Where History Lingers

By Amlan Home Chowdhury

As you step inside the serene, sublime and tranquil precincts of the centuries old Mahabodhi Mahavihara at Bodh Gaya in Bihar, you would certainly have an uncanny feeling of entering inside a time machine. The temple where the story of Prince Siddhartha ended and the saga of Gautam Buddha began had mutely witnessed the passage of time for centuries together. No wonder it is a virtual time machine by itself.
With the pervading of hum of the hymn “Buddham Sharanam Gachhami, Samgham Sharanam Gachhami…” you feel you have gone back to the 6th century BC when the Buddhist monks used to sing it in the same tune as today.
When Fa Hien set his foot here from far off China nearly 1,600 years ago, the recital of “Om Mani Padme Hum…” by the monks from China, Tibet, Sri Lanka and Myanmar would reverberate within the premises of the temple. Today, the same hymn gets echoed within the temple premises keeping alive the past glory.
Even the ancient roads that brought you to Bodh Gaya were also the same ones followed by Prince Siddhartha nearly 26th centuries ago to come here. Just imagine it were the same very dusty-roads that were trekked by the mighty Maghadhan Emperor Asoka to land here from Pataliputra (modern Patna) about 2,300 years ago.
Can you imagine Asoka’s chief Queen Tishyarakshita also came to this temple by that very road to destroy the Bodhi Briksha: the Bodhi Tree under which Siddhartha attained the supreme enlightenment. The Chinese monks Fa Hien and Hieun Tsang also trotted the same route in 404 AD and 637 AD respectively to step inside the Mahabodhi Mahavihara.
The only difference is that the earth was younger then and history of Aryavartha was in the making. In those turbulent days, Aryavartha was torn in strife. At that very crucial juncture of history, what Aryavartha very desperately needed was the message of peace. And Gautama gave that. Bodh Gaya was the place from where Tathagata tried to shape the philosophy, facilitate the ways of search for attainment of cosmic knowledge and spread the message of peace.
It is perhaps the only shrine in the world whose construction, re-construction, extension-process and restoration continued for over 2,400-years. It is also the only temple in India in whose restoration several countries of the world contributed over the past about 1,600 years.

Restoring ‘The Navel of Earth’
You cannot be blamed if you feel you have entered into the time machine on entering Mahabodhi Mahavira as the time really stands frozen in the periphery of this ancient-most temple that has been mentioned as “The Navel of Earth” in Jataka. It means the premises where the temple stands today will disappear at the last at the end of the worth and also will appear first in the next recreation of the earth.
In simple-mundane term, this temple is indestructible. Strange it may seem the history of the temple indeed shows that many steps were taken to destroy the Mahabodhi Mahavihara but it again sprang up to its old glory. Let us have a peep into this interesting fact.
The Islamic invaders had been trying to demolish Mahabodhi Mahavihara since 11th century AD. But the rulers of Myanmar had been restoring the temple and the Bodhi Tree several times since 11th century AD.
Way back in 1874, the Myanmar’s ruler Mindon-Min even laid open his royal coffer to undertake restoration works for 11-long years. Again in 1880-84 phase, the Myanmarese Royal House spent money to repair and restore the shrine. Recently, four years back, Thailand donated 300 kgs of gold to this temple. However, the first step to restore Mahabodhi Mahavihara and built the Diamond Throne beneath the Bodhi Tree where Siddhartha is said to have attained enlightenment to become Buddha was taken by the mighty Magadhan Emperor Asoka Priyadarshi in 250 BC after 200 years of his (Buddha’s) Mahaparinirvana or demise.
As there had been efforts to destroy the temple and the tree, so there were counter efforts to rebuilt it and restore the Bodhi Tree to its health. Since the Asokan period, the temple was built, rebuilt and restored several times. Even an ancient inscription dating back to 1st century AD says the temple built by Asoka was replaced by a new one.
During the Sunga period in and around 150 BC railings were created around the Mahabodhi Temple. In the 7th century during the Gupta period, these railings were extended. Way back in 1st century BC columns with pot-shaped bases were constructed around the Vajrasan.
Witnessing hundreds of raids and wars, including those by the Muslims, Mahabodhi Mahavihara still stands mutely, majestically. The Mahabodhi Mahavihara beacons over 15,00,000 visitors from across the world annually.
The UNESCO had accorded the World Heritage Site status to this 170 feet tall structure in 2002.

Place of Attaining ‘Maha Bodhi’
If the millions throng here every year from all across the world, it has a reason. It is widely believed if mankind steps inside this shrine and stands beneath the Bodhi Tree for a while, they have their inner-self awakened or gain ‘Bodhi’: the Gyan (knowledge). Literally, ‘Maha Bodhi’ means Great Awakening as Buddha attained Enlightenment in 589 BC after defeating the dark forces of Mara.
The Jataka says around 589 BC Siddhartha left his royal palace to come to Gaya situated on the banks of the Phalgu and started meditation under a peepul tree. He attained “Bodhi” or enlightenment after meditating for three days and three nights. He then spent seven weeks at seven different places in and around where the temple now stands. These seven places or spots (that can be visited today) are:
i. Bodhi Tree: Spent the first week (attained enlightenment under this tree)
ii. Animeshlochan Stupa: Spent second week standing and staring uninterruptedly at the Bodhi Tree. During this period, he did not blink hence Animeshlochan
iii. Ratnachakrama: During the third week, Gautama walked back and forth between the location of Animeshlochan and Bodhi Tree. The Jataka says as Buddha took steps, lotus flowers bloomed at each step.
iv. Ratnagar Chaitya: The fourth week was spent at this spot which still exists
v. Ajopala Nigodh Tree: The fifth week was spent here where the Enlightened One answered questions of a group of Brahmins.
vi. Lotus Pond: He spent the sixth week at a place adjacent to the Lotus Pond.
vii. Rajyatna Tree: He spent the seventh week under this tree.
As per Jataka and local legends, four weeks after the Buddha began meditating under the Bodhi tree, the sky darkened for seven days and torrential rain followed. He sat totally unprotected. Suddenly, the king of snakes Muchalinda sprang up from the pit of the earth and extended his hood over his head. He was protected from the rain. When the rain stopped, Muchalinda appeared before Him in human form and bowed. Muchalinda then disappeared.

Bodhi Briksha:
The Tree of Knowledge
The Bodhi Tree is central to Buddhism. As per Jataka, a Bodhi Tree had sprang up just out of nowhere on the day of the birth of Prince Siddhartha. He also attained “Bodhi” beneath this tree. The stories surrounding Bodhi Briksha also are extremely enthralling. If only this venerable could speak it would have narrated them to you.
Several attempts were made to destroy this tree over a span of 2,300 long years, yet it survived to enable millions of people to bow to it. Interestingly, it is perhaps the only tree of the world that was subjected to famine jealousy. That too of principal Queen of a mighty Emperor!
As you stand beneath the Bodhi Tree and gush of cool air passes through your face, you really cannot help but imagining that this was the same place where Asoka sat to supervise the creation of Vajrasana or Diamond Throne.
The Emperor Asoka’s Queen Tisyarakshita tried to destroy the tree as her husband was too much attached to it. But Asoka again restored it to health with the help of milk, curd and honey. Fa Hien vividly narrated it in his travelogue. He wrote: “Asoka would always be busy with Bodhi tree during his stay at the temple premises neglecting the Queen. Hence, Tisyarakshita cursed that tree and asked her men to destroy it. Another Chinese traveler, Hieun Tsang also noted in his travelogue that the people from all across the world would offer curd, milk, honey, perfumes and camphor to this tree. The sampling of Bodhi Tree was taken to Sri Lanka by Asoka’s daughter Sanghamitra and planted it there.
In the 2nd century BC King Pushyamitra Sunga tried to destroy the temple and also cut down mercilessly the Bodhi Tree. Again in 600 A.D. King Shashanka of Bengal tried to break the temple and also root-out the Peepul Tree or Bodhi Briksha. But the tree was restored to its health and the temple rebuilt.
Truly, “The Navel of Earth” cannot be destroyed.

(Photo courtesy: Datanews photo)