Patna & Vaishali

From Patna I took a day trip to Vaishali, I think called Vesali in the suttas. Vaishali is a small, quiet town with few tourists and pilgrims. The museum has statues of the Buddha and some nice stone and terracotta carvings, some dating back to the 3rd century BC. Statues of the Buddha seem to all date from around the 3rd century BC through the 12th century AD and then from relatively recent times. Prior to the 3rd century BC, probably in keeping with the Buddha's wishes that he not be idolized, the Buddha was represented either by footprints or by a flat stone, or slab, referred to as the Diamond Throne. (Somewhere I read that the influence of the Greeks is thought to have started folks making statues of the Buddha.) Toward the end of the 12th century AD, Muslim invaders, apparently believing any religion other than their own should be purged, raided temples and monasteries, killed monastics, burned the buildings and destroyed or defaced statues. Many, perhaps most, statues including faces have the noses bashed away. Some have further damage and some have the faces completely obliterated or the head removed. Also in Vaishali are another Ashokan pillar (boy that guy was busy!) and ruins of a stupa and a monastery.

The stupa in Vaishali was found to contain the relics of the Buddha. Visiting the stupa proved a nice prelude to visiting the Patna Museum where the relics are now on reserved display. That room is locked and you pay extra to be admitted. Two museum attendants came and unlocked the room and escorted me inside. There I found a fine model of an ancient stupa enclosed in with an open side displaying the small, round ceramic cask which was discoved in the stupa at Vaishali, and which holds relics of the Buddha. There is also a picture of the opened cask, its contents (white ash), and the items that were found with the relics. The setting is very solemn and the attendants remained quiet at the back of the room while I viewed, pondered and knelt for what I felt an appropriate puja. I saw a news article that government officials have agreed to move the relics to the museum in Vaishali when they have prepared the appropriate, secure housing and display. No doubt hotels and modern temples will follow, making it possible for pilgrims to go directly to Vaishali for a stay and skip going to Patna.