Devlok With Devdutt Pattanaik: 3 Read online

  It emerged 2000 years ago in the Gandhara school of Buddhist art which originated in the north-west frontiers, i.e., present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Greeks had settled there and were good at making idols. They heard Buddha’s story, loved the idea and made the first statue of Buddha. In philosophy, a knowledgeable one is also considered beautiful. Nobody knows what the Buddha actually looked like. Jesus too. Today in movies you see him with white skin and red eyes, but he was from an Arab country and hence should have been dark; but the artist paints him in his idea of perfection. So the Buddha has long ears, delicate features, broad chest and narrow hips. He looks like a muni, a hermit, sitting there. He has various postures. Sometimes he’s touching the ground or his hands are in a gyan mudra—basically the pose of a teacher.

  The most popular images show Buddha in the meditative pose. In some, he has ten hands.

  The latter is the Bodhisattva image. It was mainly a meditative pose. Gradually, he started to be shown in action. Bodhisattva is compassionate. He listens to others and sees others’ sorrows. So there will be many heads, his eyes will be open, listening to people, and his many hands will comfort them. Here you see a shift in Buddhism. The older school of Buddhism—Theravada—saw Buddha as a guru who teaches techniques and ideas. The later compassionate Buddha is of the Mahayana school, where the bhakti concept is more important than dhyana (meditation).

  I’ve seen some violent images of Buddha—holding a sword, some almost like Shiva—which is odd since Buddhism is associated with non-violence.

  This is from Vajrayana Buddhism which is from Tibet, Bhutan, the Himalayan area. A Buddha guru called Padmasambhava took Buddhism into the Himalayan belt. It is said that he travelled there sitting on a tigress. Vajrayana Buddhism is different from Mahayana in that it focuses more on tantric practices. In tantra, you see violent, sexual images, so the idols will look almost like Shiva dancing the tandava, which are seen in Tibetan paintings and monasteries. It probably shows all our inner vasanas or passions which need to be conquered. Or it is a metaphor to suggest that without compassion, knowledge cannot be had. The tension in the world is shown in this violent form.

  You spoke about the different traditions of Buddhism—Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana. Today, many people seem to be following Buddhism. Which tradition or school do they follow?

  The revival of Buddhism in the twentieth century is called Navayana or new form of Buddhism. Political Buddhism became important in the last century. Ambedkar adopted Buddhism to revolt against the caste system as the Dalits were oppressed in India. In Myanmar and Thailand, Buddhism became political to mobilize people towards democracy. Another reason is that people in western societies are rejecting religion and becoming atheists. So this form of spirituality, where there is no god, is popular. There’s a guru, Buddha, who will show you the path or Dhamma. Richard Gere and Dalai Lama have made it popular. It’s a twentieth-century rediscovery of Buddhism.

  In the Ajanta Caves, I saw a different depiction of the Buddha. He wore a crown and ornaments. Can you tell me more about it?

  This is an image of Padmapani, bearer of the lotus. The story is that after a discourse, one of Buddha’s disciples goes up to him and says he hasn’t understood anything. So Buddha picks up a lotus flower and in that one gesture, the student understands everything. Knowledge is not always learnt through words. Images also convey knowledge. Sometimes you have to meditate, go on a journey or see images. The Padmapani image is interesting. Normally the Buddha image is masculine and sits steady. The Padmapani image is tribhangi, bent, like a dancer, has ornaments and is almost feminine. Buddhism has changed from the masculine. Woman power has entered the picture. The image of the Buddha also has become feminine. When Buddhism went to China, the Sui dynasty had the first empress and she used the religion to unite the country. Earlier, she wasn’t able to unite the Confucius and Taoist traditions. People saw the Buddha in the image of their queen. In China, you find idols of female Buddha or Guanyin. Bodhisattva is seen in the female form there. It’s famous in China, Taiwan and Singapore. It’s related to Padmapani. This is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition where the female principle is accepted.

  9

  Dwarka

  Krishna was born in Mathura but he is called Dwarkadhish. Why?

  Krishna’s story is told in two parts. The popular part happens in Braj bhoomi, which is in the south of Delhi in the Gangetic plains near the Yamuna. Krishna was born in Mathura and then taken to Gokul where he was brought up. Then he went to Vrindavan or Madhuban and then back to Mathura where he battled Kamsa. Kamsa, Krishna’s uncle (mama), was out to kill him but was killed by Krishna. The residents of Mathura were happy because Kamsa was a tyrant. He oppressed them, imprisoned Krishna’s sister, killed his nephews, and so on.

  Mathura was the land of the Yadavas. Kamsa’s father-in-law, Jarasandha, king of Magadha, got very upset at Kamsa’s death and swore revenge. Both his daughters, Asti and Prapti, had been widowed. He said he would destroy Mathura and brought his army there. Krishna and Balarama, leading an army of the Yadavas, defended the city. There is a lot of violence in this story. Jarasandha attacked Mathura eighteen times. The last time, he brought with him a new commander called Kal Yavan (Black Greek). It was believed that whenever a black Greek would attack Mathura, it would be destroyed. Krishna then decided to leave Mathura with the Yadava clan and go to Dwarka. It is said that Krishna used his yogic power to transfer all the Yadavas to Dwarka.

  What is the difference between the Krishna of Mathura and that of Dwarka?

  Krishna’s childhood ends in Mathura. His life is divided into the Bhagavata and the Mahabharata. The Krishna of the Mahabharata is connected with Dwarka, not Mathura. In the early stage of Krishna’s life, he is a child in Vrindavan (Gokul) amidst a village environment with Radha and the gopis; he plays the flute, frolics with Radha, is surrounded by song and dance and there’s playfulness and romantic innocence. All this ends when he leaves Madhuban; such details are absent in the Mahabharata.

  In Mathura, as a teenager, Krishna starts showing signs of being a warrior. Here he wrestles and kills Kamsa; there’s no romance or fun. As an adult, in Dwarka, he gets involved in Kuru Vansh politics which are part of the Mahabharata stories. This is an urban environment where he is married with several wives. This is the story of a mature Krishna, which is not a popular one. The stories of Krishna in Vrindavan and Mathura are more famous than the ones in Dwarka, although it is one of the Char Dhams and has a big Krishna temple.

  How was Dwarka city established?

  Before the Yadavas, nobody used to go there. It was an island in the sea believed to be haunted. In folk tales and some Puranic myths it is said that tall rakshasas lived there.

  Krishna decides to go to Dwarka. When the Yadavas reach there, they see a giant man and woman—Revat and Revati. They are decent people but they scare people away as they do not want to be disturbed. When Krishna meets him, Revat tells him that many yugas ago this was a city kingdom, Kushasthali Samrajya, where people were very tall, and he used to be its king. Revati is his only daughter and he wants her to marry the perfect man. In his search for one, many years ago, he had gone to Brahma. Brahma had said that there was a good boy for Revati, but Revat had spent a lot of time to come to Brahma-loka that by the time he returned, several yugas would have passed and all the eligible boys would have gone. People would have become shorter and nobody would remember him or his city. This was because one day in Brahma-loka is several yugas on earth. Revat would be so much taller than the others that they’ll think he’s a monster.

  During this exchange with Krishna, Revati and Balarama recognize each other because of Brahma’s boon. Balarama asks Revati to bend and he touches his plough to her shoulder. She shrinks in height, and they get married. He gets that island as dowry, which is Dwarka.

  In other stories, Krishna calls Vishwakarma, the architect of the gods, to build a beautiful city far away from Jarasandha.

  It is said that Dw