Unearthing A Lost City

The first thing that strikes you about Benoy Behl is his gentleness and shyness. But if he likes you, you will feel the warmth radiating towards you. Coax him to talk about his work and his eyes begin to glow. In half an hour, he can become a friend, someone with whom it is possible to discuss universal values.

For Behl the compassion of Buddha is the most all-embracing value. He says quite simply that he discovered the Buddha when he began working on the restoration of the Ajanta caves and frescoes. "Ajanta is so amazing," he sighs. "It teaches us so much about ethical conduct in modern life. It celebrates subtlety and helps you discover the deeper meaning of compassion."

 

Although he trained as a film maker from the FTII, Pune, his interest in restoring Buddhist monuments began with Ajanta and continued with the monasteries of Ladakh. The cold desert houses some rare examples of Indian Buddhist art and culture of the Vajrayana phase of Buddhism which spread across the Himalayas at the turn of the millennium. Behl lost no time in setting up a Committee for the Conservation and Documentation of the Monasteries of Ladakh which has, with the support of UNESCO, the Indian Army, scientists and the people of Ladakh, repaired and restored two ancient monasteries of Ladakh.

Behl's passion for the Buddha led him to his current obsession: restoring and rebuilding the lost city of Bodh Gaya, the place where the Buddha gained Enlightenment in 531 BC.

Bodh Gaya, in Bihar is perhaps the most revered place of worship for any Buddhist holding the same religious significance as Jerusalem in the Hebrew and Christian faith and Mecca in Islam. The standing 52-metre high Mahabodhi temple is the spot where Emperor Ashoka is believed to have built a memorial for the Buddha. It incorporates the polished sandstone Vajrasana (diamond throne) at the spot where the Buddha sat in mediation under the Bodhi (peepal) tree. A sandstone railing once encircled the spot where the Buddha sat. A few original pillars with human faces, flowers, animal and decorative details carved on them still stand on the site.

But what most people don't know is that nearby, buried under just a few feet of soil, lies a whole complex of what must once have been a bustling city. It is this city which Behl, with the help of the government of India, is determined to rediscover, for it provides fascinating insights into the life and times of the Buddha.

Why is this so important ? Not only because Buddhism is the ruling religious credo in at least eight other countries including Sri Lanka, Thailand and Japan, but also because once it is discovered, the city of Bodh Gaya will be the world's newest religious urban settlement.

The Mahabodhi temple complex was first excavated by Maj Gen A Cunningham in 1861. Since then countries all round the world have been providing finance and technology for the upkeep of the complex. Now, with the help of the Department of Tourism Behl along with some scientists, is trying to unearth the city which he says, will be as important for India as the Taj Mahal.

Working in tandem with Behl is a scientist who is as fired by enthusiasm about the Bodh Gaya discovery. Dr S Gangadharan, chief executive of the National Centre for the Compositional Characterisation of Materials, Hyderabad, is studying and dating materials using something known as `thermoluminescence techniques'. Making use of archaeology, which he calls an "aesthetically pleasing forensic science", Gangadharan will help recreate from shards of pottery and preserved remains like bones and hair, what individuals inhabiting the city looked like.

Equally enthusiastic about the re-discovery of the newest lost city is the Department of Tourism, for it can hear its coffers ringing. At the World Economic Forum (WEF) meet earlier this year, tourism secretary M P Bezbaruah said that he expected Bodh Gaya to become the most important centre of pilgrimage tourism in the next ten years. Behl is a consultant to the department for the length of the project.

According to Behl there are several reasons why the city got buried underground and stayed buried until it was partially excavated by Gen Cunnigham. "It's possible that it was purposely buried following the Muslim invasion, because judging from what we've found so far, the state of preservation is excellent. The Mahabodhi temple as it stands today was almost three quarters under the ground until it was excavated. Huien Tsang, when he came to India in the 7th century, reported a standing temple and richly endowed city. "So maybe the final blows to Buddhism came with the Muslim invasion and to protect their culture, the Buddhists buried the city themselves," he conjectures.

The government is moving to have the Bodh Gaya city declared a world heritage site like the Angkor Wat temples and the Inca temples. This will mean world recognition for a complex which belonged to an era which was `most righteous and compassionate'. Behl has lost count of the weekends he has spent just wandering around the lost city of Bodh Gaya, imagining what it must have been like. The Bihar government has done some haphazard digging in the area which has done more harm than good. Still, amid the ruins you can still sense the gentleness of the Buddha. Never has compassion been needed more in the world than today. Perhaps the rediscovery of Bodh Gaya_ both material and spiritual _ will restore some sanity in a greedy, grasping world.