Quest for peace

On behalf ofHarmony, author and documentary filmmakerManju Kak accepts an invitation to go on Indian Railways’ Mahaparinirvan Express, a new train to discover the land of Buddha

So is it about finding my own path, asks my travel partner Bharti on our first evening together on Mahaparinirvan Special, a week-long train journey along the Buddhist Circuit covering Bodh Gaya, Nalanda, Rajgir, Varanasi, Sarnath, Kushinagar, Lumbini, Saravasti and Agra. We are two of 35 passengers — Japanese, Singaporeans, Australians, Indians, some tour operators, academics, and travel writers. I have been invited byHarmony to go on this journey, launched in October 2007 by the Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation with its partner Lotus Travels. On 17 November, after a traditional marigold garland welcome at Safdarjung railway station in New Delhi we are ensconced in Cabin B of the First Class AC section. We have already checked out the pantry and toilets. The toilets could be better, but the pantry is shining steel. And a Japanese chef will join us, we are told.

As the train pulls out of Delhi at 4 pm, Bharti and I talk about life, love, and finding one’s path. In Lucknow, she says, if you weren’t married at 19 you were on the shelf and then came the yearning to break free — my town, same college, and same story. We settle down with recorded chants ofBuddham Sharanam Gachami as the train speeds up, only to stop at Gaya in Bihar.

We reach Gaya at 5.30 am, our ‘wakeup call’. The schedule for the day is packed. Bodh Gaya is just 10 km away. You are struck by the lushness of the land. Here, 2,500 years ago, Licchhavi prince Gautama Siddharth tortured his body, did penance, meditated for six years on nearby Dongeshwari hill and became the ‘Buddha’. We have breakfast at the hotel in Bodh Gaya, where we return for lunch and dinner.

Disappointed with the ways of the world, he crossed the Nairanjana River where he rested under a banyan tree. Here a local chief’s daughter, the childless Sujata, sent the young ascetic somekheer, which he ate under the Praj Bodhi tree. His fivebhikshu companions sneered, thinking he had forsaken the path. But “do not stretch theveena string till it breaks, nor leave it so loose that no sound comes”, is the voice Siddharth heard. He knew the path to happiness lay in the middle. The remnants of a stupa marks this spot, though at the entrance, inappropriately, lies a popular ‘English liquor shop’. Besides, the Maoists have called abandh, lanes and sewers are choked; there is a literal stink in the land of Buddha.

At Bodh Gaya, five-colour prayer flags flutter on the magnificent 52-m-high Mahabodhi Temple against a cobalt sky. In 1891, a Sri Lankan monk Anagarika Dharmapala founded the Mahabodhi Society of India to reclaim the temple from Hindu priests. Seven spots in the temple’s precincts are hallowed because here the Buddha spent a week each — 49 days in all — meditating after ‘enlightenment’. The first week was at the Bodhi tree, a peepul, our local guide explains. Suddenly a ceremonial procession of the members of a Thailand-based Buddhist Society arrives. It is a presentation of 40 volumes of theTripitakas — the BuddhistSutras — to the Sri Lanka Bodhi Society. The Thai ambassador is in attendance. In 1890, Sri Lanka had gifted theTripitakas to Thailand a gesture that binds the two Buddhist countries. We return to the hotel to the mosque’s eveningazaan.

On the third day, en route by a coach to Nalanda (home of Nalanda University) and then to Rajgir, we have a new guide. “I, me, your guide,” says Mr Singh, “PhD failed. Mind you, from Nalanda University. The same system, except now no free food. I repeat, no free food.” Mr Singh introduces us to the magnificent Mahavihara of the 5th century AD, before we actually see it.

Nalanda, the ancient seat of learning, is a scenic 80 km from Bodh Gaya. Gun-toting policemen escort us and drive ahead of our coach, a refurbished Tata vehicle. Guns in the land of Buddha? Someone speaks of a hold-up, a kidnapping. Bihar is the biggest industry forkatta, country-made revolvers. Ironically, beleaguered Bihar translates intovihar, a monastery.

As we race another 11 km towards Rajgir, scenic paddy fields and hillocks fly past. We stop at Venu Van, a bamboo grove where Buddha spent five monsoons. Close by are the sulphur springs, crowded, dirty and uninviting. But a ride in a caparisoned horse-drawntonga is fun. Further at the Griddhakutta Hill in Rajgir, Buddha meditated. Rajgir was the capital of prosperous Magadha state ruled by Bimbisara, a disciple of Buddha. The gradual climb uphill takes half an hour. Below is a vista of green jungle and above the golden dome of the Japanese-built Shanti Stupa. At the peak, the chants of Malaysian pilgrims fill the air. Buddha came to Nalanda and Rajgir often. Two of his chief disciples, Sariputra and Maudgalyana, lived close by. Spread over 14 hectares with the ruins of 11 monasteries and five temples, Mahavihara was first established in the 5th century in the reign of Emperor Kumargupta and developed by the Gupta Dynasty. During the reign of Devapala, it reached its zenith. A few centuries later, in 1205, Turkish general Bakhtiyar Khilji, who brought Muslim rule in Bengal by conquering its northwestern part, wiped it off the map. Intolerance is as old as humanity. I jam my toe walking to the stupa of Sariputra. The guard warns me, but it is too late. The toe begins to swell. Sports shoes would have been a better idea than my sandals. We catch our train from Gaya, where it’s waiting to take us to Varanasi. At night, a railway doctor is on call and my toe is bandaged. Bharti has a hot-water bottle and another companion is ready with an ice pack.

Day 4, 20 November, morning call at 5.30 am. We take a set of clothes and leave the rest of our luggage behind. The ride to the comforts of Clarks Hotel is a quick trip — Buddha did the
250 km in 8 days. Eighteen years later, Thai disciple Mahaupasika Siti Pol’s group, whose descendants we had met at Bodh Gaya, came with 300 followers and took the same path. Buddha, astounded at what he had discovered, remembered the fivebhikshu who had deserted him. But they were at Deer Park in Sarnath, 10 km from Varanasi. He crossed Ganga by ferry to theghat. There, he preached his first sermon, theDharamchakraparivartana, or Turning of the Wheel of Law, the pivotal Buddhist doctrine. We gorge on a Clarks’ buffet breakfast — sausages,idli, hotjalebi, andkachori, before we take the coach to Sarnath.

At Sarnath, our next road stop the same day, Buddha founded theSangha with the same five ascetics as his first disciples. Thereafter, for 45 years he walked the plains, preaching. The magnificent Sarnath Buddha stands proud in the museum, his beatific smile bestowing grace. In the evening, back at Varanasi, we witness a grandaarti on Dashwamedhghat, a celebration of the spirit of the Ganges, with a clash of cymbals, song and incense. We take the boat to cross over to Rajghat where our coach is parked. It takes us back to the train, which by now is our refuge. It welcomes us with clean sheets and towels, and a smiling manager with his crew. For dinner, we sample the Japanese cuisine, chicken teriyaki, and smoked salmon. Yasuki Hashiba of Tokyo’s Cox & Kings approves.

Varanasi behind us, the train heads for Gorakhpur. From Gorakhpur, we take the coach to our three-star Lotus Hotel in the dusty town of Kushinagar or Kasia, which is 58 km away from Gorakhpur. The coach driver is the same — he has driven all night from Varanasi to receive us. The hotel looks like an old colonial bungalow. It’s the peak season and bookings are heavy. Some of us have to wait for our rooms and there is general grumbling all around, but I have a tummy bug and mykhichri is just right.

Practically walking distance away is the Mahaparinirvan Temple. The spectacular Buddha lies six metres long, in black stone. His expression changes at every angle. Chunda, a metal smith, offered Buddha his last meal here, and he died of food poisoning. But Buddha consoled him: the one who serves him his last meal would acquire great merit. Thebhiku Mahakashyap lit Buddha’s pyre at the MukutbandhaVihara, where the Rambhar Stupa is. Then, the relics were divided and encased in eight stupas across the country.

Around the temple there are several monasteries built by Buddhists from Sri Lanka, Burma and Thailand. With the Buddhist population in India being miniscule (2 million), there isn’t enough activism to maintain them. Day 5 is coming to an end and all of us are exhausted. At night, we get a much-needed break for washing hair, gossiping and catching up.

The next day (22 November), we drive to Sonauli on the Nepal border. We enter another land through the bazaar of Bhairawha heaped with acrylic blankets and Chinese goods. Vendors surround our coach with offers of lace doilies and velvet mats. The Lumbini grove, the site of Buddha’s birth, is 27 km from Sonauli. Here, Buddha was born to Mayadevi under a Sal tree in 565 BC. Three centuries later, Asoka visited Lumbini and erected the Rummendei Pillar. Most of the area, also comprising the Mayadevi Temple and tank, remains unexplored.

It has been a gruelling two days and we have to travel 150 km back to Gorakhpur station. The roads are bad and the air-conditioning fails. The toilets are alfresco. A hot cup of tea at thedhaba makes us forget we are in the Gorakhpur badlands. We reach the station at about 10 pm. “On the first day I had thought the cabins could do with some cosmetic makeup, but today I feel I’ve come home,” says dapper Japanese artist Tsuyoshi Ozuma, dust in his ears, his hair, his face. Some, however, complain they wanted more time in Lumbini. As for me, I missed my Twinings Darjeeling. Bharti is mean and says I should have put some bags in my hot water bottle.

At 5.30 on Day 7 we reach Gonda station and groan to an otherwise soothing morning call ofSangham Sharanam Gachami, hoping to sleep more. From there, a two-hour bus ride takes us to Saravasti where Buddha spent 19 rainy seasons. He took his begging bowl and preached, but when it rained he stayed. Nearby is Sankisa, where he is said to have performed some miracles. Buddhism, however, scorns at miracles.

The day gets warmer, and at the Lotus Hotel in Saravasti I ask to tour the vegetable gardens. Can I have some fresh radish with some rock salt sprinkled? The obliging staff fetches it, with some homegrown yellow limes.

Saravasti, or Sahet Mahet, is where a rich merchant Sudatta, later known as Anathapindika (incomparable alms giver) lived. On a visit to Rajgir he heard Buddha’s sermon. He invited Buddha and began to look for a place to build avihara — it came to be known as Jetavahanavihara after a donation from Prince Jeta, son of Saravasti’s king Presanajit. Here too is the Ananda Bodhi tree. It was brought as a cutting from the Bodhi tree at Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka, grown from a sapling of the original tree at Bodh Gaya. At the tree, our Sri Lankan friends have a priest perform apuja.

At a short distance is the site of the only miracle Buddha performed. He is said to have levitated on a lotus with a thousand petals causing fire and water to leap out of his body. A Thai-built golden Buddha smiles upon us as we take photos.

It has been a hectic few days. We are headed for our final destination, Agra, as our foreign companions wanted to see the Taj. Meanwhile I mull over the journey I undertook. It’s amazing that Buddha walked just these few hundred kilometres in his life and yet what he imbibed influenced the minds of men down centuries. Even Al Gore in his documentary,An Inconvenient Truth, says that coexistence with nature is a philosophy derived from Buddha’s teachings, which are now relevant to a nuclear world.

It is 24 November. We return to the train, Delhi-bound, replenished and cleansed, to take on the lives we’ve left behind. As the train slips out of Agra station, we look at Ozuma’s sketches of our motley bunch. He has given me a flattering look, another reason to remember the journey.

FACT FILE

WHEN TO GO
Mahaparinirvan Express has a bi-monthly run until March 2008

THE COST
Per person for seven nights
1st AC: Rs 42,262
2nd AC: Rs 29,583
3rd AC: Rs 24,794

ITINERARY
Day 1: Delhi-Gaya
Day 2: Gaya-Bodh Gaya
Day 3: Bodh Gaya-Rajgir-Nalanda-Gaya-Varanasi
Day 4: Varanasi-Sarnath
Day 5: Gorakhpur-Kushinagar
Day 6: Kushinagar-Lumbini-Gorakhpur
Day 7: Gonda-Saravasti-Gonda-Agra
Day 8: Agra-Delhi

TRAVEL TIPS

1. Besides a medicine kit, pack walking shoes; balm; sun protection cream; padded socks for barefoot walking in temples; a muffler, shawl and sweater; and a parasol if you are sensitive to sunlight.
2. As the train is your home, you can pack all the things you may need, like a hot water bottle.
3. Pack a smaller bag for daily changes; those with bigger bags can avail of the dedicated porter service.

Featured in Harmony Magazine
January 2008