In
1990 when I was doing research for the second edition of my book Middle
Land Middle Way: A Pilgrim’s Guide to the Buddha’s India I first heard
about the unremarkable little village of Silao, roughly halfway between Rajgir
and Nalanda. I had found an article in an old copy of Epigraphica Indica of 1934 reporting that a badly damaged statue of
Mahakassapa had been found in the village. There was a picture of the statue and of its inscription and a translation of it. Part
of the inscription reads: “He who, after
taking on human form solely for the benefit of others and who attained Nirvana
on the charming hill of Gurupada, that very Maha Kassapa, here shines forth.” Originally
the statue must have been of Mahakassapa kneeling to worship the Buddha. It is the
only statue of the Buddha’s chief
disciple ever found in India and its find-place confirmed what Samyutta Nikaya II,220 says that the first
meeting between the Buddha and Mahakassapa took place somewhere between Rajgir
and Nalanda. A few months later I was in India and I went to Silao to see if I could locate the statue. I couldn’t and no
one in the village had ever heard of it. I spent a frustrating half a day in
the general area checking local tree shrines and small mandiras where old fragments of sculpture are often placed, but
without luck. Nonetheless, in the 1992 revised version of Middle Land Middle Way I
mention Sialo as the place where the momentous encounter between the
Buddha and Mahakassapa took place (page 110).
Therefore
it is with real surprise and delight that I have come to know that several
Buddhist enthusiasts have just recently rediscovered the statue and there are
moves to display it properly and establish a Mahakassapa Park near the village.
If this project is managed properly it will bring some revenue to an otherwise
very poor village and become an extra interesting stop for Buddhist pilgrims
visiting Rajgir and Nalanda. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.
1 comment:
A million thanks for this, Bhante! We so appreciate your sleuthing and sharing.
In the Dhamma,
Visakha and Ken
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