| dumdum |
Posted
on 23-Apr-01 02:33 PM
Buddha lived in Nepal, not India: Excavators
By Chidanand Rajghatta
The Times of India News Service
WASHINGTON: Stand by for yet another neighbourly wrangle.
Gautama Buddha may have lived in what is modern-day Nepal
and not in India by a short distance of four miles, according to
the findings of a British research group. The latest claim adds
another chapter to a long-standing argument between scholars in
India and Nepal about the life and times of the Buddha. Although
it is commonly accepted that the Buddha was born in Lumbini in
what is now southern Nepal, the location of the ancient city of
Kapilavastu, where he lived till he was 29, has been the digs of
contention.
Nepalese experts claim Kapilavastu is the modern
Tilaurakot, a Nepalese town a few miles north of its border with
India's Bihar. Indian scholars claim that the Indian town of
Pipprahawa, four miles from Tilaurakot and a mere six hundred
yards south of the Nepal border, is the site of Kapilavastu. But
now archeologists from England's University of Bradford have
presented evidence in the form of artifacts demonstrating that
Tilaurakot was inhabited during the Buddha's lifetime and perhaps
even earlier.
The site is clearly right at the center of the Buddhist
holy land, Robin Coningham, one of the researchers, told the
Washington Post, which first reported the story on Monday. It's
the only fortified site, it's the only urban site around
and there are no rivals in the region, he added.
Previously, archeologists had failed to find evidence to
back Nepal's claim. On the other side,Indian archeologists digging
beneath a stupa in 1972 found a casket containing human remains
and coins bearing the legend: Here is the vihara (monastery) of
the monk of Kapilavastu. But Nepal charged that the Indian claim
was motivated, given the implications of such a discovery in terms
of heritage value and religious and cultural pride, not to speak
of tourism dollars. In fairness, India can now say the same
thing, given that the Bradford excavation is financed through the
Nepalese government and is led by Nepal's chief archeologist Kosh
Acharya.
According to Coningham,Pipprahawa is clearly a monastic
site, and the inscribed coins could have been sent from another
monastery either as a gift or as relics from a mother monastery
to one of several satellites. Still, some experts say the new
findings will only shift the evidence in Tilaurakot's direction,
not tip the balance. Even finding greyware,and even with
radiocarbon dating... all it will prove is that there is
another site that is a potential candidate, Nancy Wilkie,
president of the Archeological Institute of America, was quoted
as saying.
Ironically, the heritage battle will come as a surprise to much
of the west. Although Buddhism, like yoga, is a fad of sorts,
many westerners believe that the religion originated in Japan or
China, and not in the Indian sub-continent.
Few westerners are even aware that the Buddha was Indian and
a Bihari at that. Fortunately for the world, the idea of determining the site of holy land in what is arguably the world's
most pacific religion is not in the least visceral or
inflammatory like it is with many other religions.
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| Hom Raj |
Posted
on 23-Apr-01 03:14 PM
Dumdum-jee
Isn't it interesting to find, at the end of this article about Buddha being Nepali, the Indian press is writing:
"Few westerners are even aware that the Buddha was Indian and
a Bihari at that."
Let us hope not. If they think Buddha was Indian, they are almost certainly wrong, as the article itself so clearly states.
By what logic was he Bihari or Indian? I live in America at present. Does this fact make me American? More to the point perhaps in 2,500 years all of that which now is America will be a new nation. Let us image it will be known as one state in the Federation of Planets, just as what is formerly the territory of Kapilvastu is now in a much larger union called Nepal and other kingdoms of that time are India. If I, a Nepali, live in America in 2001, could it be accurate for a newspaper to write in 4,501 a statement such as: "Few people are even aware that Hom Raj was Federation of Planetese"? It would be absurd.
Moreover, if we follow the logic from the Indian press in that paragraph, then we see that Indian and Nepali mean precisely same thing to the Indian news service. I have great respect for Indian culture, yet I also have great respect for history.
Hom Raj.
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