Bodh Gaya

According to the Jataka tale, when Buddha first came here (after checking out some rather frightening places), the Papilla, or Indian fig (Bodhi) was a massive tree. It stood at the centre of a mandala composed of a silver white sandy ridge, encircled by creepers and a grassy woodland with all the trees inclining towards the Bo tree that stood in the middle. Close by were the pure, glassy waters of the Neranjara river, with many pleasant bathing pools. When he sat down in front of it facing East, a long vista opened out to through an avenue of Sale trees to the glistening beach of the crystal Neranjara. Thus it was 2,500 years ago. Very beautiful.

After he left, he never looked back, and never visited again. But he did recommend it as one of the four memorable places worth visiting for inspiration.

Buddhist believe this is the navel of the universe, the vajra seat, where past and future buddhas achieve the ultimate state.

Still, no one seems to have taken any notice for around 250 years.

The Buddhist emperor Asoka went there after being in power for 10 years, and again 10 years later. This time, he set up a stone pillar with an elephant capital here, as well as similar pillars at Lumbini, Sarnath and Kusinara. (Birth first teaching and death spots). He also sent a branch of the still living tree to Ceylon, where it was successfully planted. This all happened around 250 BC.

A good thing, as his queen got jealous of her emperor’s devotion, and had the original tree destroyed. A new one was quickly planted.

Another 150 to 300 years pass, then a couple of devoted women have some work done. One, an elderly matron who’d been married to a local king was called Kurangi. To perpetuate the memory of her dead husband, she built an open pavilion, supported on stone pillars, surrounding the tree and the "vajra-asana", or lion seat, the actual spot in front of the tree where the Buddha had sat. To the side, where Buddha had walked up and down for 7 days after achieving the sublime state, a "jewel walk" was constructed, a stone lotus petal for each of his footprints. A sandstone throne was formed over the spot where he had sat, and a sandstone railing was built right around the whole construction as well.

This gives us the 5 essential parts of the site, which can still be found (in an evolved form) today: tree, throne, jewel walk, temple and stone railing.

Golden Temple

Amritsar is the holy city of the Sikh religion, because it is home to the Golden Temple. That's real gold on the outside of the temple; when wealthy Sikhs die, they often leave their money to the church to buy a little more gold for the temple. We happened to arrive just after a months-long project in late 1998 and early 1999 to polish all the gold plating on the temple.

Very few tourists go to the Golden Temple, and on the days we went there people would stop and stare at us openly. You have to remove your shoes and walk through a little water trough to clean your feet, and you have to cover your head before entering the temple grounds. They have loaner scarves to put over your head if you don't have a hat or a turban.

People walk along a wide walkway around the pool that surrounds the temple, and there is a constant din of scriptures being read in the temple, amplified through loudspeakers. The men in particular are very passionate about the temple; we saw men chanting while facing the temple, tears on their faces, and others prostrating themselves before the temple. There were many sights I would have liked to photograph, but didn't because they seemed like intimately felt moments for the participants.

The India-Pakistan border crossing at Wagha is near Amritsar, on the road to Lahore, Pakistan. We went to the border to watch the nightly ceremony at sundown, when Indian and Pakistani soldiers do marching drills on both sides of the border before closing it down for the night. Hundreds of people crowded around to watch and cheer, and the atmosphere was like a college football game in the United States.

Ajanta Ellora

Discovered by chance in the jungles of the Sahayadri range, the Ajanta Cave complex with its stunning murals has been mesmerising visitors from around the globe for decades. It is about 100 odd km from Aurangabad city. The Ajanta Caves murals date to the 2^nd and 5^th century AD and feature scenes from the life of the Buddha and stories regarding his reincarnations retold in the Jataka Tales. Visitors will discover Boddhisatvas, Buddha images, court scenes and everyday vignettes of life in the 5^th century. By the time the Chalukya and the Rashtrakuta dynasties had started coming into power between the 7^th and 8^th centuries they brought with them strong influences of Hinduism, which reflected in the art and architecture. Ellora hamlet located about 30km from Aurangabad is the site of the Ellora cave complex, now a World Heritage Site.