Vesali, Place of Offering of Honey by a Band of Monkeys

Places of Interest in Patna

(i) Kumhrar or Asokarama Park

This park in Patna is believed to be the site of the Third Buddhist Council held in Pataliputta in the 17th year of King Asoka’s reign, about 236 years after the Mahaparinibbana. It was attended by 1,000 Arahants and presided over by the Venerable Moggaliputta Tissa. At this Council, the Kathavatthu or Points of Controversy, one of the seven books of the Abhidhamma, was compiled wherein the heretical doctrines were thoroughly examined and refuted. The Third Council marked a turning point for Buddhism which, prior to this, was confined mainly to Magadha and some neighbouring states. With King Asoka of the Mauryan empire reigning supreme over the whole Indian sub-continent as its chief patron, the time was now ripe for expansion. Accordingly, it was decided to send competent Arahants to propagate the Buddha’s Teachings all over India as well as Sri Lanka in the south, Kashmir and Gandhara in the north, Bengal and Burma in the east and Yonaka and countries in the west. Thus the Teachings of the Buddha spread in the four directions after the Third Council.

At the Kumhrar one can see a large pool, where 32 ancient pillars of polished sandstone were found, a specimen of which is exhib­ited at a nearby pavilion. Within the vicinity of the park is the site of a vihara of Asoka’s time.

 

(ii) Patna Museum (Closed on Mondays)

The museum at Patna, capital of Bihar, where Buddhism origi­nated, houses one of the largest collections of ancient Buddhist antiquities in the world. The sculptures of stone and bronze on display can be divided into a few distinct periods, namely:
 

• Mauryan Sculptures (4th-3rd century BC)
On display here are Indian stone sculptures of highly polished sandstone in magnificent forms of animals such as the lion, bull and elephant capitals, fashioned to be placed atop Asokan pillars. Besides this refined courtly art, an archaic religious art based on the widespread cult of tutelary deities is on display, featuring the gigantic Patna yaksa (yakkha) and yaksi (female yakkha).
 

• Gandhara and Mathura Buddha Images
Prior to the beginning of the Christian era, the Buddha was never represented in human form but only by symbols. The demand for Buddha images started when the movement of ‘Bhakti’ or devo­tion gained strength among the Buddhist laity due to Mahayana influence. Buddha images came into existence in the first century AD, when two ancient schools of sculpture emerged separately – Gandhara (Afghanistan) in the far north-west of India and Mathura (Muttra) in the east.

In Gandhara, the Buddha-image is represented in Grecian style, almost Apollo-like in physical beauty and even the robe is sculpted with folds characteristic of Greco-Roman sculpture. The contours are not rounded off and great pains are taken to model the human form to display the physical perfection through sharp, elegant features. In Mathura, the sculptures are indigenous, in the Mahapurisa style, large and rounded. A typical example is Bhikkhu Bala’s image of the Bodhisatta in Sarnath. The treatment of the Buddha’s robe is schematic and clinging, so no folds are shown and the body is revealed as though it were nude. In Patna Museum one is able to see some rare specimens of Buddha and Bodhisatta images from Gandhara that survived destruction by Muslim fanatics when they conquered Northern India.
 

• Gupta Period (AD 300-550)
The Gupta period was the golden age of Indian art and the great Buddha images of Mathura, Sarnath, Ajanta and Bihar are magnificent specimens from this age. The Buddha images from Mathura during this period underwent some modifications by the Indo-Grecian art mode. There is a large collection of Buddha-images from the Gupta period in this museum for one to admire.
 

• Pala Period (9th-12th century AD)
During the Pala period metal images became increasing popular and elegant bronze Buddha images were produced in Bihar. For stone sculptures, Nalanda in Bihar state was famous for its distinc-tive black slate Buddha images. In Patna Museum there is a sec­tion showing black slate and bronze images of the Buddha and some bronze images of Tantric deities as the cult of Tantrayana, a decadent and perverse form of worship of deities unrelated to the Buddha’s Teaching, emerged during the Pala Period.