By: Priyadarsi Dutta
Xuan Zang (Hieun Tsang) got a new lease of life when Chinese foreign minister Li Zhaoxing inaugurated a hall in the name of that 7th century Buddhist pilgrim at Nalanda (Bihar) recently. Nalanda Mahavihara, or the ancient university of Nalanda, was the pivotal institution of Buddhist scholarship between 427 (?) and 1197 CE. The scholarship of Nalanda was held in high repute as far as Suvarnadwipa or south-east Asian archipelago. The appearance of Vajrayana type of Buddhism in Sumatra in late seventh century was a fall out of Nalanda’s Yogacāra school of philosophy. Balaputra deva, the Shailendra ruler of Sumatra, constructed a new Vihara (seminary) at Nalanda in mid-9th century, and endowed it with five villages, with permission of Devpala, the Pala ruler of Bengal, under whose dominion Bihar came.
Satish Chandra Vidyabhusan, in his book, The Indian Logic (p.516), bases his description on Tibetan accounts to say that the quarter of the NalandaUniversity which hosted the grand library was called Dharmaganja (Piety Mart). It comprised three buildings called Ratnasagara, Ratnodadhi and Ratnaranjaka respectively. In Ratnodadhi, which was nine-storied, sacred exegesis called Prajnaparamita-Sutra and Tantrik works such as Samajguhya was housed.
Nalanda was flourishing when Chinese pilgrims Hieun Tsang and I-Tsing toured India in 7th century. Hieun Tsang who visited India between 630 and 645 CE counted six Viharas (seminaries) at Nalanda during the era of Harsha Vardhana; I-Tsing who toured India between 673 and 685 CE counted eight. Yet, at least one Vihara at Nalanda might have been present at the time when Fa Hien visited India between 399 and 414 CE. Fa Hien is no doubt silent of Nalanda; but his silence may not be construed as the non-existence of Nalanda in his time, but perhaps because it had not attained a stature of eminence.
Nalanda, in Buddhist tradition, was as old as Buddha himself. Hieun Tsang notes-“All round the Nalanda establishment were 100 sacred vestiges of which two or three are to be briefly noticed. To the west was a temple at a place where the Buddha had lodged for three months and preached to devas and men, and above 100 paces to the south of this was a tope where a foreign bhiksu had visited Buddha. This bhiksu on meeting Buddha prostrated himself and prayed for rebirth as a universal sovereign; Buddha hereupon remarked with
sorrow that as this man's merit was vast, and his faith firm, he would have attained Buddhahood if he had so desired. Now he would have to become a sovereign once for every atom of dust from the place of his prostration down to the ' gold wheel.' As he was given up to worldly joy the sacred fruit would be thus remote (that is, he would attain arhatship only after all these countless rebirths). To the south of this tope was a standing image of Kuan-tzu-tsai P'usa.
Chinese Foreign Minister Zhaoxing was thus standing in no ordinary place. He might be a Communist, but actually he is a Buddhist. Will that subliminal memory not stir in his veins, and proclaim in highest pitch, China belongs to Buddha and not to Mao? India, is not China’s enemy or competitor, but its historical spiritual Guru and friend. Will India and China not come together to say with folded –‘OM NAMO BHAGAVATE BUDDHAYE, OM NAMO VISHAL BUDDHE’. China’s soul has no other destiny but to reject Mao, and accept Buddha. No wonder Zhaoxing was accompanied by a large contingent of Buddhist monks from China.
However, in India, we owe the rediscovery of Buddhism to British orientalist. Alexander Cunningham took the lid of Buddhist era by his excavation at Sarnath, near Varanasi, in 1834 when he was 19. Nalanda was identified by Sir Alexander Cunningham, the founder director of ASI, in 1860s and excavation had begun on the site in 1915. Two hundred metal objects including fine statues and statuettes were recovered from it in the first excavation.
Cunningham, in his explorations, was guided by the geographical and topographical descriptions left by ‘Hwen Thsang’ (Hiuen Tsang). Hiuen Tsang toured India for 15 years between 630 and 645 CE, from Kabul and Kashmir to Bihar and Nepal to Kanchipuram in deep south. It is amazing to read how Cunningham establishes the identities of Vaisali (the capital of Licchavi clan), Kausambi, Kusinagar and Nalanda etc through writings of Hiuen Tsang.
Cunningham, in his book The Ancient Geography of India (1871), acknowledges his debt to French sinologist Stanislas Julien who first translated Hiuen Tsang from Chinese to French in 19th century. Stanislas Julien (1797-1873), while exploring Taoism, became interested in Buddhism concentrating on accounts of Chinese pilgrims to India. In 1853, he came out with Voyages du pelerin Hiouen-tsangwhich was a break through.
Although we might loath to admit it historical knowledge of ancient India reached us through West. The Hindu disinterest in history is no doubt the primary factor for this amnesia. But the role of Islamic iconoclasm for centuries could hardly be minimized. The grand university of Nalanda, with its sprawling library, was burnt down by hordes of Bakhtiyar Khilji in 1197 CE. Today, ASI seems more interested in concealing records of Islamic iconoclasm, rather than revealing the truth.
India’s self-discovery has been aided by Chinese, French, British across the age. But to be a spiritual lighthouse India must stand up by itself- by not concealing either its glorious past, or tortured medieval age. Thank you all- Hieun Tsang, I-Tsing, Stanislas Julien, Alexander Cunningham and Zhaoxing.
With the Kind permission of Priyadarsi Dutta
