Blissful Buddhas

source: http://www.thehindu.com/arts/art/article2636255.ece
Shruthi Mathews

THE RIGHT PATH One of Manisha Raju’s works

Manisha Raju’s ‘Tathagata’ revolves around the core of her personal quest for spiritual peace

Walking into the Prakrit Art Gallery to have a look at Manisha Raju’s ‘Tathagata’ I’m confronted with an unfamiliar scene: right in the middle of the gallery is the artist, sitting at a table and drinking tea with her family. Bearing in mind the churchlike reverence and emptiness that is the norm in galleries, it’s quite surprising to come across an artist who has made herself so at home amidst its hallowed halls.

However, this rather charming tableau I’ve stumbled upon provides a wonderfully apt representation of Raju’s very personal relationship with her art: seated at the heart of the gallery surrounded by her paintings, Raju’s work similarly coils around the core of her personal quest for spiritual peace.

“I try to connect my theology with the spiritual icons depicted in my art,” says Raju, nodding at the serene, sleepy-eyed Buddhas that inhabit her canvases, “I’m interested in exploring concepts of the self and self-interaction.”

The ocherous shades that are a distinct feature of this series of Raju’s work evoke the sense of peace that she believes comes from finding a connection with the self, and the sunset hues that embrace her Buddhas spread seamlessly between background and the spiritual icon — indicating a harmonious union between inner and outer worlds.

Every element of the frame is weighted with a similar symbolic significance — the faint butterflies and lotuses that fleck its fringes are more than just pretty, decorative accents: “The butterflies represent the constant state of flux that is time; the lotus, with its brief lifespan, the brevity of life,” says Raju, passing me a small bowl of snacks.

Juxtaposing images of the delicate ephemerality of human existence with the eternal bliss represented by the Buddha, Raju’s work gently seeks to communicate on a silent, spiritual level.

Sitting peacefully amidst her work, Raju’s paintings do infuse the atmosphere with a certain tranquillity, her beatific, half-smiling Buddhas a visual balm to the sometimes tired inner self.

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Ancient bronzes, life-size warriors among five exhibits opening Friday at the Holter

Rare bronzes pieces, some of them dating back more than 3,000 years, are featured in the centerpiece exhibit of five new shows opening Friday night at the Holter Museum of Art, kicking off the celebration of the museum’s 25th anniversary year.

“Ancient Bronzes of the Asian Grasslands from the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation” has an opening reception, along with four other exhibits (see articles in today’s Your Time), at 7 p.m. Friday at the Holter. A talk by the curator of the Sackler Foundation, Trudy Kawami, will be at 5:30 p.m. at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church.

Crafted by artisans of the Asian steppes, the 85 ancient bronzes on display were used by horsemen, chieftains and shamans. These nomadic steppe dwellers were the first to domesticate the wild horse, said Holter curator Yvonne Seng. They also guided trade caravans along the famous Silk Road linking Asia to Europe, a major route of goods and cultural exchange.

Among the items are cauldrons used by shamans for mixing mind-altering herbs, yak-shaped belt buckles, ornate knives, a sword with an ibex-shaped handle, and shaman rattles.

“It’s a huge honor,” said Seng, of landing the exhibit. The Helena showing is the first time the artworks, dating from 1300 B.C. to 200 A.D., have been shown in the Rocky Mountain region.

Asian history is a major inspiration for another compelling exhibit of life-size, modern-day “warriors” in the High Gallery, “Wanxin Zhang: A Ten Year Survey.”

Zhang, an acclaimed San Francisco artist who grew up in China during the Cultural Revolution, was inspired by the famous Terracotta Warriors of the first emperor of China.

Among the “warriors” are “Poet of Battlefield,” eyes concealed by John Lennon glasses, gazing skyward, his clothing a blend of traditional Chinese military armature and tunic, topped by a necktie; and “Imperfect Square II,” a tribute to the defiant youth who stood up to the Chinese tanks as they rolled into Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Other Holter exhibits include: “Horse and Rider” a joint exhibit by Montana artists John Buck and Deborah Butterfield; “Shifting Perspectives,” a photo-and-essay exhibit of China by Missoula photographer Dudley Dana and writer Candace Crosby; and “Invite Your Demons to Tea,” a series of Tibetan-inspired ceramic works by Helena artist Valerie Hellermann.

“It’s exciting, it’s really exciting to have all these exhibits together,” Seng said. They speak powerfully of Asia’s historic influence on art, but also provide fresh inspiration for contemporary artists. “It will be a feast for the eye. I think it will be a great celebration for the 25th.”

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Hanford: New Clark Center exhibit explores the Buddhist faith

HANFORD — The path to enlightenment begins at the Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture on Feb. 4. The center will present “Wrathful Deities and Compassionate Bodhisattvas: Aides of the Buddhist Faith,” a brand new exhibit exploring various aspects of Buddhism. The featured artwork will be open for public viewing until April 28. “Buddhism arrived in Japan in the mid-6th century, carrying with it a belief of a vast pantheon of deities,” said Sabine Neumann, curatorial assistant for the center. Originating in India and passing through China and the Korean peninsula, the Buddhist faith underwent various transformations while keeping the one, ultimate goal: attainment of nirvana or salvation and escape from the endless cycle of rebirth. The upcoming spring exhibition will showcase the diverse forms of spiritual aides and deities within the faith and explain their purpose through Buddhist sculptures and a rare bronze votive plaque (kakebotoke), ranging in dates from the 12th to the 14th century. Also featured are sophisticated Buddhist hanging scrolls dated from the same period, as well as painted saints and deities created during the 17th to the 19th century. “Buddhism contains benevolent, merciful deities that assist the adherents in their faith called bodhisattvas, and there are also fierce-looking deities guarding the doctrine known as the Wisdom Kings,” Neumann said. “The exhibit takes a look at the contrast between the merciful bodhisattvas and the ferocious deities, often confused to be devils and demons because of their gruesome outer appearance.” The highlight of the exhibit is a large painted, hanging scroll from 1682 depicting Buddha’s death and entrance into nirvana. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 12:30 to 5 p.m. the center is closed on national holidays and during the month of August. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for students and active military service with valid ID. Children age 12 and under are free. Weekly tours are held Saturdays at 1 p.m and guided group tours can be arranged by calling the center in advance at 582-4915. Read more: http://www.hanfordsentinel.com/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/arts-new-clark-center-exhibit-explores-the-buddhist-faith/article_f5b78946-43b1-11e1-9788-001871e3ce6c.html#ixzz1k3O70yJq

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Nearby Buddhist temple will expand

By Carla Javier

Not many students know that the home to the western hemisphere’s largest Samadhi statue of Buddha is located less than six miles from campus, right off Route 27.On the same nine-acre property, owned by the New Jersey Buddhist Vihara, is a building the size of a one family house, where three Buddhist monks currently live.

This same building is also used as an education center for Sunday dharma school, which instructs its 12 school-aged students in the Buddhist way of life, including the teachings of Buddha, and how to practice meditation.

According to a monk at the temple who preferred to remain anonymous, the community is in need of a larger temple to accommodate six Buddhist monks.

The project, officially titled the “New Jersey Buddhist Vihara and Meditation Centre Project,” has been in motion since the construction of the Samadhi statue.

“The temples in Sri Lanka tend to have a statue. A statue like ours brings peace and happiness and is used to practice meditation,” the monk said.

The 30-foot depiction of the Samadhi was crafted by a young artist monk from Sri Lanka and is composed of 99 percent bricks, concrete and cement. It is now the destination for Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike since being revealed to over 1,000 visitors in 2009.

“Some come, look and go. Some look and ask what it means, so we teach,” the monk said.

The second phase, a plan to create a larger temple as well as community facilities, is also in the works.

According to the monk, this new facility would contain a large prayer and meditation room for the colder months, a library, facilities for the dharma school to meet, a conference room, living quarters for the six monks and a meditation trail. Before this can happen, though, he said that the group needs to raise $2.3 million in donations.

He said they envision a yearlong process that begins with designing the center itself, then submitting the plans for township approval. Following approval, the center will start building immediately and hopefully be completed by the end of March 2012.

Amy Ridgeway ’12 took professor Jonathan Gold’s Tibetan Buddhism class her sophomore year. As a result, she is now a religion major and a scholar in the study of Buddhism, despite not being a Buddhist practitioner.

“The project sounds incredible. The timeline and plans appear very well-structured and thought out. This will be a wonderful resource for the Princeton community,” Ridgeway said in an email.

“This project is in response to the requirements of a growing Buddhist community,” the monk said, adding that they have not been able to perform a lot of outreach to the community because of the size of their current facility.

Stephanie Miceli ’12, another religion major, said she had not heard of the project beforehand but added that she believes it is another step in a natural progression as more individuals are becoming interested in Buddhism for various reasons.

“There is the appeal of the exotic. And there are meditation practices taken out of context of Buddhist belief used by psychologists and health professionals as mindfulness-based stress reduction in a growing movement towards holistic healing,” Miceli added.

The monk said that as people are becoming more educated, they are also becoming more interested in Buddhism and visiting the statue and temple.

“In this country, there is so much focus on learning science. And that is what we do here and hope to do with the center too: Learn about the science of life.”

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Vietnamese ceramics: Birmingham Museum of Art to exhibit 221 works from its collection

Birmingham Museum of Art18th century jar. Glazed stoneware, two applied dragons chasing Buddhist jewels of wisdom, above band of cloud motifs

One of the finest collections of Vietnamese ceramics in the United States is about to emerge from galleries and storage facilities at the Birmingham Museum of Art.

“Dragons and Lotus Blossoms,” which opens next Sunday, will reveal a unique tradition that can be traced back 6,000 years, despite centuries of Chinese occupation, French colonization and devastating wars.

Prized for their vibrant yellow, green, red and brown hues and decorative floral and animal motifs, these bowls, jars, ewers, vases, plates and other objects have been traded for centuries. Some were inscribed with Chinese characters and Buddhist symbols, others destined for tea ceremonies in Japan. One jar reached Germany, where it was given to the Elector of Saxony in 1590. In recent years, forgers have attempted to profit from their exquisite beauty.

They have also had their “Titanic” stories. Since the 1990s, excavations of 15th and 16th century shipwrecks have recovered hundreds of thousands of objects, some of which have made it to the BMA collection and exhibition. A significant find in 1997 yielded 240,000 artifacts from the wreckage of the Cu Lao Chan, off the coast of Hoi An in the South China Sea, but many more had been recovered prior to 1997 by Hoi An fishermen.

DETAILS

What: Dragons and Lotus Blossoms: Vietnamese Ceramics from the Birmingham Museum of Art
When: Jan. 22 through April 8.
Admission: Free. Call 254-2565 for more information.
Where: Birmingham Museum of Art, 2000 Rev. Abraham Woods Jr. Blvd. (8th Ave. North).
Accompanying book: Dragons and Lotus Blossoms: Vietnamese Ceramics from the Birmingham Museum of Art. Annotated illustrations from the exhibition; essays by John Stevenson, Philippe Truong and Don Wood.
Opening lecture and reception: Next Sunday, 2:30 p.m. John Stevenson. Free.
Art and Conversation: Feb. 2, 10:30 a.m. Don Wood. $10, members; $15, non-members.
Artbreak: Feb. 21, noon. Don Wood.

More information: www.artsbma.org.

“They were being exported as trade goods to the rest of the world, so they would be made and shipped right away,” said John Stevenson, the exhibition’s co-curator and author of the 1997 book on Vietnamese ceramics, “Vietnamese Ceramics: A Separate Tradition.” “The ship sank shortly after leaving the port. There may have been a half million pieces. That’s probably the reason it sank.”

Spanning 19 centuries, the 221 pieces in the exhibition form a comprehensive history of the genre.

“Some of them have been handed down from collections in the hill tribes in Vietnam and some were just found by farmers tilling their fields,” said Don Wood, BMA’s curator of Asian art and exhibition co-curator. “The collection contains everything from temple and palace pieces to everyday pieces.”

Visionary collecting

Starting in 1974, the collection was developed by the museum’s Asian Art Society at the urging of art historian Sherman Lee of the Cleveland Museum of Art. With the Vietnam War still in its final stages, it was a bold move, said Stevenson.

“What is so impressive about the BMA collection is that the Asian Art Society recognized this was an area of interest, and worth collecting,” he said. “Vietnam was still of limits. It showed vision. I put this collection on a level in this country with the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Boston Museum of Fine Arts.”

Ewer from Ly-Tran dynasty, 12th-14th century. Glazed stoneware with domed cover, lotus-petal collar, dragon spout with handle.

A large part of the collection came to the museum as a bequest from collector William M. Spencer III, who died in 2010.

“Mr. Spencer gave some of the early pieces, and was able to acquire a collection for us in 2005 and 2007,” Wood said. “He liked Vietnamese wares, and he saw this as an opportunity to help put the collection over the top.”

But when he and Wood were designing the show, he wanted to find a centerpiece.

“I remembered a piece from my book, so I put the museum and dealer in contact with each other and the purchase was made,” Stevenson said.

A transaction with a private dealer in Bangkok brought the work to Birmingham — a 24¼-inch-tall, 500-year-old clay jar in pristine condition, purchased with funds provided by the Spencer estate. The London art magazine, Apollo, listed it ninth among the world’s top 26 acquisitions of 2011. BMA was listed alongside the Louvre, the Metropolitan, British Museum and Rijksmuseum.

Shaped with gray-white clay found in Vietnam’s Red River Valley, the jar exemplifies the best of the tradition — a carved surface, blue cobalt oxide underglaze and enamel decorations, with a carved illustration of four cranes.

But like many of the pieces, it has an air of informality with its fluid lines and animal depictions.

“You don’t find that with Chinese pottery,” said Stevenson. “When the French first discovered these pieces in excavations in the 1920s and 1930s, they considered them to be somewhat degenerate, provincial Chinese art, rather than from a Vietnamese tradition.”

Wood found the distinction fascinating.

“China ruled Vietnam for over 1,000 years,” he said. “In spite of that domination, Vietnam has its own aesthetic and tradition. Music, literature and ceramics are all distinctly Vietnamese.”

By Michael Huebner — The Birmingham News

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Dancing Shiva X-rayed by Rijksmuseum: Indian masterpiece shown to be solid bronze

X-ray of the Shiva statue in the lorry. The dark solid shading indicates solid bronze casting.

AMSTERDAM.- Research recently revealed that the Rijksmuseum’s monumental bronze statue of Shiva was cast in solid bronze. The thousand year-old temple statue was X-rayed, along with the lorry transporting it, in the most powerful X-ray tunnel for containers of the Rotterdam customs authority. It is the first research of its kind on a museological masterpiece. At 153 cm x 114.5 cm, the Rijksmuseum’s Shiva is the largest known bronze statue from the Chola Dynasty (9th to 12th century) kept in a museological collection outside of India. Given its weight (300 kg), the statue has always been suspected of not being hollow, as has been common practice in Europe since the Greek Antiquity. As part of an earlier investigation, an X-ray was taken of the statue in a Rijksmuseum gallery in 1999 while visitors were evacuated as a precaution against radiation. Unfortunately, the equipment used at the time (280 KeV) was not powerful enough to determine anything definitively. The Rotterdam X-ray tunnel of the Rotterdam customs authority offered a solution. Normally used to scan sea containers for suspicious contents, the high-energy digital radiation (9.3 MeV) offers sufficient resolution and range to distinguish between a 1mm copper wire and a 30 cm piece of steel. The Rijksmuseum renovation project has provided conservators and curators the opportunity to carry out in-depth research on special pieces from the Rijksmuseum collection, including this masterpiece from the Asian Art Collection. The statue was created ca. 1100 in South India. This region, the area that is now the state of Tamil Nadu in particular, is famous for its impressive Shiva temples, the most important of which were erected during the rule of the Chola Dynasty (9th to 12th century). Each temple had its own set of bronze statues which were carried through the city during major temple festivals. This gives the statues their name: utsavamurti, which is Sanskrit for ‘festival images’. Chola bronzes were considered masterpieces of Indian bronze casting. Anna Ślączka, curator of South Asian Art, comments, ‘We had expected that the statue itself would prove to be solid, but it was a complete surprise to discover that the aureole and the demon under Shiva’s feet are also solid.’ According to the literature, there is always at least one hollow element. A solid statue is much heavier and costly than a hollow one, and the high volume can cause damage to the bronze due to shrinking occurring during cooling. This solid bronze Shiva is evidence of a high level of mastery of bronze casting, as well as just how highly prized such statues were in the Hindu faith. Thanks to this research, it has now been possible to determine the date of the statue more accurately. With a view to conservation work, the research has also revealed useful information on the statues’ condition.

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2.7m-tall Jade Buddha on display at Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza

Abbot Khen Rinpoche Geshe Thubten Chonyi (right, centre) of Nepal’s Kopan Monastery preparing to place the ‘third eye’ - a 20-carat ruby - on the forehead of the Jade Buddha for Universal Peace at Ngee Ann City on Thursday.

Helping him are Mr Ian Green (right), chairman and director of The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, and logistics manager Greg Cowin.

The 2.7m-tall statue, carved in Thailand out of single block of jade from Canada, is in Singapore as part of a global tour, and will be on display at Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza until Jan 26.

SINGAPORE

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Two Tibetan Museums Latest Attraction in Bodhgaya

Dalai Lama and his followers are devotes of Lord Buddha and practice and believe in Buddhism. The Tibetans who live in India in exile mainly occupy Dharamsala, which is the seat of the Dalai Lama in Himachal Pradesh, McLeod Ganj, Gangtok in the east and many of the north eastern states of India including Arunachal Pradesh.

Bodhgaya which is the place where Lord Buddha attained enlightment or nirvana and is famous for the Mahabodhi Temple now has two Tibetan museums, and both will display the life story of the Dalai Lama along with the picture of his great achievements including the various awards bestowed upon him.

Both the Tibetan museums were inaugurated by Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister on 29th and 30thDecember. While one museum will be completely dedicated to Dalai Lama and his life along with compilation of pictures and documents showcasing Tibet during various stages of history, the other museum will showcase and commemorate 50 years of the Tibetan medical and Astrological Institute of His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Also present during the inauguration were Kalon (Minister) Ngodup Dongchung, Department of Security and Mr. Tashi, Additional Secretary of the Department of Information and International Relations, Central Tibetan Administration. After a brief foreword by Dr. Tsewang Tamdrin, the director of the medical institute, Mr. Khandu stated, “The whole museum has been wonderfully organized.” Mr. Khandu, who along with his family is one of the chief patrons of the 32nd Kalachakra initiations at Bodhgaya also remarked that he learnt a lot about the difficulties Tibetans had to undergo in their 50 years of exile through the exhibition.

The Tibetan museums were opened to coincide with the Kalachakra Tantra which is a festival celebrated in Bodhgaya where the Dalai Lama preaches his teaching to the devotees and where the monks from his personal monastery, Namgyal, will be doing the rituals and ceremonies to consecrate the area.

Devotees from all around India, as well as other countries such as Nepal, Bhutan and the significant number of Tibetans from Tibet and Chinese also come for this festival. Therefore in order to attract more devotees to visit the newly inaugurated museums pamphlets written in English, Chinese and Tibetan were distributed all around the venue. 

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Ghosts, amulets, ringtones, and the rest of Thai Buddhism

THE CACOPHONY OF RELIGION TODAY

Somdet To is, according to Justin McDaniel “arguably the most famous monk in Thai history.” His image, picture, chants, biographies, amulets, and pamphlets are everywhere. Yet you could read everything written on Thai Buddhism in English for scholars or tourists without noticing his existence, let alone his importance. In this superb book, McDaniel not only does justice to Somdet To but suggests a new way of thinking about “Thai Buddhism” and how it is studied.

THE LOVELORN GHOST AND THE MAGICAL MONK
Practicing Buddhism in Modern Thailand Written by Justin T. McDaniel Columbia University Press, New York ISBN 978-0-231-15376-8 | US$60 on Amazon

Somdet To was born around 1788. There are many biographies, films, and webpages on his life, but they conflict wildly and there is little documentary proof. He is known through many stories. According to one version, he was the son of King Rama I, sired on a Lao peasant girl during a military campaign in the North. This story gives him origins that range from the top to the bottom of society, from centre to periphery. He became a great Pali scholar, abbot of prestigious Wat Rakhang, and a preceptor of kings.

But why is he so famous down to the present? Not for his teachings. Only a few sermons survive and they are unremarkable. Not for his writings _ a few pages with recipes for making amulets. Not for any philosophical innovation or reform movement. His legacy consists mainly of stories about his life which show him as compassionate, very down-to-earth, even ready to mock his great patron, the king.

As with the Buddha, stories of the life (and previous lives) are a form of teaching by example. But perhaps the best-known facts about Somdet To are that he meditated on corpses, exorcised ghosts, and specialised in making protective devices, especially amulets. He is remembered for his exceptional powers. Amulets have since become big business and Somdet To’s are among the most valued and costly.

One story about Somdet To gives him a role in Siam’s most famous ghost tale. After dying in childbirth, Mae Nak refused to abandon her beloved husband and brutally killed neighbours who told him he was living with a ghost. Somdet To was called in to quell Nak’s spirit and end the carnage. Nak’s local wat (temple), now in the Bangkok suburbs, is thronged everyday with people begging help from the spirit of this loving but vicious ghost, from Somdet To, and from a host of other shrines and fortune tellers.

Somdet To quelled the ghost with a chant, the Jinpanjara gatha. This rather martial verse is now hugely popular, available through pamphlet, radio broadcast downloadable ringtone, or impregnated in sacred water by a statue of Somdet To enclosing a recorder playing the chant on an endless loop.

McDaniel’s point is that the practice of Buddhism in Thailand today is all about shrines to legendary ghosts, amulets related to famous old monks, magical chants used as ringtones, family outings to theme parks full of statues of figures gruesomely tortured in hell, and so on.

Scholars have presented an idealised Buddhism, cleansed and standardised by teachings from Sri Lanka, reform movements led by kings, and modern legislation. In reality, McDaniel argues, these efforts have all failed. There is not even a standard liturgy, a manual for religious performances. Thousands of monks and wats have produced their own versions. There has been no policing of the boundaries of what is worshipable. Local spirits, Hindu and Chinese gods, ghosts like Nak, past kings, and increasingly famous monks like Somdet To have slipped into the pantheon. An abbot asked McDaniel for a crucifix because he thought it would be a good addition to his collection of protective amulets.

McDaniel resists describing the result as syncretism on grounds that the practitioners themselves do not see it that way. The fashionable term, hybridity, does not appear once in this book. McDaniel also argues strongly against classifying practices into “pure Buddhism” and other, magical elements labelled as “tantric” or “esoteric.” He suggests that “pure Buddhism” is something imagined by foreign scholars, particularly those with a Protestant background (McDaniel is Irish Catholic). In history, the “pure” and the rest cannot be disentangled. The Thammayut reform movement, which supposedly began as an effort to purify Buddhist practice, ended up lionizing forest monks famed for their supernatural powers. McDaniel delights in pointing out that several modern-day proponents of “pure” Buddhism also own protective amulets.

McDaniel suggests that individuals have “repertoires,” meaning menus of religious things they will own or do. These repertoires can be very varied and very flexible over time. Fads come and go. Recently Ganesha has had a good run, but may now be fading. Neither state nor Sangha makes any significant effort to police what these repertoires may contain. The result is that “Thai Buddhism” is extraordinarily alive and inventive, with no sign of dying away like some well-regulated faiths. McDaniel scoffs at scholars who see the proliferation of cults and especially of commercialism as a reaction to capitalism, globalisation, and modern angst. He suggests instead that the variety and inventiveness is a product of unregulated popular ownership, and that things have probably always been much the same. He twits the reformers who wring their hands over crass commercialism, and would like Thai Buddhism to be all meditation and good works; their chances of quelling the cacophony of everyday practice are nil.

McDaniel also tries to define the messages and meanings of the real-world “Thai Buddhism” that includes Somdet To’s martial chant, Mae Nak’s shrine, hell theme parks, and all the rest. He suggest that besides the well-known Buddhist qualities of non-attachment, compassion, and enlightenment, everyday practice involves “a celebration of abundance, a promotion of heritage, a desire for security, and a rhetoric of graciousness.” In short, people value protection from dangers, worldly success, fellow feeling, national identity, and more beauty in life.

Finally, McDaniel suggests that Thai Buddhism is changing. It no longer looks to India or Sri Lanka as its source, but sees itself as leader of the Theravada world. Meanwhile the position of the historical Buddha is shifting. In a typical wat today, crowds throng shrines to old monks, legendary ghosts, past kings, and local spirits while the hall housing the main image is often closed and locked. There is a trend of building massive statues of famous monks, including Somdet To. There are even wats where Somdet To’s image has the central site and the Buddha is to one side.

This book informs, entertains, and provokes. I think this is the first volume on Buddhism which made me laugh, often. The author intends it to be controversial and hopefully it will provoke some fierce responses. Currently the publication is an expensive, academic-targeted hardback. Its appeal should be wider. Anyone interested in Thailand today, in Buddhism, in ghosts, or in why CentralWorld was burned down (it was the only building in the area with no protective shrine), should read this brilliant book.

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Ancient pillar with Buddha image found in Nalasopara

MUMBAI: An ancient pillar carved with an image of Gautam Buddha was discovered near a Buddhist stupa in Nalasopara (W) on Friday. The stupa comes under the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

“The pillar was discovered when workers were digging the ground to lay a garden,” said founder of Buddha Vihar and Buddhist monk Bikhoni Sangamitra. “The pillar is a proof of Gautam Buddha’s visit to Sopara village.”

Following the discovery of the pillar, the digging work was discontinued. The pillar will now be inspected by ASI officials and historians before being moved to safety. The state government, along with the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation (VVMC), is working on converting the stupa into an international tourist spot. The stupa complex will house meditation centres, a museum and a mini theatre where films on the Buddhist stupa will be shown.

Ashokan inscriptions have been recovered from Sopara on earlier occasions. During an earlier excavation, ruins of a Buddhist stupa and a large stone coffer containing eight bronze images of Buddha dating back to the 8th-9th century AD were found.

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SRI LANKA: Pinkama to mark gold plating of Buddha statue mosaics + New museum to mark Deyata Kirula

A pinkama to mark the gold plating (repainting) of the mosaics of the Buddha statue at the Wewurukannala Raja Maha Viharaya, Dickwella will be held on January 8 under the patronage of Viharadhipati Ven Dickwella Tissa Nayake Thera and Youth Affairs and Skills Development Minister Dullas Alahpperuma.

The Wewurukannala Raja Maha Viharaya’s Buddha statue is 150 feet (100 cubit) in height and 14,850 square feet in size and considered the largest Buddha statue built under the temple construction industry since the Polonnaruwa period.

It was built in 1966 according to a concept of Ven Panditha Dickwelle Sri Wimalatissa Nayake Thera.

The statue has been built according to the Dhyana Mudra posture. The entire repainting exercise is estimated to cost nearly Rs 20 million.

Following the commencing of the repainting exercise, a series of pinkama will follow at the Viharaya for 119 consecutive days.

The repainted (gold plated) statue will be re-opened by President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Vesak Poya day this year, said Nimal Weeratunga, Media Secretary, to Minister Alahapperuma in a press release yesterday.

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Priyanka KURUGALA

The National Heritage Ministry will establish a new museum at the Thanthirimale ancient temple site to mark the Deyata Kirula National Development Programme, National Heritage Ministry Additional Secretary Vijitha Nanda Kumara said.

It will be built at a cost of Rs 8 million. Thanthirimale is a very important place in the country’s Buddhist history. There is a reclining stone Buddhist statue and sitting Buddhist statue.

These Buddha statues back date to the 11 BC. The reclining Buddha statue is very similar to the Buddha statue in Polonnaruwa Galviharaya, he said.

Eventhough there is an old museum in Thanthirimale which is situated further from the archaeological site. Therefore, the ministry has decided to establish a new museum in an appropriate location, he said.

The museum site is around 1,000 acres in extent, he said.

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A clearer eye on Sukhothai

CHULARAT SAENGPASSA 

The communities around the old capital’s historical park have a past to share as well

The future will be better if we understand our past, so the wisdom has it. Call Sukhothai very wise. It continues to learn and prosper in the lingering glow of its glory as Siam’s capital 700 years ago.

In a project backed by the Thailand Research Fund, Jirawat Phirasant - director of Naresuan University’s Institute of Mekong-Salween Civilisation Studies - mined the venerable knowledge of 12 Sukhothai communities that will be useful in modern education and tourism.

“The idea is to promote tourism that’s based on the local lifestyle and wisdom, and using their traditional skills to create community products,” Jirawat explains.

The dozen communities of Tambon Mueang Kao surround the Sukhothai Historical Park. Jirawat visited them all to gather oral histories and record local expressions, social practices, rituals and festivals. He studied their performing arts and traditional craftsmanship, and even noted how nature and the universe are perceived.

The result: 4,000 pages of cultural documents and 1,800 pieces of information in various other formats, collectively representing the largest-ever compilation of data about Sukhothai.

The province’s educational authorities then distributed this trove to the schools so that teachers and students could do further research.

The Sukhothai Tourism Association used the findings to enhance its culture-based attractions, such as with a pilot project involving the worship of Buddha statues. The province has hundreds of them, so they’ve revived an old merit-making tradition at Wat Trapang Ngern.

The Sukhothai Cultural Office updated its database on performance arts and funded further studies, and the tambon set aside money for tram tours.

Motorcycle and bicycle tours have been organised around the old city that let visitors experience the classic lifestyle. Hotels and restaurants are incorporating the province’s unique characteristics into their planning.

Jirawat’s research is spinning out ideas for new tourist attractions, refurbished landscaping and tour-guide training, all linking the historical park and its adjacent communities for mutual benefit.

Crucially, he says, the citizens are more aware of the importance of their neighbourhoods and cultural heritage - and thus more interested in conserving the past. The items they produce for sale provide not only personal income but also funding for that preservation.

Visitors need only look for signs bearing a lower-case “i” for information. They can now find ready help in a much wider area than just the designated historical park.

“This is why we want the park tourism linked to the surrounding communities,” Jirawat says, “because many generations of people have lived around here and the visitors should know about the communities as well as the park’s history.”

Following are profiles of the 12 communities of Tambon Mueang Kao.

BAN MAI TRAPANG THONG

Many generations here have applied their hands to creating finely textured clay pottery and porcelain, and particularly pieces with distinctive “cracked” green glaze. The items remain popular and a solid source of income.

Also made here are Buddha images with intricate detailing that accord with the 10 rules of traditional Thai craftsmanship.

RAM LEK

Carved wooden statues of the Buddha have been made here for more than 50 years, earning international admiration for their outstanding beauty.

Craftsman Rungreung Srikrajan learned the trade not from school but by “absorbing” it, starting with carved animals before developing the skills to create a Buddha from a photograph. But his talents are harder to come by these days - as are the attention to detail and the love of sculpting - so Rungreung is setting up a learning centre for children.

The community also has Bang-ern Tuichan’s Reun Noppamas museum, which displays pottery pieces from the Sukhothai Kingdom’s glory days.

RAM YAI

If you’re interested in lovely wood furniture, picture frames, signs and partition screens, head to Ram Yai. The furniture is handmade in European forms from 20-year-old teak, and engraved with classical Sukhothai patterns.

PA MAMOUNG

The Wang Kao Noodle Shop here serves truly amazing boat noodles, and at Narong Reungsri’s house you can get a great traditional massage.

BAN NEU

Ban Neu citizens produce both beautiful home-decor items and assorted Thai sweets like khao daek nga, made with glutinous rice, toasted sesame seeds and coconut.

TRAPANG THONG LUANG

Famed for its wonderfully ornate birdcages, this community also makes Otop-standard ornaments, especially those decorated with the indigenous metallic mineral khaotok phra ruong and Sukhothai Period enamel patterns.

LI THAI

The miniature traditional wooden houses of Li Thai have long been popular souvenirs among foreign tourists because they perfectly capture our cherished culture - in a size easy enough to carry home and put on show. Many Li Thai residents also build wooden oxcarts.

BAN TAI

Ban Tai is a real find for decorative statues and Thai-pattern paintings on canvas. Sculptor Prasart Jairak learned his craft from his grandfather, whose work still adorns temples.

SUKHOTHAI NAKHON 1

A community with more delightful miniatures, this one with tiny ships of various designs, assembled from cabinet-makers’ leftover scraps.

SUKHOTHAI NAKHON 3 AND MAE RAMPAN

These two neighbourhoods sell home-d’cor items like animals carved in teak and jackfruit wood.

SRI CHUM

Stretched out in front of Wat Sri Chum, the community offers beautiful crocheted products.

Guided tours

• Make arrangements for a volunteer tour guide at Sukhothai Historical Park by calling (084) 989 0246 or (082) 397 7578.
• The latter number is also good for renting bicycles. It’s a pleasurable ride that provides a glimpse of the past and a fresh perspective on history as it shapes the future.

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JOHN ESKENAZI PRESENTS HINDU GODS AND SERENE BUDDHAS IN NEW YORK

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Goddess Durga. Vietnam or Cambodia Kingdom of Funan Pre-Angkorian period, 7th century. Sandstone. Height: 31½ in, 80 cm (John Eskenazi )

John Eskenazi, the highly-respected London dealer in Indian, Gandharan, Himalayan and Southeast Asian works of art, will be presenting outstanding sculpture in his annual New York exhibition at Adam Williams Fine Art and Moretti Fine Art, 24 East 80th Street.  Recent Acquisitions will be on view from 14 to 25 March 2012, as part of Asian Art Dealers New York (AADNY) and coinciding with Asia Week.

The timeless beauty of the finest Southeast Asian sculptures is evident in a graceful figure of the goddess Durga holding a discus in her upper left hand.  The sandstone sculpture dates from the Pre-Angkorian period, 7th century and comes from the ancient kingdom of Funan, situated on the Mekong Delta, which was once a great centre of international maritime trade.  Indian merchants who were established there probably introduced Durga and other Hindu deities into the region.  The 6th/7th centuries are known for such fine stone sculptures of gods in regal, stately poses.  Durga is a heroic figure who, according to legend, was created by the Hindu gods to conquer the demon Mahishasura who had unleashed a reign of terror and who could not be defeated.  Each god armed Durga with his most fearsome weapon.  For example, Vishnu gave his discus which also symbolises the continuous cycle of creation and destruction of the world.  The discus also represents the power of the mind, capable of destroying ignorance in the same way that the goddess eliminated the demon.  Durga, whose victory is so energetically depicted in Indian art, is represented here as a serene authoritative figure, dressed in an elegant, unadorned skirt and a tall headdress.

The profound but unassuming authority of the Buddha is admirably portrayed in a life-size dark grey stone head fragment from southern Thailand, Kingdom of Dvaravati, dating from the 7th/9th century.  Monks from India and Sri Lanka introduced Buddhism to the region and, according to tradition, the first Buddhist stupa to be built in Southeast Asia was at Nakhon Pathom, one of the principal cities of Dvaravati, a kingdom that dominated the southern Chao Phraya Valley until the 10th century.  When Buddha images were introduced from India they were adapted, not copied, by local artists who injected them with qualities that reflected their own material and spiritual outlook as well as a distinctive physical appearance.  Buddhism was an integral part of everyday life and political control and the rulers of Dvaravati used the faith they shared with their subjects to exert their authority and promote their good reputation.  The few complete statues indicate that the Buddhists of Dvaravati wanted impressive images, often life-size or larger, the latter generally being known through surviving fragments.  It is possible that when insufficient stone was available, the finely worked stone heads were attached to wood figures.  The head offered by John Eskenazi is a remarkable testament to the skills and achievements of Dvaravati sculptors, with a strong yet gentle physique and deeply thoughtful expression.

Another serene image of the Buddha, seated in meditation, probably originated in Gandhara or Sahri Bahlol, from where the form spread to every region permeated by Buddhism.  Dating from around the 3rd century AD, the Buddha is seated on a plinth depicting worshippers venerating his alms bowl, apparently after it was dispensed with by its owner.  This indicates that the figure above represents the Buddha after his ascent to Nirvana, rather than during the course of his life on earth when the alms bowl would have been in use.  Made from polished dark grey schist with traces of gilding, the Buddha’s face is classically handsome with a deeply introspective expression indicating his state of meditation.  Behind his head an aureole was carved with radiating lines, suggesting the spiritual knowledge emanating from his thoughts.  It was customary to paint devotional images but gilding was reserved for the most prestigious; a red pigment would have been applied to the surface of the stone to give the applied gold leaf greater resonance.  Buddhism was a powerful element of Gandharan culture thanks to the region’s position at the hub of international trade routes, making it a place of wealth and learning.  Great teaching monasteries, housing hundreds of monks, were established there accommodating pilgrims travelling to and from sites in eastern India.

A rare and beautiful gilt copper figure from the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, is believed to represent Maitreya, the Buddha of the Future. Maitreya is depicted with his hands held in Dharmachakramudra (the teaching pose), indicating his active involvement with Buddhists on earth.  The unusual iconography suggests that this image belonged to a small sect following the doctrine of a specific teacher, possibly one who had escaped from Eastern India.  In the 14th century, despite a succession of destructive raids from rival Himalayan kingdoms, the Kathmandu Valley provided a refuge for Indian Buddhists escaping the crushing advance of the Delhi Sultanate.  This figure dates from the early Malla period, late 14th/15th centuries, a time of hope in Nepal reflected in the beauty of its art and architecture.  Gilded copper is the appropriate material for an image of Maitreya as he is believed to be golden in colour.  The appointed successor of the historic Buddha, for the present Maitreya is Lord of the Tushita Heaven where he will remain until his advent on earth.  For Buddhists, admission to Heaven is not a permanent state; after a sojourn there, the spirit returns to earth, possibly at a lower level of life than it previously enjoyed but filled with the knowledge it needs to enable its continued spiritual progression.

John Eskenazi is well-known for his knowledge of the ancient cultures and his exhibitions in New York attract collectors and museum curators drawn to the quality and aesthetic beauty of the pieces on show.  Since 2006 John Eskenazi has been a private dealer, available to clients by appointment.  His expertise and scholarship in Indian and Southeast Asian art are internationally recognised and his clients include major museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London as well as discerning private collectors.

Dates:                          14 to 25 March 2012

Location:                     John Eskenazi at Adam Williams Fine Art and Moretti Fine Art

24 East 80th Street, New York, NY 10075, USA

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Cambodia’s “second Angkor” being restored but still off the mass tourist trail

BANTEAY CHHMAR, Cambodia — It’s still entwined in mystery and jungle vines, but one of Cambodia’s grandest monuments is slowly awakening after eight centuries of isolated slumber, having attracted a crack archaeological team and a trickle of tourists.

“It takes awhile to unfold this temple — and everywhere there are enticements,” says John Sanday, the team leader, as he navigates through tangled undergrowth, past dramatic towers and bas-reliefs and into dark chambers of the haunting monastic complex of Banteay Chhmar.

What drove Jayavarman VII, regarded as the greatest king of the Angkorian Empire, to erect this vast Buddhist temple about 105 miles (170 kilometers) from his capital in Angkor and in one of the most desolate and driest places in Cambodia remains one of its many unsolved riddles.

At its height in the 12th century, the empire extended over much of Southeast Asia, its rulers engaging in a building frenzy which produced some of the world’s greatest religious monuments.

Called the “second Angkor Wat,” Banteay Chhmar approaches it in size, is more frozen in time than the manicured and made-over superstar, and has so far been spared the blights of mass tourism of recent years at Angkor.

In 2011, an average of 7,000 tourists a day visited Angkor, one of Asia’s top tourist draws located near the booming northwestern city of Siem Reap. Banteay Chhmar saw an average of two a day, with no tour buses and bullhorn-wielding guides to disturb the temple’s total tranquility or traditional life in the surrounding village.

Abandoned for centuries, then cut off from the world by the murderous Khmer Rouge and a civil war, Banteay Chhmar didn’t welcome visitors until 2007 when the last mines were cleared and the looting that plagued the defenseless temple in the 1990s was largely halted.

A year later, the California-based Global Heritage Fund began work at the site under the overall control of the country’s Ministry of Culture and now spends about $200,000 a year on the project.

Sanday, a veteran British conservation architect, assembled a team of 60 experts and workers, some of whom were with him on an earlier restoration of the Preah Khan temple at Angkor. Others were recruited from the surrounding community and although barely literate, Sanday says they’re among the best he’s worked with in Asia.

Challenging them are hundreds of thousands of stone blocks from collapsed shrines and galleries scattered helter-skelter within the 4.6-square-mile (12-square-kilometer) archaeological site. Towers teeter, massive tree roots burrow into walls, vegetation chokes a wide moat girding the temple.

Three-quarters of the bas reliefs — rarely found at other Angkorian temples — have fallen or been looted, the most notable being eight panels depicting Avalokiteshvara, an enlightened being embodying Buddhist compassion.

Thieves sheared off four panels with jackhammers, smuggling them into nearby Thailand where two are widely believed to be decorating the garden of a Thai politician. A pair has been recovered and the others are still at the temple, although only two still stand.

“We’ve been struggling away with this gallery for nearly two years now,” says Sanday at another bas-relief, one depicting a figure believed to be Jayavarman VII leading his troops into battle. In vivid detail, the ancient sandstone wall springs to life with charging war elephants, soldiers plunging spears into their enemies and crocodiles gobbling up the dead.

Nature and time have proved the culprits: the vaulting protecting the 98-foot (30-meter-long) relief collapsed, exposing the wall to monsoon torrents, which seeped downwards to wash away the masonry and loosen the foundations. Pressure from the weight above toppled sections of the wall or forced it to lean.

“He’s going to have to come down,” says the 68-year-old architect of the king’s image. A section of the wall is angled dangerously outward, he explains, so it must be dismantled, the foundations reinforced and the sandstone blocks meticulously numbered, charted, then set back into place.

Nearby, two young Cambodian computer whizzes are pioneering a shortcut to the reassembly process through three-dimensional imaging. The work-in-progress is one of the temple’s 34 towers recently damaged in a severe storm.

Some 700 stone blocks from the tower have been removed or collected from where they fell and each one will be videographed from every angle. Since like a human fingerprint, no stone is exactly alike, still-to-be-finalized software should be able to fit all the blocks into their original alignment after they are repaired.

“We hope that with one push of the button all the stones will jump into place to solve what we are calling ‘John’s puzzle,’” says Sanday.

When an original block has gone missing or is beyond repair, either an original stone from elsewhere on the site is used or, as a last resort, a new stone will be inserted.

“My philosophy is to preserve and present the monuments as I found them for future generations without falsifying their history. So often people tend to guess what was there,” he says.

The Global Heritage Fund, he says, is also intent on involving the community. “We can’t protect Banteay Chhmar. They have to be the protectors. So they must gain some revenue from the temple,” Sanday says.

The Community Based Tourism group, which the fund supports, is training locals to become guides and devising ways to derive more income from tourism, part of which is funneled into betterment of the entire village.

Sanday and local organizers, however, hope Banteay Chhmar’s remote location will spare it from a mass tourist influx. Thus he is not keen to have it listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, something the Cambodian government is pushing for.

“I often come here in the late afternoons, when the birds come alive and a breeze stirs,” Sanday says as fading sun rays, filtered through the green canopy, dapple the gray, weathered stones. “It’s peaceful and quiet here, like it used to be at Angkor. This is a real site.”

___

If You Go…

BANTEAY CHHMAR: Ancient Cambodian monument: http://www.visitbanteaychhmar.org. There are no hotels, but Community Based Tourism runs six modest, clean homestays in Banteay Chhmar village, also arranging meals and tours. Rooms are $7 a night. Details and contact information on website.

GETTING THERE: Located about 105 miles (170 kilometers) from Angkor. Cars can be hired in nearby Siem Reap, site of an international airport, for the drive to Banteay Chhmar.

WHEN TO GO: November-February are the cool, sunny months followed by scorching heat and then monsoon rains when some roads to Banteay Chhmar become impassable.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Ancient Art of India: Masterworks of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on view in Mexico City

Unknown, Battling Elephants, circa 1700, Gift of Jane Greenough Green in honor of the museum’s twenty-fifth anniversary, Photo © 2011 Museum Associates/LACMA.

LOS ANGELES, CA.- The Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s collection of Indian art traveled for the first ever exhibition of ancient Indian art in Mexico. The special exhibition, Ancient Art of India: Masterworks of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, is being presented at the Museo Nacional de las Culturas in Mexico City. The show features 115 objects from LACMA’s permanent collection—one of the most comprehensive groupings of South Asian art in the Western hemisphere—and explores the elaborate cosmologies of ancient India’s three main indigenous religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Ancient India’s religious mythology and associated artistic imagery were among the most highly developed of all world cultures. Each of these religions constructed systems of the universe with multiple realms, which were populated by a diverse range of real and imaginary inhabitants. Divinities, demigods, demons, mortals, and animals all interacted in a grand theater of life, the afterlife, and the endless cycle of time and rebirth. Numerous traumatic conflicts and heroic exploits were imagined in prose and poem and portrayed in a sophisticated tradition of sculpture, painting, and the decorative arts. Drawn entirely from LACMA’s renowned holdings, the exhibition is thematically organized in five conceptual sections exploring the myriad inhabitants of India’s perceived universe: • Deities: Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain gods and goddesses • Demigods: protective nature and fertility spirits associated with the earth and various celestial nymphs, musicians, and supernatural beings • Demons: revered leaders and guardian figures with demonic powers and generic hordes of demonic warriors • Humans: archetypical rulers who uphold virtue and preserve order by triumphing over evil, religious ascetics who conquer the temptations of the spirit and gain magical powers, and individuals typifying the plethora of life’s activities and occupations • Animals: the full spectrum of the animal kingdom, from powerful elephants to noble lions and cunning tigers to mischievous monkeys Ancient Art of India: Masterworks of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is curated by Stephen Markel, Harry and Yvonne Lenart Curator and Department Head and Curator of South and Southeast Asian Art, LACMA. Markel also wrote and edited the 151-page exhibition catalogue, which further explores and illustrates the museum’s extensive collection of Indian art. http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=52763

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Seeking Buddha in Gujarat

Known more for Hindu and Jain religious places, Gujarat is now hoping to play host to Buddhist pilgrims too. While in January this year, Chief Minister Narendra Modi shared the dais with His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the International Seminar on Buddhist Heritage at Vadodara, the state’s tourism department is now trying hard to promote the “Buddhist Footprints in Gujarat” through its website. The earliest archeological evidence of Buddhism in Gujarat dates back to Emperor Ashoka’s reign (269-232 BC). Saurashtra (known as Surashtra/ Saraostes/Syrastene in the past) finds a mention in early Buddhist literature such as the Indriya Jataka, Milinda Panha, Petavatthu, etc. In the sixth century, Bhattarkka, a general of the Gupta Emperors, established an independent principality around Valabhi (Vallabhipur). He was a devout Shaivite but the Maitraka rulers that followed him, though Hindus themselves were great patrons of Buddhism. On his visit to Gujarat in 640 AD, Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang noted the presence of 200 monasteries housing 10,000 monks at Bharuch, Atali, Kheta, Valabhi, Anandapura and Surashtra. Both Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism were prevalent in Gujarat. The following are some of the main Buddhist archeological sites in Gujarat: Vadnagar, Mahesana Nearly 128 km from Ahmedabad, the archeological site between River Banas and River Rupen, has a 12-cell structure that belonged to a Buddhist vihara or monastery and housed monks from the 2nd to 4th century AD. Hiuen Tsang, who visited Vadnagar (then known as Anandapur) in the 7th century, reported that the city had some 10 sangharams (resting places for Buddhist monks) with a 1,000 Buddhist monks. Archaeologists found around 2,000 artefacts including a Buddha idol, an amphora, figurines, a crucible, a grinding stone, seals, a terracotta head wearing a turban, shell bangles, necklace beads, copper and silver coins that are housed at the Museum of Archaeology at the Maharaja Sayajirao University, Vadodara. Perched atop the Taranga Hills nearby, is a shrine dedicated to Devi Taranmata. The idols of Taranmata and Dharanmata are of Buddhist Goddess Tara, the “Mother of all Buddhas,” which usually refers to the enlightened wisdom of the Buddhas. In the Dharanmata Temple, over the halo behind the head of the marble sculpture of the Goddess Tara, is a lotus on which rests the Amitabh Buddha. The lower register of the sculpture also displays the symbolic representation of the Buddha in form of an elephant, a horse and a chakra. Devnimori, Sabarkantha Better known for its hotsprings, Devnimori located 132 km from Ahmedabad has a large Buddhist establishment that dates back to the period between 2nd and 7th centuries AD. King Ashoka is said to have erected as many as 80,000 stupas across India. He unearthed the ashes of Buddha from their original place and distributed them across the country, building stupas accordingly. One such stupa, from the 4th century was excavated in early 1960s at Devnimori. Close to the major trade routes of Mewar and Dungarpur, Devnimori was the site of an important Buddhist monastic centre 1,600 years ago. The mahastupa’s still there but the relics including a casket containing Buddha’s ashes and 17 terracotta statues of Buddha are now housed in the Department of Archaeology at The Maharaja Sayajirao University, Vadodara. Junagadh District A prominent Buddhist centre since Ashoka’s reign, Junagadh district is sprinkled with rock-cut-caves, monasteries and stupas at 15-odd sites such as the Ashokan rock edict at Girnar, Baba Pyara Caves, Khapra Kodia caves, Upparkot caves, Panheswer Caves, Mai Gadechi, Matri, structural monastery at Intawa, brick stupa at Bordevi and Vajrapanat, Sana caves, caves around Prabhas Patan, Mandor Caves and Savni-Gir. Buddhist caves, about 2000 years old, are among the oldest monuments at Uparkot. Carved out of monolithic rock, these three-tiered caves are famous for their exquisite art. Getting there: Gujarat has one of the better developed road networks in India. State transport and private buses are the best and the cheapest modes of transport. Ahmedabad is well-connected to all major cities and towns by road, rail and air. (Compiled by Eisha Sarkar)

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China to Build Shwedagon Replica

China is to build a replica of Rangoon’s famous Shwedagon Pagoda using donations collected during a recent Burmese tour of a sacred relic believed to be one of the Buddha’s teeth. For 48 days until Saturday, the sacred Buddha relic, which had been on loan from China, was on display for public viewing in Naypyidaw, Rangoon and Mandalay. The exhibition received more than US $8 million from Burmese Buddhist devotees and philanthropists.

Donations included several precious pieces of gold, diamond and pearl with an estimated worth of more than $1.5 million, according to Burma’s state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

The donations will be used to build a replica of Burma’s famous Shwedagon Pagoda at White Horse Temple in Luoyang, Henan Province, the Burmese journal 7-Day News reported.

It was earlier reported that Burma’s reclusive former military ruler Than Shwe also made a rare public appearance during the exhibition when he donated $1,300 and some precious jewels.

Burma has previously borrowed the relic from China for short periods for public viewing in 1955, 1994 and 1996.

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Buddha Memorial Center consecrated in Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Photo taken on Dec. 25, 2011 shows the consecration ceremony of the Buddha Memorial Center in Kaohsiung, southeast China’s Taiwan. Built next to the Fo Guang Shan Monastery, a Buddhist temple in Kaohsiung, the Buddha Memorial Center was consecrated here on Sunday. The center will serve as a hub for Buddhist education and cultural exchange. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

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