In religion and spirituality, a pilgrimage is a long journey or search
of great moral significance.
Sometimes, it is a journey to a sacred place or to a shrine of importance
to a person's beliefs and faith. Members of every major religion
participate in pilgrimages. A person who makes such a journey is called a
pilgrim. There are number of historical Buddhist pilgrimage sites in the
Republic of India.
Places associated with the life of Buddha Primary sites Buddhism offers
four primary sites of pilgrimage: Lumbini (birthplace of the Buddha), Bodh
Gaya (the site where the Buddha attained enlightenment), Sarnath (the
location of the Buddha’s first sermon), and Kushinagar (the location where
the Buddha attained Parinirvana). All of these sites are located in India
except Lumbini, which is located in southern Nepal.1. "Maha Bodhi Temple"
at Bodh Gaya2. Damek Stupa, Sarnath3. Ancient Buddhist Monastery at
Sarnath4. 4. Parinirvana Stupa at Kushinagar (Remains of ancient stupas in
Kushinagar)
Places visited by Buddha for discourse
Andhra Pradesh Nagarjuna Konda in Guntur district: Seat of Mahayana o
Thotlakonda and Bojjannakonda in Visakhapatnam
Bihar : The name of Bihar is derived from vihara, meaning monastery, such
was the association of the area with Buddhism. In addition to these sites
which were visited by the Buddha, other sites in India have become notable:
1 o Patna, — Formerly known as Pataliputra, it was the seat of the Mauryan
empire and a significant Buddhist centre o Rajgir, Bihar — Formerly known
as Rajagaha, it was the capital of Magadha, ruled by King Bimbi Sara, one
of the most prominent monarchs and supporters during the lifetime of the
Buddha o Nalanda, Bihar — Site of an ancient Buddhist university,
destroyed by Bakhtiyar Khilji during Islamic attacks o
Sravasti, Uttar Pradesh — Formerly known as Savatthi, it was the capital
of Kosala, ruled by King Pasenadi, one of the most prominent monarchs and
supporters during the lifetime of the Buddha o
Vaishali, Bihar — Seat of a republican state of the Lichchavis, prominent
supporters of the Buddha. Site of the Second Buddhist Council
Haryana: Sacred places in the order of travel by Buddha, where he gave
several important discourses documented in the Pali texts. After visiting
Mathura, he travelled along Grand Trunk Road in Haryana (also see Buddhist
pilgrimage sites in Haryana). O
From Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, Buddha travelled along Grand Trunk Road in
Haryana (also see Buddhist pilgrimage sites in Haryana). O
Kamashpura Aastha Pugdal Pagoda (Kumashpur) in Sonipat city, the place
where Buddha gave Mahasatipatthana sutta), o Kurukshetra Stupa on the
banks of sacred Brahma Sarovar in Kurukshetra city o Topra between
Kurukshetra and Yamuna Nagar, now has a large open air museum park housing
several replicas of Ashoka's edicts including largest Ashoka Chakra in the
world
Srughna, now known as the Sugh Ancient Mound, on outskirts of Yamuna
Nagar city o Chaneti Stupa, on outskirts of Yamuna Nagar city "Diamond
Triangle" Of Esoteric Buddhism Lalitgiri together with the comparable
nearby monastic sites of Lalitgiri and Udayagiri, it is part of the
so-called "Diamond Triangle" of the "Ratnagiri-Udayagiri-Lalitgiri" sites.
It used to be thought that one or all of these were the Pushpa Giri Vihara
known from ancient records, but this has now convincingly located at a
different site. As the crow flies, Ratnagiri and Udayagiri are about 11 km
apart, and both about 7 km from Lalitgiri. The site now recognised as Puspa
Giri is some 18 km distant from Udayagiri, the closest to it of the
"triangle" sites.
2 The Udayagiri Caves are twenty rock-cut caves near Vidisha, Madhya
Pradesh primarily denoted to Hindu gods Vishnu and Shiva from the early
years of the 5th century CE. They contain some of the oldest surviving
Hindu temples and iconography in India. They are the only site that can be
verifiably associated with a Gupta period monarch from its inscriptions.
One of India's most important archaeological sites, the Udayagiri hills and
its caves are protected monuments managed by the Archaeological Survey of
India. Udayagiri caves contain iconography of Hinduism and Jainism.
They are notable for the ancient monumental relief sculpture of
Vishnu in his incarnations the man-boar Varaha, rescuing the earth
symbolically represented by Bhudevi clinging to the boar's tusk as
described in Hindu mythology.
The site has important inscriptions of the Gupta dynasty belonging to
the reigns of Chandragupta II (c. 375-415) and Kumara Gupta I (c. 415-55).
In addition to these, Udayagiri has a series of rock-shelters and
petroglyphs, ruined buildings, inscriptions, water systems, fortifications
and habitation mounds, all of which remain a subject of continuing
archaeological studies. The Udayagiri Caves complex consists of twenty
caves, of which one is dedicated to Jainism and all others to Hinduism. The
Jain cave is notable for one of the oldest known Jaina inscriptions from
425 CE, while the Hindu caves feature inscriptions from 401 CE. There are a
number of places in India with the same name, the most Notable being the
mountain called Udayagiri at Rajgir in Bihar and the Udayagiri and Khandagiri
Caves in Odisha.
3 One of the earliest known Ganesha reliefs.
Cave 15 is a small square cave without a separate sanctum and
Peedam (pedestal). Cave 16 is a Shaivism related cave based on the
Peedam and iconography. The sanctum and the Mukha-mandapa are both squares.
Cave 17 has a square plan. To the left of its entrance is a single
dwarapalaka. Further left is a niche with Ganesha image. On the right of
the entrance is a niche with Durga in her Mahishasura-mardini form. The
cave has an intricate symmetric lotus set in a geometric pattern on the
ceiling. Cave 18 is notable for including a four-armed Ganesha. With him is
a devotee who is shown carrying a banana plant. ]
* Cave 19: Shaivism *Cave 19 inscription by some pilgrim Kanha. The
१०୯३ " is Nagari for "1093", a year that is 1036-37 in Georgian calendar.
Cave 19 is also called the "Amrita Cave''. It is close to Udayagiri
village. It is the largest cave in Udayagiri Caves group, being 22 feet
(6.7 m) long by 19.33feet (5.89 m) broad. It has four massive square
cross-section, 8 feet (2.4 m) high pillars which support the roof. The
pillars have intricately decorated capitals with four horned and winged
animals standing on their hind legs, and touching their forefeet touching
their mouths. The roof of the cave, states Cunningham, is divided "into
nine square panels by the architraves crossing over the four pillars' '.
The temple was likely much larger with its mandapa Infront, given the
structural evidence in the form of ruins. The doorway of Cave 19 is more
extensively ornamented than other caves. The plasters are of the same
pattern as the pillars inside. River goddesses Ganga and Yamuna flank the
doorway. Above is a long deeply carved sculpture representing the Samudra
Manthan mythology, depicting Suras and Asuras churning the cosmic ocean.
It is this narrative of this Hindu myth that led Cunningham to propose the
name of the cave to be "Amrita cave". {Thus, British started the naming
patterns, overruling the older names] There is a carving near Cave 19 that
shows Parvati's family, that is Shiva, Ganesha and Kartikeya. The cave has
two Shiva Lingas, of which one is a Mukha Linga (Linga with face). This
cave had a Sahasra Linga (main Linga with many subsidiary Lingas), which
was moved to the ASI museum in Sanchi] Cave 19 has a Sanskrit inscription
in Nagari script dated 1036 CE by a common pilgrim name Kanha, who donated
resources to the temple, and the inscription expresses his devotion to
Visnu.
*Cave 20: Jainism Inscription* in the Jaina cave 20. Cave 20 is the only
cave in the Udayagiri Caves complex that is dedicated to Jainism. It is on
the northwestern edge of the hills. At the entrance is the image of the
Jain tirthankara Parsvanatha sitting under a serpent hood. The cave is
divided into five rectangular rooms with stones stacked, the total length
of 50feet (15 m) that is about 16 feet (4.9 m) deep. The southern room
connects to another excavated section consisting of three rooms. In the
northern rooms is an eight-line inscription in Sanskrit. It praises the
Gupta kings, for bringing prosperity to all, then notes that a Sankara has
set up a statue of Parshva Jina in this cave after commanding a cavalry,
later giving up his passions, withdrawing from the world and becoming a
yati (monk). (In Jaina I is written as Samngara). The cave has other
reliefs, such as those of the Jinas. These are significant because they
have chattras (umbrella-like cover) carved over them, an iconography that
is found in Jain caves-built centuries later in many parts of India. These
are generally not found in Jain statues carved before the 4th-century. The
cave also includes a somewhat damaged image of Ganesha on its floor, where
is depicted carrying an axe while looking in his left direction.
Significance According to Willis,: Udayagiri's Hindu history
long predates the 4th-century.
It was a center of astronomy and Hindu calendar-related activity,
given its sculptures, sundials, and inscriptions. These made Udayagiri a
sacred space and gave it its name that means "sunrise mountain". It was
likely first modified by the king Samudra Gupta in mid4th-century. His
descendant Chandragupta II reworked these caves a few decades later, to
revitalize the Hindu king concept to be both the paramount sovereign
(cakravartin) and the supreme 19devotee of the god Vishnu ( paramabhāgavata
). This evolved the role of Udayagiri from it being the historic center for
Hindu astronomy into an "astro-political node". Chandragupta II thereafter
came to be titled as Vikramaditya –literally, "he who is the sun of prowess
– in Indian texts, states Willis. According to Patrick Olivelle – an
Indologist and a professor of Sanskrit, Udayagiri was important to the
Gupta Hindu kings who were "polytheistic with remarkable tolerance" in an
era where the popular religion was "basically henotheistic". According to
Heinrich von Stietencron - an Indologist and professor of Comparative
Religion, the Udayagiri Caves narrates Hindu thought and legends with far
deeper roots in the Vedic tradition. These roots are found in many forms,
of which Vishnu avatars are particularly well formulated. He is the god who
descends to bring order and equilibrium when chaos and injustice of one or
more forms thrives in the world. Some of his avatars such as Narasimha,
Varaha, Vamana/Trivikrama, and Rama are templates for kings. Their
respective legends are well structured for a discussion of right and wrong,
justice and injustice, rights and duties, of dharma in its various
dimensions. The man-boar Varaha avatar found in Udayagiri itself is a story
found in various forms, starting with the Vedic text Taittireeya Samhita
sectionVII.1, where Prajapati takes the form of boar to rescue earth first
before creating gods and lifeforms that earth could support.
The story's popularity was well spread, as the symbolic boar saving the
earth goddess is also found in the Shatapata Brahmana XVI.1, the taitriya
Brahmana taitriya Aranyaka and others, all these Vedic era texts are
estimated to have been complete by 800 BCE. The Varaha iconography has been
historic symbolism of someone willing to go to the depths and do what is
necessary to rescue earth and dharma, and this has had an obvious appeal
and parallels to the role of king in the Hindu thought. Udayagiri caves
narrate this legend, but go one step further. The Varaha relief in
Udayagiri does not revitalize Hindu kingship, according to Heinrich von
Stietencron, rather it is a tribute to his victories that was likely added
to the cave temples complex as a shallow niche between 410 and 412 CE. It
signifies his success and with his success, the return of dharma. It may
have marked the year when Chandragupta II assumed the title of
Vikramaditya. [48]
The Stietencron proposal does not explain the presence of a bowing figure
in front of the Vishnu Varaha. The royally dressed man has been broadly
interpreted as king Chandragupta II acknowledging dharma and duty
symbolized by Vishnu Varaha as above the king. Stietencron states that it
indeed is a norm in the Hindu sculptural art tradition to not represent
transitory achievements of mortal kings or any individual, rather they
predominantly emphasize spiritual quest and narrate historic, symbolic
legends from Hindu texts. The Udayagiri Caves are significant, states
Stietencron, because they are likely a political statement.
According to Julia Shaw, the Udayagiri sculptures are significant
because they suggest that the avataram concept was fully developed by about
400 CE. The 20f iconography across multiple caves for Vishnu, Shiva and
Durga suggests that Hinduism was thriving along with Buddhism in
post-Mauryan rain in ancient India. The Udayagiri temples represent, state
Francis Ching and other scholars, the "earliest intact Hindu architecture"
and display the “essential attributes of a Hindu temple" in the form of
sanctum, mandapa and a basic plan. According to James Harle, the Udayagiri
caves are significant for being "a common denominator of the early Gupta
style". He states that Udayagiri temples are, along with those as
Tigawa and Sanchi, probably the earliest of surviving Hindu temples The
Udayagiri temples are the only that can be confidently linked to the Gupta
Empire, states George Michell. While new ancient temples are being
identified every year on the Indian subcontinent but their dating remains
uncertain. The Udayagiri Caves can be dated and they are the earliest
accepted examples of surviving rock-based north Indian temples. Lion statue
at Udayagiri. {ASI DATA EXPLAINING ONE AREA WHICH HAD SO MUCH FRATERNITY
AROUND 1000ad IN THE GUPTA SAMRAJYA} KR IRS 11 7 23
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