A glimpse into grandeur of Taxila

Script and pictures Manjula Fernando

The journey began at 3 p.m. on April 5. Our destination was about 35km from the new Pakistani capital Islamabad. I was eagerly seated inside a hired car to see and set my foot on the very sacred place where the great Mauryan Emperor Asoka embraced Buddhism and sent out his offspring on a mission of mercy.

I was attending a two-day seminar in Islamabad on an invitation by the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies. During the hectic sessions a friend proposed that I should visit Taxila. It is a must place for any Buddhist. Despite my reluctance to deviate from the initial program and become a nuisance to the host I immediately responded ‘Is it possible?’.

I later learned the place was not far and the journey to Taxila from Islamabad would take less than two hours. My entire tour of Pakistan lasted only four days; apart from the travelling time, I had two days occupied by the seminar and related activities. But this was an opportunity I could not afford to miss. Though an ardent Buddhist myself, I am yet to make that sacred pilgrimage to Bodhgaya.

Uncertainty

Hence the trip to Taxila ruins was planned on the final day of the seminar. It was a relief my presentation was scheduled on the first day. The Taliban invasion in Swat was disturbing news at the time.

There was an air of uncertainty with reports of occasional terror attacks in major cities. Given the situation my host suggested his colleague Abdul Mateen, a former journalist be our escort. As planned, a car was waiting outside the hotel at 2 p.m. We travelled past the tree-line streets of Islamabad.

Well-built roads

The city is carefully planned and landscaped with a well-built roads network. It was the summer in Pakistan, the Karachchi heat was unbearable but Islamabad was a different story altogether. The temperature fluctuated between 20-22C.

Halfway on we saw the unloading point of NATO military vehicles, the camouflage jeeps were still stacked and wrapped in canvass on top of long container carriers. After about a two-hour drive, we reached the historic city Taxila, also known as Takshasila. This is one of the subcontinent’s most important archaeological sites, with remains of dozens of Buddhist monasteries dating from 600 BC to 600 AD.

Engineering

The city is also famous for the Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT), a massive special weapons facility employing over 7000 highly skilled workers, known as the backbone of Pakistan armed forces’ engineering industry.

Malik Usther, a resident who had extensively studied and written on the Buddhist ruins of Taxila, was waiting there for us. Usther said the tale goes that Taxila was the place the Great emperor Asoka chose to reside and where his son Arhath Mahinda set off on his religious mission to Sri Lanka.

According to his account Islamic faith had travelled to Pakistan from our tiny island nation. He proposed that our tour through the ancient ruins should start from the Museum.

The place houses one of the best collections of Gandharan Buddhist art in Pakistan. In here we came across dozens of clay statues of Maithri Bodhisatva, Gothama Buddha, and work of art depicting his life’s special moments; the prophesy of Suddodana’s ascetics, Queen Maha Maya’s dream, the birth of Prince Siddhartha, the great departure and many more.

Hostility

In this all Islamic nation it was astonishing to note the way the Buddhist ruins have been preserved and protected. Contrary to reports of hostility towards other faiths by Muslims, these ruins and the museum draw quite a few local tourists, mainly families with children of school age.

The closest of the ruins to the Museum is the Dharmarajika. This is a site of a Buddhist stupa and a large monastery. A traveller has to ascend a steep flight of stairs to reach the site. A hoarding erected by the UNESCO at the entrance says this is the first and one of the largest stupas built in Pakistan. It is believed Dharmarajika was built by the great Emperor Asoka, in the 3rd century BC enclosing a small casket with the holy ashes of the Buddha.

The main stupa here is 50 feet high and 165 feet in diameter. Around this, there is a galaxy of smaller stupas said to be containing different relics of the Buddha. Ruins of a large monastery lies on the northern edge.

The water tank used by the monks for bathing with chambers like changing rooms is an impressive structure that caught my eye in particular. As we walked amid the buildings now reduced to just their foundation and parts of walls, a sudden drizzle started descending from the cloudy sky.

The thought crossed my mind that the place had been the tranquil home of thousands of Buddhist disciples who followed the footsteps of the Buddha and I was walking the same path they had roamed thousands of years ago.

The place for its historic and architectural importance has been declared a ‘protected antiquity’ since 1975 by the Government hence making it a punishable offence to damage or deface ruins with not less than three-year jail term with hard labour. Our next stop was at Jaulian Monastery, a grand Sangarama, built in the second century AD during the Kushana rule.

Establishment

This carefully planned monastery is spread on top of a sleek hill with a serene overview of surrounding hills and valleys. The ruins of this religious establishment suffice enough proof of the grandeur of the then Buddhist reign.

The main structure, which in its inception had been several storeys high, consists of a huge assembly hall, shrine rooms, kitchen, refectory, storeroom, bathroom, quarters for the kitchen aids.

A unique seated figure of a Gothama Buddha is also located in this monastery. The statue of about 4 ft has a hole at the naval. Insertion of a finger at this naval is believed to bring you blessings against certain ailments.

Buddhist belief

I told our local friend this was against the Sri Lankan Buddhist belief, and they respect any replica of the Buddha in veneration. Remains of over two dozen monasteries could still be found in Taxila, a place that accommodated over 1000 Buddhist monasteries.

Taxila is mentioned in the Maha Bharata and Ramayana for its magnificence and wealth. The word Takshashila, in Sanskrit means “belonging to the King Taksha”. Taksha was the son of Bharata and Mandavi, as goes in Indian epic Ramayana.

In the epic Mahabharatha, the Kuru heir Parikit was enthroned at Taxila. It is known as a key university town of Gandhara, a kingdom of northern Pakistan from the 6th century BC to the 11the centrury AD. Chandragupta Maurya, founder of the Mauryan empire in Eastern India, made himself a master of the North and Northwest India, including Punjab. Chandragupta Maurya’s advisor Kautilya / Chanakya was a teacher at Taxila.

During the reign of Chandragupta’s grandson Asoka, Taxila became a great Buddhist centre of learning.

Ancient sites

The famous treatise Arthashastra (A manual of Economics) by Kautilya, is said to have been composed in Taxila. The city of Taxila is mentioned by the Chinese monk Fa-Hsien, who visited ancient sites of Buddhism in India. He came to Taxila in 405 CE.

Takshashila is described in some detail in later Jathaka tales, written in Sri Lanka around the 5th century CE. It is believed that the Mahayana sect of Buddhism took shape here. History has it that a student entered Takshashila at 16.

The Vedas and the Eighteen Arts, which included skills such as archery, hunting, and elephant-lore were taught in addition to its law school, medical school and school of military science. The city and the buildings were badly damaged by foreign invasions from time to time.