Enlightening Pilgrimage of Indian Heritage

A Wish That Came Through

(From the Travelogues of Mathew D. Kunnappilly)

SRAWASTI

Our train reservation to Gaya was on Saturday, September 23rd. I had 2 days to kill at Lucknow. It was very difficult to include Allahabad, while going or returning, unless I wanted to take the risk of traveling without reservations. Allahabad was, for my itinerary, an out of the way place. Therefore, I was thinking of going to Allahabad on 21st and return again to Lucknow on 22nd. Then go to Gaya.

My niece’s husband has an aunt (father’s sister) there who is a doctor running a hospital for the past 25 years. I was invited for supper at her home. There she asked me where I was going next. I told her about my Allahabad problem. She said, " What is there in Allahabad to see? You should visit Srawasti" I never heard of Srawasti before. So I asked her about the place and she explained it to me. So I decided to go to Srawasti instead of Allahabad. She called and made arrangement for a car next morning for me.

On 22nd morning I left for Srawasti.

It is 180 kilometers NE of Lucknow. This place was re-discovered only in the nineteen thirties. But not very many knew about the place. Srawasti was promoted for tourism only in the past 5 or 6 years. This place is associated with Lord Buddha and King Ashoka. Srawasti was an ancient, rich, famous, and thriving city at the time of Buddha. He visited Srawasti first time" during the 3rd rainy season" after his Enlightenment. He visited and stayed at Srawasti a total of "23 rainy seasons" during his lifetime. There are two Sthupas attributed to Ashoka here.

We reached Srawasti around 2 PM. The present day town is a very small one. About half a dozen small stores and 5 or six Temples under construction by different countries like Thailand, Japan, China and Sri Lenka. Admission is only to a Jaine Temple and the Sri Lankan Temple. There is an unattended information center. All signs, except one, are in Hindi. Local people were unable to give us any direction. They cannot understand what is so big about their small town. We could not find any ruins that the doctor had described to me. Finally we decided to drive around. Few miles away from the town we saw the remnants of an old Temple. This is two stories high. What is left of it is a Grotto that was once the sanctuary of the temple. It is in very bad shape. At present, rail beams support the structure. If nothing is done, it may fall in few years. Weed and grass that sheep’s and cattle’s eat cover rest of the remaining parts. Their hoofs will take care of the "history".

About another quarter of a mile further there are two other remains of monuments that are about 100 feet apart. They too are about two storied high, with rooms at the ground level inter connected by tunnels. They too are pastured grounds for cattle's and goats.

Two busloads of tourists from Sri Lanka were there when we reached. So we waited for them to leave. However, if it were not for those tourists we would have missed the rest. After they left, we saw the ruins. We thought that that was the end. So we started our journey back. About two miles from the first Temple I mentioned, we saw those tourists going in a fenced area. We decided to go in also.

That was the real place. That was the monastery where Buddha stayed. It was here that he worked two of his most famous miracles. First one was his self-multiplying (The second one I forgot) What left of them are the foundations of the old buildings. I counted 20 of them. They are spread out over may be 25-30 acres. The veranda Buddha walked on is marked out. The ground is fenced in all around. Grass is cut. Place is fairly well kept. No animals are allowed inside the fence.

We visited the Jaine and Sri Lekan Temples.

Then I felt that the trip was well worth making.

We reached back home by 9 PM.

Next: - To GAYA