Rajgir had more of these landmarks than other centers: Venuvana, the bamboo brake where the Buddha and his disciples lived; Karnada Tank, where the Buddha used to bathe; Jivakamarvana, the orchard presented to the Buddha by the physician Jivaka; Griddakuta Hill (the hill of vultures) from where the Buddha delivered his sermons and the Sattapani Cave, where the First Buddhist Council was convened.
The first Buddhist structures at Rajgir were raised when Ajatsatni built a monastery, and a stupa over his share of the Buddha's ashes. That reliquary is now a mound used as a graveyard. Treading the paths which the Buddha took is becoming a pilgrimage for world peace. The Japanese much later have built the World Peace Stupa, with its gilded images of the Buddha. Adjacent to the hilltop where the Buddha used to deliver sermons, the stupa is visible for miles around. Access is by an aerial rope-way. The association of Buddhism with peace goes back to 250 B.C. when Emperor Asoka became a convert to it out of revulsion at the carnage in his conquest of Kalinga.
Rajgir also has the Nipponzan Myohoji, the Japanese temple, and the Centaur Hokke Club which offers some traditional facilities to Japanese pilgrims. The Burmese, too, have built a temple. There are also hot springs at Rajgir, around which Hindu and Jain temples have been built. |
