DOCSLIB.ORG

Art. XXIII.—The Piprāhwā Stūpa, Containing Relics of Buddha

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Art. XXIII.—The Piprāhwā Stūpa, Containing Relics of Buddha 573 ART. XXIII.—The Piprdhwd Stitpa, containing relics of Buddha. By WILLIAM CLAXTON PEPPE, Esq. Com- municated, with a Note, by VINCENT A. SMITH, I.C.S., M.R.A.S. With two Plates. SINCE the discovery of the pillar at the LumbinI Garden commemorating the birthplace of Gautama Buddha con- siderable curiosity has been aroused concerning the diiFerent mounds, or hots as they are locally called, whicli occur dotted over the tract extending from Kapilavastu on the north-west and the LumbinI Garden on the north-east in Nepalese territory to a distance of several miles southwards inside the British frontier. One such mound, more prominent than the rest, owing to its size and conspicuous shape, is situated near the village of Piprahwa in the Birdpur Estate, BastI District, on the TJska-Nepal road, at mile 19'75, and about half a mile south of Pillar No. 44 on the frontier of British territory and Nepal. Last year I excavated a trench across the summit of this mound, ten feet broad and eight feet deep, and found that the structure was built of bricks measuring 16" x 10J" x 3', or 15" x 10" X 3", laid in clay mortar, layer upon layer, in concentric circles. Having thus satisfied myself that the mound was a Buddhist atupa, I desisted from further exploration. In October, 1897, Mr. Vincent Smith inspected it, and pronounced it to be a very ancient stupa, and told me that if anything were to be found inside, it would be found in the centre, and probably at about the ground-level. Sub- sequent events have proved how correct was his surmise. Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Warwick, on 21 May 2018 at 03:25:08, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00025739 574 THE PIPKAHWA STUPA. In the beginning of January, 1898, the excavation was continued, and a well ten feet square was dug down the centre of the stupa. At a distance of ten feet from the summit a small broken soapstone (steatite) vase, similar in shape to the vases found lower down, was discovered. This vase was full of clay, and embedded in this clay were some beads, crystals, gold ornaments, cut stars, etc. Beginning at a depth of ten feet from the summit, a circular pipe, filled with clay, and encircled by brickwork, descended for a distance of two feet with a diameter of one foot. It then narrowed to four inches in diameter. The bricks surrounding this pipe were sometimes moulded, and sometimes roughly cut, into the required shapes. After digging through eighteen feet of solid brickwork set in clay, a huge slab of stone was disclosed, lying due magnetic north and south, and placed 31*5 inches to the east of the centre of the clay pipe above described. On further excavation the slab was perceived to be the cover of a massive sandstone coffer measuring 4' 4" X 2' 8J" X 2' 2i". This cover was broken into four pieces, evidently by the pressure of the brickwork resting directly upon it, but, notwithstanding the fracture, the coffer remained perfectly closed. The lid or cover was provided with a deep groove which fitted perfectly into the flange of the sides of the coffer, and the pieces of the lid were thus firmly held together, and were removed without injury to the contents of the box. On removing the lid the following articles were found :— A soapstone vase 6 inches high and 4 inches in diameter; A similar vase 7 inches high and 4^ inches in diameter; A vessel shaped like a lota or battohi, of the same material, 5J inches high and 5| in diameter. The well-fitting lid of this vessel lay apart; A small soapstone box 3J inches in diameter and lj inch high; Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Warwick, on 21 May 2018 at 03:25:08, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00025739 THE PIPRAHWA STUPA. 575 A crystal bowl 3J inches in diameter and 3J inches high, including the cover. The bowl lay at the south end of the coffer, and the cover lay in the centre •with its handle downwards. The handle is in the shape of a fish, hollow, and is filled with granulated stars in gold leaf.1 The steatite vases have been beautifully turned in a lathe, and the marks of the chisel are as fresh and distinct as if the articles were new. The crystal bowl, which is of exceptionally large size, is polished to perfection, and has all the appearance of a glass bowl of the present day. There were evidently some wooden vessels also, but these had fallen to pieces. The fragments are clearly recognizable as wood, and the knob forming the handle of One vessel can be distinguished. All the fragments have been preserved. The stone coffer is made of hard, fine sandstone of very superior quality. It is, except for the fracture of the lid, in a state of perfect preservation. It has been hollowed, at the cost of vast labour and expense, from a solid block of rock. The stone cannot, I think, have come from any of the hills to the north in Nepal. The weight of the lid is 408 pounds, and I calculate the weight of the whole coffer, lid included, to be 1,537 pounds. The brickwork continued for two feet below the bottom of the box. At the level of the bottom of the coffer, the clay pipe, which had so far been circular in section, assumed for the depth of a single layer of bricks the form of a rectangle, the edge of which was 21J inches from the coffer. Below this level the pipe resumed its circular form, four inches in diameter, and terminated with the brickwork two feet below the box. I was most careful in searching this pipe all the way down, but nothing whatever was found in it. 1 The fact that the covers of two of the vessels were lying apart from the vessels themselves is probably due to earthquakes. Two earthquakes have been noticed at Gorakhpur within the last four years. (V. A. S.) Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Warwick, on 21 May 2018 at 03:25:08, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00025739 576 THE PIPEAHWA STUPA. The level of the surface of the ground inside is the same as the level of the ground at the outward circumference of the stiipa. The relic urns contained pieces of bone, which are quite recognizable as such, and might have been picked up a few days ago. The urns also contained ornaments in gold; gold beads; impression of a woman's figure, an inch long, on gold leaf, the upper part of her body being nude and the lower portion clothed ; another smaller figure in gold leaf, nude ; a large circular piece of rather thicker gold leaf, two inches in diameter, with scroll ornament; an elephant stamped on gold leaf; several pieces in gold leaf stamped with the figure of a lion, having a trident over his back and the Buddhist cross (svastika) in front; several pieces with the impression of the Buddhist cross; one piece of solid gold, measuring f" x 5" X |" ; and quantities of stars or flowers both in silver and gold, with six or eight petals each. The silver is tarnished, but the gold is beautifully bright, and was so when the box was opened. Pearls of sizes, many being welded together in sets of two, three, or four, are numerous. The treasure also includes quantities of flowers or stars, leaves serrated and veined, Buddhist tridents, pyramids, pierced and drilled beads of various sizes and shapes, cut in white or red cornelian, amethyst, topaz, garnet, coral, and crystal. Some of these objects seem to be made of shell. There is one bird in red cornelian, and another in metal. I have compared these ornaments with those illustrated in Mr. Rea's work, " South Indian Buddhist Antiquities," 1 and find that almost every form described by him is in my collection, which includes many not in the Bhattiprolu deposit. The only inscription of any kind is scratched on the cover of the smaller urn. The letters are in the Pali character, and are about TV of an inch long. The letters 1 Archaeol. Survey of India, New Imp. Series, vol. xv. Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Warwick, on 21 May 2018 at 03:25:08, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00025739 THE PIPRAHWA STUPA. 577 are so slightly scratched in that I have been unable to obtain an impression, but I have made a very careful pencil rubbing, of which the following is the result:—1 :-JL,-rb-J1-J_L DiDDrWA There is a bridge on the road opposite the stupa, and I have taken the level of the north-west parapet as the datum level. From the base of the brickwork, that is to say, from the surface of the ground inside and outside of the stupa, to the summit, the height is 21'65 feet. The diameter of the stupa at the ground-level is 116 feet.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Are These the Buddha Bones?
    1 ARE THESE THE BUDDHA BONES? By Chan Khoon San After our Pilgrimage in 2002, we visited the Indian Museum in Delhi and saw the bone fragments found by the English planter W.C. Peppe in 1898 when he excavated the Piprahwa stupa in Basti District, Uttar Pradesh, India. Some of the excavated bone pieces were displayed in a miniature golden pavilion donated by the Government of Thailand. We were filled with immense joy at the sight such ‘sacred objects’, worshiping them with great enthusiasm. I took several photos of the bone fragments for remembrance. (See Plate 1) When we returned home, I took a second look at the bone fragments in my photos. That was when I began to have doubts about their authenticity. According to Thupavamsa, [1] the Buddha Gotama’s relics were scattered and may be divided into three sizes. The small relic has the size of a mustard seed, the great relic the size of a rice grain and the very great relic the size of a sprouted seed. But the bone relics that I saw were mega-size and looked suspicious. In 2004, when we visited Mulagandhakuti Vihara in Sarnath, we were shown a Buddha bone relic of 2 nd century AD discovered in 1913 by British archaeologist Sir John Marshall at the Dhammarajika Stupa in Taxila, Pakistan. The size and condition of this Buddha relic matched the description in Thupavamsa. This reinforced my doubts about the authenticity of the bones of Piprahwa stupa. In May 2013, the National Geographic screened a documentary about the Piprahwa stupa entitled “The Bones of the Buddha”, claiming that the area at Piprahwa stupa is the site of the Sakyan capital Kapilavastu, and that the bones found were the bones of the Buddha.
    [Show full text]
  • Symbolism of the Buddhist Stūpa
    THE JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BUDDHIST STUDIES CO-EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Gregory Schopen Roger Jackson Indiana University Fairfield University Bloomington, Indiana, USA Fairfield, Connecticut, USA EDITORS Peter N. Gregory Ernst Steinkellner University of Illinois University of Vienna Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, USA Wien, Austria Alexander W. Macdonald Jikido Takasaki Universite de Paris X University of Tokyo Nanterre, France Tokyo, Japan Bardxvell Smith Robert Thurman Carleton College Amherst College Northfteld, Minnesota, USA Amherst, Massachusetts, USA ASSISTANT EDITOR Bruce Cameron Hall College of William and Mary Williamsburg, Virginia, USA Volume 9 1986 Number 2 CONTENTS I. ARTICLES 1. Signs, Memory and History: A Tantric Buddhist Theory of Scriptural Transmission, by Janet Gyatso 7 2. Symbolism of the Buddhist Stupa, by Gerard Fussman 37 3. The Identification of dGa' rab rdo rje, by A. W. Hanson-Barber 5 5 4. An Approach to Dogen's Dialectical Thinking and Method of Instantiation, by Shohei Ichimura 65 5. A Report on Religious Activity in Central Tibet, October, 1985, by Donald S. Lopez, Jr. and Cyrus Stearns 101 6. A Study of the Earliest Garbha Vidhi of the Shingon Sect, by Dale Allen Todaro 109 7. On the Sources for Sa skya Panclita's Notes on the "bSam yas Debate," by Leonard W.J. van der Kuijp 147 II. BOOK REVIEWS 1. The Bodymind Experience in Japanese Buddhism: A Phenomenological Study ofKukai and Dogen, by D. Shaner (William Waldron) 155 2. A Catalogue of the s Tog Palace Kanjur, by Tadeusz Skorupski (Bruce Cameron Hall) 156 3. Early Buddhism and Christianity: A Comparative Study of the Founders' Authority, the Community, and the Discipline, by Chai-Shin Yu (Vijitha Rajapakse) 162 4.
    [Show full text]
  • The Jaina Cult of Relic Stūpas
    The Jaina Cult of Relic Stūpas Peter Flügel1 (SOAS) Abstract This article gives an overview of recent findings on the thriving cult of bone relic stūpas in contemporary Jaina culture. Although Jaina doctrine rejects the worship of material objects, fieldwork in India on the hitherto unstudied current Jaina mortuary rituals furnished clear evidence for the ubiquity of bone relic stūpas and relic venera- tion across the Jaina sectarian spectrum. The article discusses a representative case and assesses the significance of the overall findings for the history of religions. It also offers a new theoretical explanation of the power of relics. Keywords Jaina relic stūpas, mortuary rituals, Vallabha Samudāya, cultural unconscious, theory of generalized symbolic media, relics as social forms 1) I am indebted to Ācārya Vijaya Virendra Sūri, Muni Rajendra Vijaya, Sādhvī Suvratā Śrī, Rāj Kumār Jain, Tejpāl Jain, Vinod N. Dalal, Kīrti Prasād Jain, N. P. Jain, S. Sheth, M. P. Sheth and other members and supporters of the Vallabha Samudāya for their generous help during field research in India, and to Janet Leigh Foster for enhancing the quality of the photos of images selected from the photo albums of the Vallabha Smāraka which were taken with permission. Without the support of Ācārya Mahāprajña, Ācārya Śivmuni, Pravartaka Umeśmuni, Salāhakāra Dineś Muni, Upap- ravartaka Gautama Muni, Sādhvī Ārcanā, Mūḍabidarī Bhatṭ ārakạ Cārukīrti, Sohanlāl Sañcetī, and other Jains in India, my research on Jaina relic stūpas would not have been possible. I would like to thank all of them. I also wish to express my gratitude to Bansidhar Bhatt, Willem B.
    [Show full text]
  • An Archaeological Analysis of Early Buddhism and the Mauryan Empire at Lumbini, Nepal
    Durham E-Theses The Mauryan Horizon: An Archaeological Analysis of Early Buddhism and the Mauryan Empire at Lumbini, Nepal TREMBLAY, JENNIFER,CARRIE How to cite: TREMBLAY, JENNIFER,CARRIE (2014) The Mauryan Horizon: An Archaeological Analysis of Early Buddhism and the Mauryan Empire at Lumbini, Nepal , Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/11038/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Abstract The Mauryan Horizon: An Archaeological Analysis of early Buddhism and the Mauryan Empire at Lumbini, Nepal Jennifer Carrie Tremblay The archaeology of Buddhism in South Asia is reliant on the art historical study of monumental remains, the identification of which is tied to the textual historical sources that dominate Buddhist scholarship. The development and spread of early Buddhism from the third century BCE has been intrinsically linked with the Mauryan Emperor Asoka, and is consequently reliant on the identification of ‘Mauryan’ remains in the archaeological record.
    [Show full text]
  • RELICS in TRANSITION Material Mediations in Changing Worlds
    SRAMAN MUKHERJEE RELICS IN TRANSITION Material Mediations in Changing Worlds Abstract This paper explores the possibility of reading the shifts in locations of objects as processes of trans- lation and change in art history. The study focuses on the journeys and material reconstitutions of ancient Buddhist corporeal relics as they travelled from an archaeological site in British India, Piprahwa Kot, to a new relic temple in Bangkok, the capital of the Kingdom of Siam (Thailand), during the late nineteenth century. Mapping the shifting locations of the Piprahwa relics across changing geographical, institutional, cultural, and political spaces, the paper traces the changing materiality and multiple identities that accrued around these objects. This study does not ascribe these new identities of Buddhist relics solely to the “inventive” capacity of the cultural politics of British colonialism. Rather, it seeks to bring out the complexities of antiquarian collecting and mar- ket, connoisseurship, display, and scholarship; rituals of state diplomacy; and religious reclamations across transnational Southern Buddhist worlds, as constitutive of the new and multiple identities of ancient Buddhist corporeal relics. Bones of the Buddha As the sun rises against the silhouette of a brick mound, an Indiana Jones–like soundtrack leaves the audience in anticipation of exotic adventures and great discoveries. The next few shots move between a dramatized past and an enacted present to recreate the site of Piprahwa, the brick stupa (Buddhist funerary or commemorative mound) of the opening shot. Bodies of “native” laborers surround the central figure, a man playing a late nineteenth- century European landowner of the site, who sifts through the dust of centuries that has gathered on a recently unearthed stone coffer buried underneath the mound.
    [Show full text]
  • Corporate Bodies in Early South Asian Buddhism: Some Relics and Their Sponsors According to Epigraphy
    religions Article Corporate Bodies in Early South Asian Buddhism: Some Relics and Their Sponsors According to Epigraphy Matthew D. Milligan Department of Philosophy, Religion, and Liberal Studies, College of Arts and Sciences, Georgia College & State University, 231 W. Hancock St., Milledgeville, GA 31061, USA; [email protected] Received: 8 November 2018; Accepted: 12 December 2018; Published: 22 December 2018 Abstract: Some of the earliest South Asian Buddhist historical records pertain to the enshrinement of relics, some of which were linked to the Buddha and others associated with prominent monastic teachers and their pupils. Who were the people primarily responsible for these enshrinements? How did the social status of these people represent Buddhism as a burgeoning institution? This paper utilizes early Prakrit inscriptions from India and Sri Lanka to reconsider who was interested in enshrining these relics and what, if any, connection they made have had with each other. Traditional accounts of reliquary enshrinement suggest that king A´soka began the enterprise of setting up the Buddha’s corporeal body for worship but his own inscriptions cast doubt as to the importance he may have placed in the construction of stupa¯ -s and the widespread distribution of relics. Instead, as evidenced in epigraphy, inclusive corporations of individuals may have instigated, or, at the very least, became the torchbearers for, reliquary enshrinement as a salvific enterprise. Such corporations comprised of monastics as well as non-monastics and seemed to increasingly become more managerial over time. Eventually, culminating at places like Sanchi, the enshrinement of the corporeal remains of regionally famous monks partially supplanted the corporeal remains of the Buddha.
    [Show full text]
  • Buddhism and the Global Bazaar in Bodh Gaya, Bihar
    DESTINATION ENLIGHTENMENT: BUDDHISM AND THE GLOBAL BAZAAR IN BODH GAYA, BIHAR by David Geary B.A., Simon Fraser University, 1999 M.A., Carleton University, 2003 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in The Faculty of Graduate Studies (Anthropology) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) December 2009 © David Geary, 2009 ABSTRACT This dissertation is a historical ethnography that examines the social transformation of Bodh Gaya into a World Heritage site. On June 26, 2002, the Mahabodhi Temple Complex at Bodh Gaya was formally inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. As a place of cultural heritage and a monument of “outstanding universal value” this inclusion has reinforced the ancient significance of Bodh Gaya as the place of Buddha's enlightenment. In this dissertation, I take this recent event as a framing device for my historical and ethnographic analysis that details the varying ways in which Bodh Gaya is constructed out of a particular set of social relations. How do different groups attach meaning to Bodh Gaya's space and negotiate the multiple claims and memories embedded in place? How is Bodh Gaya socially constructed as a global site of memory and how do contests over its spatiality im- plicate divergent histories, narratives and events? In order to delineate the various historical and spatial meanings that place holds for different groups I examine a set of interrelated transnational processes that are the focus of this dissertation: 1) the emergence of Buddhist monasteries, temples and/or guest houses tied to international pilgrimage; 2) the role of tourism and pilgrimage as a source of economic livelihood for local residents; and 3) the role of state tourism development and urban planning.
    [Show full text]
  • From Indian Paleography by A
    From Indian Paleography by A. H. Dani (Passages relating to Piprahwa are in bold) Eastern India In this region there are five odd inscriptions which, being isolated in far-flung areas, have proved difficult for palaeographical study. The first is a series of three inscriptions from the Nagarjuni caves in Bihar, found not far from the Barabar caves where Asokan inscriptions are engraved. These have been securely dated as they refer to Devnampiya Dasaratha, the grandson of Asoka. Palaeographically the inscriptions of Asoka and Dasaratha are closely comparable. Both of them have short verticals. Some words, such as kubha and (a)bhisitena, are virtually identical in the two series of inscriptions, but there are also some differences, e.g. in the forms of a, ya, and va. The Dasaratha inscriptions show a more cursive hand than the Asokan. In the reading of the Dasaratha inscriptions there has been one blatant mistake. The dental sa has been taken for cerebral sha, but the error is proved by the addition of the medial u to the main curve of sa. The next four inscriptions are markedly individualistic. The Piprahwa vase, found in the Basti district, U.P., has an inscription scratched on the steatite stone in a careless manner. As the inscription refers to the remains of the Buddha, it was originally dated to the pre-Mauryan period, but it has been brought down to the third century B.C. on a comparison with Asokan Brahmi. The style of writing is very poor, and there is nothing in it that speaks of the hand of the Asokan scribes.
    [Show full text]
  • 10.1: Literature: Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit and Tamil 10.2: Scientific and Technical Treatises Author: Dr
    Subject: History Lesson: Cultural development Course Developers : 10.1: Literature: Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit and Tamil 10.2: Scientific and technical treatises Author: Dr. Shonaleeka Kaul Assistant Professor, Department of History, University of Delhi 10.3: Understanding Indian art: changing perspectives Author: Dr. Parul Pandya Dhar Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Delhi 10.4: Art and architecture: patronage 10.5: The Mauryan phase: monumental architecture, stone sculpture and terracottas Author: Dr. Snigdha Singh Associate Professor, Miranda House, University of Delhi 10.6: The early stupa: Sanchi,Bharhut, Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda 10.7: The rock-cut cave: Western Ghats, Udayagiri and Khandagiri 10.8: Sculpture: regional styles (up to c. 300 CE): Gandhara, Mathura and Amaravati Author: Dr. Devika Rangachari Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of History, University of Delhi, and writer 10.9: Rock cut caves: architecture, sculpture, painting 10.10: Temple architecture, c. 300 - 750 CE 10.11: Ancient Indian sculpture, c. 300 - 700 CE Author: Sanjukta Datta Ph.D Scholar, Department of History, University of Delhi Language Editor: Veena Sachdev Production Editor: Ashutosh Kumar Assistant Professor, Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi NOTE: The dates in modern historical writings are generally given according to the Christian calendar. In recent years, the use of AD (Anno Domini) and BC (Before Christ) has to some extent been replaced by BCE (Before Common Era) and CE (Common Era). Both usages are acceptable,
    [Show full text]
  • Religious Tourism 3 OBJECTIVES INTRODUCTION
    IDOL Institute of Distance and Online Learning ENHANCE YOUR QUALIFICATION, ADVANCE YOUR CAREER. 2 BSc.TTM Tourism Resources of India Course Code: BTT103 Semester: First SLM Units : 6 E-LESSON : 3 www.cuidol.in Unit-6 (BTT 103 ) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL Religious Tourism 3 OBJECTIVES INTRODUCTION The course aims to provide basic knowledge of In this unit we are going to learn about different tourism products of India. Religious Tourism. To Equip the student with the understanding of Hindu, Buddhist and Jain. domestic destinations. Muslim, Christian and Sikh. To enrich student with knowledge of diversified tourism resources and products www.cuidol.in Unit-6 (BTT 103 ) INSTITUTEAll right OFare DISTANCE reserved ANDwith ONLINECU-IDOL LEARNING TOPICS TO BE COVERED 4 > Introduction of Religious Tourism > Hindu and Muslim Sites > Jain and Buddhist Sites > Christian and Sikh Sites www.cuidol.in Unit-6 (BTT 103 ) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL Religious Tourism 5 Religious tourism is a type of tourism exclusively or strongly motivated by religious reasons. This is one of the oldest forms of tourism. It can also be referred to as faith tourism or spiritual tourism. People go on religious holidays to confirm, deepen or reflect upon their faith www.cuidol.in Unit-6 (BTT 103 ) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL HINDU PILGRIMAGE CENTERS 6 www.cuidol.in Unit-6 (BTT 103 ) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL CHAR DHAM YATRA 7 Badrinath (North) Dwarka (West) Jagannath Puri (East) Rameshwaram (South) www.cuidol.in Unit-6 (BTT 103 ) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL JYOTIRLINGAS IN INDIA 8 Kedarnath Nageshwar Kashi Vishwanath Bhimashankar Mahakaleshwar Trimbakeshwar Omkareshwar Srisailam Grihineshwar Rameshwaram Somnath Vaidyanath www.cuidol.in Unit-6 (BTT 103 ) All right are reserved with CU-IDOL VINDHYACHAL DEVI MANDIR (UP) 9 • Maa Vindhyavasini Devi Temple is located in Vindhyachal, 8km far from Mirzapur, and around 80km far from Allahabad (Prayag) on the banks of the holy River Ganges in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
    [Show full text]
  • What Happened at Piprahwa
    1 What happened at Piprahwa: a chronology of events relating to the excavation in January 1898 of the Piprahwa Stupa in Basti District, North-Western Provinces and Oude (Uttar Pradesh), India, and the associated ‘Piprahwa Inscription’, based on newly available correspondence. Charles Allen Background Writing in the pages of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society in January 2012, Dr Michael Willis, Curator of early South Asian and Himalayan collections at the British Museum and author of Buddhist Reliquaries from Ancient India (London 2000), declared the Piprahwa inscription to be ‘in all likelihood a forgery made by A. A. Führer’i. Exactly a century earlier the same scholarly journal had carried a very similar expression of concern from the Pali scholar Prof. Heinrich Lüders, raising for the first time in public doubts that had hitherto circulated largely in privateii. Both Willis and Lüders had the same culprit in mind: Dr. Anton Alois Führer, who in September 1898 had resigned from his post as Curator of Lucknow Museum and Archaeological Surveyor to the Government of the North-Western Provinces and Oude (NWP&O), after being charged with ‘falsification of his correspondence with several Governments’, but with further charges of plagiarism, forgery and corruption hanging over himiii. The scandal had been effectively hushed up by the Government of India and Dr. Führer’s last official publicationiv had been withdrawn and suppressed. However, Prof. Lüders’ article showed how Dr. Führer had invented a number of inscriptions supposedly found by him at Ramnagar in Rohilkhand 1891-2, in some instances basing them on genuine inscriptions logged in Epigraphia Indica.
    [Show full text]
  • Address by the President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind on the Occasion of Inauguration of the 6Th International Buddhist Conclave
    ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT OF INDIA, SHRI RAM NATH KOVIND ON THE OCCASION OF INAUGURATION OF THE 6TH INTERNATIONAL BUDDHIST CONCLAVE New Delhi, August 23, 2018 1. I am happy to be here for the inauguration of the International Buddhist Conclave 2018. This is a gathering of eminent personalities associated with Buddhist thought and scholarship, with Buddhist heritage and monuments, and with the tourism industry that does so much to facilitate the Buddhist travel and pilgrimage circuit. In particular, I would like to welcome the delegates from approximately 30 countries who have come to India for this Conclave, and who will be part of this event as well as events in Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh over the next three days. 2. I would also like to acknowledge the participation of Japan as a partner country in this Conclave. India and Japan have much in common, but there are few links we treasure as much as our shared Buddhist heritage. Through thousands of years of human existence, India has been a storehouse of history and culture, of faith and philosophy. Buddhism has been among India’s greatest spiritual traditions. Many great locations associated with the life and teachings of Lord Buddha are found in India. These include Kapilvastu (Piprahwa), where he spent his childhood; Bodhgaya, where he attained Enlightenment; Sarnath, where he delivered his first sermon; and Kushinagar, where he embraced Mahaparinirvana. 3. Even after Lord Buddha’s passing, monasteries, pilgrimage sites, universities and places of learning and worship that carried forward his work came up across India. Today Buddhist heritage sites are to be found in virtually every state 1 of India.
    [Show full text]