Dig deep to explore Ayodhya’s Buddhist link

Mallepalli Laxmaiah

Chairperson, Centre for Dalit Studies, Hyderabad

Many remnants of Buddha’s era came to light in the excavations by Cunningham, a British archaeologist, based on the historical findings in the diaries of Chinese travellers Faxian and Xuanzang. Cunningham concluded that there were remnants in Ayodhya as well. After the survey in 1862-63, Cunningham conducted another one in 1889-92. Then also, he came to the same conclusion. Yet another survey was conducted by AK Narayanan, who also confirmed the conclusions 

There are about 100 Buddhist monasteries in Ayodhya. Over 3,000 Buddhist monks conduct their activities from these facilities. They are learning many things about Mahayana and Hinayana philosophies even today. Ayodhya also has an old Buddhist monastery. Vasubandhu, prominent among Buddhist philosophers, used to deliver sermons here. They also study various aspects of philosophy of life. Further, he wrote many books there,” wrote Xuanzang, a Buddhist traveller and historian of China, in his travel diary. He travelled throughout India between 629 and 645 AD.

Even earlier, Faxian, also from China, had travelled to many Buddhist places in India. He wrote in his diary about the Kosala kingdom, mentioning the names of cities like Sravasti and Saaketa. Buddhist books say that the Kosala kingdom had been supporting and spreading Buddhism. We learn from books that the Buddha spent a lot of time in the Kosala kingdom. These facts make it clear that Saaketa city in the Kosala kingdom had played a vital role in spreading and preserving the Buddhist philosophy.

The same matter is causing a new turn in the Babri Masjid controversy, and we can say that the petition filed in the Supreme Court is a live example. The Supreme Court accepted Vineet Kumar Maurya’s petition on July 23, 2018. The petitioner requested the Supreme Court that there used to be a Buddhist monastery in the current controversial land in Ayodhya and prayed to save and protect the historic heritage. Vineet belongs to Khazia in Faizabad district.

Earlier, even when the case was at the hearing stage in the Lucknow High Court, a few Buddhist organisations, along with some associations working for BR Ambedkar’s ideology, filed petitions. They were not taken into consideration then. However, as a consolidated petition was made out of the petitioners’ affidavit, the Supreme Court had referred the petition for investigation. But the judgment was given by the Supreme Court in favour of the Hindu organisations.

Artefacts of the Buddhist era found recently during land-levelling work at Ayodhya give credence to the hypothesis that Buddhism had once flourished at this place.

Buddhist scriptures say that Gautama Buddha spent most of his time in the Kosala kingdom at Sravasti and Saaketa after attaining enlightenment. The diaries of Faxian and Xuanzang also mention this fact. These details were first written in the Mandarin language and later translated into English.

In the 20th chapter of Faxian’s book, A Record of Buddhist Kingdom, this matter was referred to. He also stated that he had visited the Kosala kingdom as part of his journey and had beholden the greatness of Buddhism. Similarly, there are so many details in the Ayodhya chapter of the book by Xuanzang titled, Buddhist Record of the Western World. He had found a dilapidated wall beside the Buddhist monastery and it was the place where Vasubandhu lived. Vasubandhu was an influential Buddhist monk and scholar from Gandhara. He even wrote the commentary on Abhidhamma and many more Buddhist writings along with his half-brother, Asanga, who was also one of the main founders of the Yogachara School. Vasubandhu is one of the most influential thinkers in the Buddhist philosophical tradition. He became a major Mahayana master, scholar and debater, famously defeating the Samkhya philosophers in debate in front of the Gupta king, Vikramaditya, famously known as Chandragupta II or Skandagupta.

Faxian also stated that a 200-ft-tall stupa, built by Asoka, existed about 20 km from Ayodhya city. He stated that Buddha spent seven days at the place and extensively spread his philosophy among the people through preaching. Asoka built a stupa as Buddha’s memorial. Similarly, there is a stupa of Gautama Buddha built with his bones about 2.5 km away from Sanghaarama. On the northwest of the monastery, there was another stupa built with the bones of the Buddha and it was remarkable that Xuanzang had found it. He also wrote that there was another teaching centre in the same direction. The credit for tracking not just one but many evidences of Buddha’s stay in Ayodhya must go to Xuanzang.

Many remnants of Buddha’s era came to light in the excavations by Alexander Cunningham, a British archaeologist, based on the historical findings in the diaries of the two Chinese travellers. Cunningham concluded that there were remnants in Ayodhya as well. After the survey in 1862-63, he conducted another survey in 1889-92. Then also, he came to the same conclusion. Yet another survey was conducted by AK Narayanan, an archaeologist, who also confirmed the conclusions. Further, the kings who followed and spread Buddhism built the 14 pillars that were found in the controversial land of Ayodhya. Another sculpture found in the land fortifies this argument.

There were references in the books on Buddhism and Jainism in the 11th volume of the Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology by A Ghosh, an archaeologist.

The petitioner prayed to the Supreme Court to declare the controversial land as Buddha Vihar and to protect it like other sites such as Sarnath, Kushinagar, Kapilavastu and Sravasti. Buddhists requested that it is against the Buddhist philosophy to destroy and occupy lands and he prayed to the Supreme Court to protect the land and that they did not even want to build Buddha Vihar there. Similarly, allocating the land to someone or the other would only lead to differences and violence and all he was asking for was to avoid that trouble by accepting historical evidence as facts.

But, this land has been embroiled in controversy since 1885, preventing archaeologists from conducting excavations. So, history remains buried.

If excavations were conducted, based on the Ayodhya findings of Xuanzang, many aspects could be brought to light. There is no need to conduct excavations manually, thanks to the advancements in technology. Organisations such as the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) in Hyderabad have the wherewithal to find out the nature of constructions underground without any need of excavation. Companies such as Google, which provide abundant knowledge of all regions in the world, also possess the required technology.

Xuanzang, Faxian, Cunningham and Narayanan, besides Buddhist literature and cultural books, have already laid the path. We have to think if we need to constitute a committee of archaeologists not only from India, but from all over the world to conduct excavations by following this path.

We have to dig out the history and make the new findings a part of our national heritage. The history, heritage and culture created by people should be left to the people of the country, which cherishes peace, unity, love and compassion. People should have absolute right over their cultural heritage.