4 DEER PARK AND THE BHODI TREE

Just as I was leaving the ghats of Varanasi, I was hailed by a pretty young girl carrying a basket of marigolds that I had photographed the night before. She said, “You took a photo of me, why didn’t you buy my flowers?”






Flower Seller at Ma Ganga

I bought some of her flowers.



Do you recall that when I set out on this Indian adventure I was wondering what a billion people might look like? Well, I haven’t had that definitively answered but one day at a coal mine in Singrauli I was asked a question that put the question of population in perspective.



“What is the population of Australia,” Mr Choudhary asked me.



“About 20 million,” I said, “Why do you ask?”



“That’s about the number of people that travel on India Railways every day!” he very proudly announced.



We drove about 10 kilometres from the bathing ghats of Varanasi to the northern suburbs of the Holy City. In the throng of traffic and traders the most noticeable thing was that peoples’ appearances were changing. They were different.



We approached the northern suburb of Sarnath. The residents of this area appeared to be more Asian, more Chinese looking. They are Tibetans who are in exile and they are mostly Buddhist.



It is here in the temple complex of Sarnath’s Deer Park that you will find the Bodhi Tree where Gautama the Buddha found Enlightenment. It was beneath this tree that he preached his early sermons on the Four Noble Truths,



Life means suffering.

The origin of suffering is attachment.

The cessation of suffering is attainable.

The path to the cessation of suffering.



This place is filled with candles, bells and figures around the Bodhi Tree. The tree still stands after more than 2,500 years, although it has been replaced many times by cuttings taken from successive parent trees.



Here Buddhist monks in saffron garb and other true believers join to pray while tourists stand in awe and gaze at the opulence, beauty and intricacies of the temples.





Inside the Buddhist Temple at Sarnath



Amid the hubbub is a full scale model of devotees seated in a circle in prayer. The feeling of the calm and peace so interwoven with Buddhist belief is palpable even in this throng of people and cacophony of bells

.

In an earlier piece I wrote about the destruction of much of Varanasi 300 years ago; and so it is with Sarnath. Some of the old buildings remain but many are more recent replicas.



It is very fitting that so many Tibetans have settled here within the crucible of their faith.



I left the religious enclave wondering if Buddhism is for me. I like the idea of a faith which depends so much on introspection and respect for others. So far on this journey I have seen Hindus and Buddhists at prayer and at play. It is a fascinating experience and has deeply moved me. We miss a lot in the West by not taking enough time to reflect and contemplate.



We returned to the Gateway Hotel behind which is the Nadesar Palace. This remarkable building was constructed in the by the East India Company in 1795 to house officers stationed in Varanasi. It was bought by the Maharaja Prabhu Narayan Singh in the late 19th century to offer splendid accommodation to visiting dignitaries.



It has recently been refurbished as a magnificent hotel.



The current Maharajah insisted that palace retain the original 10 guest rooms whereas the development company could easily have doubled or tripled that number.



As a consequence the rooms are as huge and palatial as when King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra stayed here more than a century ago as the Maharajah’s guests.



We were given a gratis ride around the grounds in a 200 year old horse and buggy driven by an ancient man named Neesam. Neesam, his father and grandfather have driven the same buggy (though not the same horse!) in these grounds since the 1920s.



Being obsessed by family customs I asked Neesam if his son would continue the family tradition. In a mixture of Hindi and English he said, “My son is going to school and will make his own decision, the rest of the family had no such choice.”





Neesam with his Horse and Buggy



The day ended with a grand dinner of several spicy vegetarian dishes, dhal, four kinds of bread, two types of goats’ cheese, chutneys and a modest amount of Kingfisher beer.



If this isn’t Nirvana, at least you can see it from here!