The first article appeared in the Times of India, July 3, 2014, the second one in The Hindu, June 8, 2014
Buddha bowl the real thing: ASI report
The begging bowl in a museum in Afghanistan, which is believed to be that of Buddha's .
KOLKATA: Lord Buddha's begging bowl — one of Buddhism's most prized relics that currently finds pride of place at Kabul's National Museum — is authentic, a team of experts from Archaeological Survey of India has concluded.
According to ASI documents and a report by its first director-general, Sir Alexander Cunningham, the giant stone bowl weighing around 350-400 kg was Lord Buddha's 'bhikshapatra' that he donated to the people of Vaishali. In the second century, Kanishka took away the bowl to his capital Purushpura (Peshawar) and then to Gandhara (Kandahar). It was in Kandahar till the regime of former Afghan President Najibullah and thereafter shifted to Kabul museum.
The ASI team's visit to Kabul to inspect the bowl in the first week of May had evoked world-wide interest. The team finally submitted its report to the ministry of external affairs earlier this week. It was at the ministry's behest — after long discussions in Parliament and also with experts from four leading universities of the country — that the team had visited Kabul.
The two experts who visited Kabul for the verification were Dr Phanikanta Mishra, director-east, Kolkata and G S Khwaja, director-Arabic and Persian epigraphy, Nagpur. On return, they conducted further rounds of painstaking research to develop on their findings. Both were, however, unavailable for comments. Dr Mishra was on leave, his Kolkata office told TOI.
The contention over the bowl rose because of six lines of Persian inscription on its outer wall. The inscriptions, probably verses from the Quran, led to the belief that the artefact could be of Islamic origin. But a closer scrutiny revealed that the inscriptions were of a later period.
Buddhist relics in Afghanistan have been a cause of concern for India and the world after the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas by the Taliban in 2001. The Taliban had ordered all Buddhist artefacts in the Kabul museum destroyed, but the bowl remained untouched, thanks to the Quranic verses.
Vaishali MP Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, who had relentlessly raised the issue in Parliament and urged the government to bring the relic to India, is happiest at the positive report from ASI. "I had urged experts of various universities —JNU, DU, PU and BHU — to find out the actual history and details of the ancient bowl. Celebrated Chinese travellers Fa Hien and Xuan Zang had made references to Vaishali's begging bowl in their travel accounts," Singh said. "Buddha attained Parinirvana in 483 BC and for six centuries after that, till the first century AD, the bowl was a prized possession of Vaishali."
The relic is not small, by any means. The solid stone hemisphere, made of greenish-grey granite, is about 5.7 feet in diameter and its rim is 18cm thick on an average. It's thicker in the middle and at the base. It has no cracks or abrasions, except for a palm-size area that has flaked away near the rim. The base is a delicately chiselled lotus, attesting to its Buddhist past. Inscribed in beautiful large calligraphic script along the rim of the bowl are six rows of verses from the Quran, reflecting its Islamic continuum and its status through the ages as an object of special religious interest. Traces of similar calligraphic script are visible on the inside of the bowl as well.
The ASI's documents apparently hints that 24 lotus petals, six of which remain unscathed, indicating that they were of an earlier period. These untouched petals evidently revealed that the original bowl had plain petals. Detailed descriptions by Fa Hien matched the bowl's descriptions, said highly placed sources, quoting the report.
According to ASI documents and a report by its first director-general, Sir Alexander Cunningham, the giant stone bowl weighing around 350-400 kg was Lord Buddha's 'bhikshapatra' that he donated to the people of Vaishali. In the second century, Kanishka took away the bowl to his capital Purushpura (Peshawar) and then to Gandhara (Kandahar). It was in Kandahar till the regime of former Afghan President Najibullah and thereafter shifted to Kabul museum.
The ASI team's visit to Kabul to inspect the bowl in the first week of May had evoked world-wide interest. The team finally submitted its report to the ministry of external affairs earlier this week. It was at the ministry's behest — after long discussions in Parliament and also with experts from four leading universities of the country — that the team had visited Kabul.
"The report has been sent to the MEA. The ministry is its custodian now," said Dr B R Mani, the additional director-general of ASI, refusing to divulge any details.
The two experts who visited Kabul for the verification were Dr Phanikanta Mishra, director-east, Kolkata and G S Khwaja, director-Arabic and Persian epigraphy, Nagpur. On return, they conducted further rounds of painstaking research to develop on their findings. Both were, however, unavailable for comments. Dr Mishra was on leave, his Kolkata office told TOI.
The contention over the bowl rose because of six lines of Persian inscription on its outer wall. The inscriptions, probably verses from the Quran, led to the belief that the artefact could be of Islamic origin. But a closer scrutiny revealed that the inscriptions were of a later period.
Buddhist relics in Afghanistan have been a cause of concern for India and the world after the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas by the Taliban in 2001. The Taliban had ordered all Buddhist artefacts in the Kabul museum destroyed, but the bowl remained untouched, thanks to the Quranic verses.
Vaishali MP Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, who had relentlessly raised the issue in Parliament and urged the government to bring the relic to India, is happiest at the positive report from ASI. "I had urged experts of various universities —JNU, DU, PU and BHU — to find out the actual history and details of the ancient bowl. Celebrated Chinese travellers Fa Hien and Xuan Zang had made references to Vaishali's begging bowl in their travel accounts," Singh said. "Buddha attained Parinirvana in 483 BC and for six centuries after that, till the first century AD, the bowl was a prized possession of Vaishali."
The relic is not small, by any means. The solid stone hemisphere, made of greenish-grey granite, is about 5.7 feet in diameter and its rim is 18cm thick on an average. It's thicker in the middle and at the base. It has no cracks or abrasions, except for a palm-size area that has flaked away near the rim. The base is a delicately chiselled lotus, attesting to its Buddhist past. Inscribed in beautiful large calligraphic script along the rim of the bowl are six rows of verses from the Quran, reflecting its Islamic continuum and its status through the ages as an object of special religious interest. Traces of similar calligraphic script are visible on the inside of the bowl as well.
The ASI's documents apparently hints that 24 lotus petals, six of which remain unscathed, indicating that they were of an earlier period. These untouched petals evidently revealed that the original bowl had plain petals. Detailed descriptions by Fa Hien matched the bowl's descriptions, said highly placed sources, quoting the report.
********************************************************************************************
Buddha's begging Bowl
It’s not ‘Buddha’s’ begging bowl
A begging bowl on display in an Afghanistan museum is not associated with Lord Buddha, Indian officials have concluded belying the initial perception that it belonged to the founder of Buddhism.
The conclusion has been reached after a team of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) officials studied the bowl, sources told PTI here on Sunday.
The bowl has Arabic characters etched on it and cannot be associated with Lord Buddha, they said.
“The reported claims of Lord Buddha’s association with the bowl is unlikely as the inscriptions on the vase are in Arabic script that never existed during his (Buddha) era. Moreover, Buddha’s messages were written in Pali language using Brahmi characters,” one of the sources said.
According to the sources, the inscriptions on the 400-kg bowl has been written in Persian language using Arabic script.
“Arabic script came into existence only during the fifth century AD, whereas Lord Buddha’s life dates back to second and third century BC. If at all the messages of Buddha would have been written, it would be inscribed only in Pali and not in Arabic,” the source underscored.
The sources further observed that the inscription on the mysterious bowl could have been made about 500 years ago, around 15th century AD or a century later.
The bowl created controversy after a strong demand for bringing it back and installing it at its original place at Vaishali in Bihar was made by former RJD MP Raghuvansh Prasad Singh in the Lok Sabha last year.
Raising the issue in Parliament, Mr. Singh had said that Buddha, who was on his way to attain nirvana(salvation), had presented the bhikshapatra (begging bowl) to the people of Vaishali.
The bowl was later taken away to the capital of Kanishka, Purushputra (now Peshawar), by invaders and then further to Kandahar (then Gandhar), Mr. Singh, who had represented Vaishali constituency, said, adding several noted historians have written about the historicity of the vase.
The huge greenish-grey granite bowl has a diameter of about 1.75 metres, height of almost four metres and thickness of 18 centimetre at its rim. The vessel is currently displayed at the National Museum of Afghanistan.
Mr. Singh had also urged the External Affairs Ministry and the ASI to take steps to bring it back to India and install it at its “original place in Vaishali.”
Against this backdrop, a team of ASI officials — P K Mishra, Director, Heritage Bye-laws, Kolkata and G.S. Khwaja, Director, In-charge, Epigraphy Branch, Nagpur (Arabic and Persian) — was sent.
No comments:
Post a Comment