Lal Singh Dil:Poet of the Silent Revolution

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Lesser Flameback Woodpecker- IIHMR University Birds 5

Lesser Flameback Woodpecker

The lesser flame back woodpecker is undoubtedly a prized creature inhabiting IIHMR lawns, buildings wooded corners and other sundry places that one usually sees it. Extremely agile either hopping on the ground or lilting its way up slender and not so slender branches. Busy and purposeful it is at its diligent best when it takes position to knock a hole in the thick branches. The long pointed beak serving like a drill and the red crown that becomes the dancing head of the beak drilling its way through. The fascinating flame yellow back plumage of the woodpecker shines and on swift flights give the illusion of flames dancing around.

It is a curious confident bird, likes to check around. And the unique ecology of tree groves, thickets and a landscaped built environment provides ample space.  They are found in good numbers. 

In the mellow sunlight of winter mornings or the smoky early evenings seeing these dancing and fleeting flames is quite a sight.

Photos: Gowtham Ghose, IIHMR University

Bodh Gaya Dialogues: Sustainable Development, Culture and Enlightenment

Maha Bodhi Temple, Bodhgaya

The state of Bihar occupies its own unique position within India. Lying in the ecologically abundant and ancient expanse of the Indo Gangetic plains the region has been a cradle of ancient Indian civilization, endowed with an immensely rich history and prehistory. The region was the setting for and birthplace of the two greatest Indian religions, Buddhism and Jainism.

In particular, the cultural and long enduring historical significance of Bodh Gaya as an ancient site is well known. From the early accounts of the Chinese pilgrims Faxian and Xuanzang to the recent musings of various New Age seekers, from Asvaghosa to Edwin Arnold, Bodhgaya has been a favorite topic. It was a hot spot of Indian archaeology after Alexander Cunningham made the famous excavation of Mahabodhi temple complex and commissioned its restoration by J D Beglar in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

The spiritual resonance of the place as the site of Enlightenment for Sakyamuni Lord Goutama Buddha, makes the Mahabodhi temple most important pilgrimage place for Buddhists from all over the world. As the sacred power centre of the Buddhist world it is regarded as the 'navel of the earth ' in Buddhist cosmology.

The Mahabodhi Temple Complex is the first temple built by Emperor Asoka in the 3rd century B.C., and the present temple dates from the 5th–6th centuries. It is one of the earliest Buddhist temples built entirely in brick, still standing, from the late Gupta period. The present Mahabodhi Temple Complex at Bodh Gaya comprises the 50 m high grand Temple, the Vajrasana, sacred Bodhi Tree and seven sacred sites of the Buddha's enlightenment.

The highlight of pilgrimage for all Buddhists is to stand beneath the bodhi tree at Bodhgaya, where the historical Buddha had attained enlightenment. This spot is marked by a stone seat, the vajrasana or 'diamond seat'. The Buddhist cultural heritage has a long and special history that dates back to more than 2,500 years and unites most of South, South-East and East Asia.

The Mahabodhi Temple complex at Bodhgaya was designated a UNESCO World Heritage monument on 27 June 2002.

Bodhgaya is not, and never has been, only a Buddhist site. Hindus have been visiting Bodhgaya since at least the Buddha's own lifetime. It was one of the important stops along sraddha routes as testified by Agni Purana and Mahabharata that mentions the Mahabodhi taru as a place to pay obeisance in the course of a sraddha. It could be surmised that it was this significance of Gaya as the penultimate destination for sraddha, for overcoming the fetters of death, that drew Sakyamuni to the place. Gaya and Bodh Gaya share a lot of correspondence in terms of monuments, sculptures and art that has features of Brahamanical imagery drawing on both Shaivaism and Vaishnavism.  Moreover some Buddhist images have been given Hindu identities, chief among which is Avalokiteshvara who is worshipped as Rama, or the nine Buddha images that are presented as Panadavas with Krishna, Draupadi, Kunti and Abhimanyu. Or Mara with an arrow identified with Kamdev, the god of desire, whose arrow shook the vow of Sambhu (Siva).

Beginning in the fifteenth century and extending into the twentieth, the site has been maintained by Saivite priests who trace their lineage to 1590, when Gosain Ghamandi Giri established a monastery at Bodh Gaya. This long Shaivite management at Bodh Gaya has seen assimilation and adaptation of Buddhist symbols like the votive stupas as Shiv lingams.

At the very center of sacred site of Bodhgaya stands the Buddha image.  In popular cosmology this multivalent sacred space represents iconographic open-endedness, intermingled and blurred, drawn from a shared iconographic vocabulary. A single image is viewed and treated as representing or embodying two very different figures that are the Buddha to Buddhist pilgrims and Visnu to Hindu pilgrims.

Bodh Gaya represents the shared cultural heritage of Hindus and Buddhists. As of now the complex is managed by Bodhgaya Temple Management Committee that acts according to the Bodhgaya Temple Act, 1949.

Deshkal Society:

Since 1995 Deshkal Society has been striving for compassionate understanding of marginal communities particularly in South Bihar located in the ecological region of middle Gangetic plain. In a society that ostracizes these communities and them as impure lower order bonded by drudgeries of grueling labour, Deshkal Society has been engaging with them in a quest to lessen their suffering and facilitate well-integrates being in their lives. The interventions of Deshkal with these marginal communities aim to enable dignity, equity, and justice through improving access to quality elementary education, entitlements for habitats, secure livelihoods and dignified existence.

Deshkal has come to understand that for these communities culture is not luxury or an expression of leisure alone. Rather it is a dynamic resource for negotiating everyday realties of dominant development. The culture of the region is endowed with traditions and cultural practices of communities like Musahars who constitute core laboring processes of paddy cultivation in the Indo Gangetic river plains.

Historically bestowed with ingenuous and intimate relation with nature, their life histories are a living testimony to deep veneration of nature for regeneration of all life. Their intangible cultural expressions encoded in myths, songs, legends, proverbs, ballads, stories relate to worshipping nature, ancestors and many folk deities. These performances punctuate sowing and harvesting of paddy, propitiate and venerate nature as life giving force, reinforce bonds with ancestors, derive guidance and protection from them and are living representations of collective assertion.

It would not be very inappropriate to surmise that the living cultural practices of these labouring communities in contemporary times do have a historical affinity to animism and tribal ethos that dominated the region in the Buddha’s time. This popular culture of subalterns adds another dimension to the historical heritage of Bodhgaya and situates the region as endowed with a variety of tangible and intangible heritage.

(For more information on Deshkal Society please see www.deshkalindia.com)

Bodh Gaya Dialogues:

The Bodh Gaya dialogues seek to facilitate civil society action to generate processes for conserving, disseminating and sustaining the rich and multiple cultural heritage of Bodh Gaya and Gaya region in South Bihar. By focusing on interconnections of diverse cultures of Buddhism, Hinduism and popular culture of Musahar community, the proposed initiative in discussing, sharing and disseminating aims to build processes for sustainable heritage development with participation of a range of stakeholders.

Invoking the age old Buddhist tradition of dialogues as a way of comprehending and experiencing reality the Bodh Gaya dialogues represent a quest for sustainable development that is inclusive and ecologically sustainable. It is a humble attempt to engage with the paradox of rich cultural heritage and the challenges of modern development in the region. The defining ideal of this pursuit for holistic union of external and internal well- being draws on the deep wisdom of Buddhist philosophy relating to real human finitude and release from its endemic suffering. To further this pursuit for cessation of suffering it is a call for compassionate engagement to overcome entrenched inequalities plaguing communities living in the ‘navel of the earth’.   

Objectives:

• Facilitate appreciation and safeguarding of multiple tangible and intangible cultural heritage of Bodhgaya region.
• Engage with Bodhgaya as a World Heritage Buddhist pilgrimage for promoting responsible tourism and livelihood opportunities for marginal communities.
• Foster debate and initiatives for sustainable development of South Bihar region.

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