broken or damaged.

SWASTIKA SHAPED MONASTERY FOR WOMEN

There are also the ruins of a monastery in the shape of  a Swastika. Vaishali was the place where Maha Prajapati Gautami, the step mother of Siddhartha who had brought him up, asked Buddha to allow women to join the Sangha. After Ananda's persuasion Buddha allowed women to join the Sangha. That was quite a revolutionary step granting equality to women!

MAHAVIRA'S TEMPLE BEING BUILT AT KUNDAGRAM

 

FIVE LEVELS OF KESARIYA STUPA

Leaving Vaishali we went onwards towards Kesariya. Kesariya which was called Kessa-putta in the days of the Buddha is about 55 kms away from Vaishali. The people of Vaishali had followed Buddha upto Kesariya after his last discourse. This is the place where Buddha gave them his Bhiksha patra.

This is also the place where Buddha is supposed to have given his discourse where he had said that his followers must analyze his teachings thoroughly before accepting them, "Atta Deep Bhava". This was granting the people Freedom of thought.

DIFFERENT SHAPES

The Stupa  here is supposed to be the largest Stupa in the world. It has five levels and each level differs in shape.  We went around half the Stupa as the other half is still under a mound. While leaving the place, as we sat near the gate, the guard asked us if we had seen the statues of Buddha. He told us they were visible from a distance and were on the north side of the stupa. We quickly went back and then could see the various niches where there were about nine statues of the Buddha. Sadly, the Khaljis in the 13th century AD, had partly destroyed these statues.

 MANY STATUES

Many people do not visit Vaishali and even fewer visit Kesariya. Both these places were important places during the life of the Buddha. They both are also important as two very important discourses of the Buddha were held here. Vaishali is also the place where the Second Buddhist Council was held 100 years after the death of Buddha, where certain rules to be followed by the Bhikhus were discussed.

THE SETTING SUN

Breathing in the air of Vaishali, walking on the road taken by the Great Teacher,I could visualize  the surge of humanity grieving at the imminent death of their beloved Teacher. The thought that they would never see him, hear him again was surely the ultimate grief. 

The Buddha had said," The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one. Only the moment you reject all help, are you freed."

STEPPING STONES?