Vadnagar - Revision history

Jyoti at 03:11, 14 July 2025

2025-07-14T03:11:48Z

Jyoti: /* Connections with Buddhism */

2025-07-14T02:59:55Z

‎Connections with Buddhism

Jyoti: /* More details */

2024-01-15T18:30:49Z

‎More details

Jyoti: /* Vadnagar in history */

2022-12-26T20:16:31Z

‎Vadnagar in history

Pdewan: /* Vadnagar in history */

2022-12-22T18:17:05Z

‎Vadnagar in history

Jyoti at 17:06, 5 May 2021

2021-05-05T17:06:56Z

Pdewan: /* Connections with Buddhism */

2017-10-09T20:12:55Z

‎Connections with Buddhism

Jyoti at 11:21, 5 December 2016

2016-12-05T11:21:38Z

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2015-07-10T03:15:10Z

Created page with "{| Class="wikitable" |- |colspan="0"|<div style="font-size:100%"> This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content.<br/> </div> |} [[Category:Ind..."

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=Buddhist vihara (monastery)=
Uday Mahurkar

May 7, 2009

From the archives of [http://indiatoday.intoday.in/ India Today]

The Gujarat Government’s extravagant plans to sell the state as a destination for Buddhist tourists have just got an unexpected boost.

Archaeologists have excavated a Buddhist vihara (monastery) in Vadnagar, considered the crown jewel among historical sites in Gujarat. A votive stupa has also been discovered.
They were built by devotees to pay their gratitude to Lord Buddha on fulfilment of their desires. Over the past five decades, many historical sites have been excavated in this area but this is the first time that a Buddhist vihara has been unearthed. Gujarat director of archaeology Y.S. Rawat says, “In archaeological terms, we have discovered a gold mine since it proves what Hieun Tsang had written.”
Tsang was the famous Chinese traveller and historian who in his travels in India from 629 to 645 A.D had described many towns that he visited. One of them was Vadnagar, which archaeologists regard as one of the few Indian towns to have remained continuously inhabited for the past 2,200 years.

It has lived through the Buddhist era, the Solanki era, the Sultanate and Mughal periods and Gaekwad rule. On Vadnagar, Tsang wrote there were 10 Buddhist viharas in the flourishing town and 1,000 monks lived there.
Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who is a native of Vadnagar and the force behind the drive to sell Gujarat as a Buddhist destination, is understandably upbeat. During a recent visit to the state, Sri Lankan Tourism Minister Milinda Moragoda promised that the country will look at Gujarat as a Buddhist tourist destination.

Not just this, the monastery also received global recognition recently when known British expert Robin Conningham, who is engaged in research on the great Buddhist site in Anuradhapur in Sri Lanka, called it a significant discovery.
Till now, Gujarat’s main Buddhist site has been Devnimori, which was excavated by noted archaeologist S.N. Chaudhary in 1959. Like in Sarnath and Sanchi, there are many stupas across India which have stone or brick structures containing the Buddha’s relics in caskets buried inside stupas where they usually can’t be seen. The Devnimori casket, believed to contain the ashes of Lord Buddha, is one of the few which can be seen and touched.

Vadnagar promises more, however. What Rawat and his team of four have discovered is a 16x16 m structure with a 7x7 m courtyard surrounded by a dozen cells in which monks lived. The excavated artifacts are small in size but confirm that it was a Buddhist settlement. There is small plaque carved in stone which shows a monkey offering honey to Lord Buddha, part of a famous tale depicted at many Buddhist sites. Then there is a disfigured head of the Buddha inscribed on a stone with the prabhamandap (aura) depicted around the head. A votive tablet showing the footprint of the Buddha has also been discovered.

Archaeologists also excavated what is called Northern Black Polished Ware. Associated with Buddhist settlements, some bear inscriptions in the Brahmi script saying, “Shakasya” (probably another name for Buddha who was also called Shakyamuni), “Devrishi” (another name for Buddha) and “Dhamma” (religion). Another important find was a finely sculpted head in the Gandharva style. More fascinating is the discovery of pieces of Roman pottery in the form of amphoras, as well as decorative pieces of classical Greek art. Dalip Kushwaha, an archaeologist who assisted Rawat, says, “The discovery of these artifacts clearly indicates that Vadnagar must have had a trade link with the Romans and possibly even the Greeks.”

Excavations by the team at two other spots have also confirmed Vadnagar’s historicity. The findings show successive phases of occupation and construction over the past 2,200 years. The artifacts also reflect the socio-economic condition of different periods. These include coins of different dynasties and are of copper, silver, lead and potin (an alloy).
The most famous Buddhist settlement in Gujarat is at the foot of the Girnar Hills on Junagadh’s outskirts in the form of inscriptions, caves and a water system built by Emperor Ashoka who spread Buddhism after embracing it following the Battle of Kalinga. The rock edict of Ashoka near Junagadh has 14 inscriptions describing the Buddhist edifice on which his empire was shaped. There are other Buddhist caves in Sana near Una and at Prabhas Patan, both in Junagadh district. Then there are two Buddhist caves in Talaja near Bhavnagar and Khambalida near Rajkot. The one at Khambalida has two large sized sculpted stone figures of Bodhisattavas— Padmapani and Vajrapani.

But the pride of Gujarat is undoubtedly Devnimori. According to the two inscriptions on the casket, there is a copper box inside which
contains the Buddha’s ashes. The inscriptions also name two monks who brought the Buddha’s relics to Devnimori and built the stupa and the monastery around it in the 4th century A.D. Before a dam submerged Devnimori village, important remains of the monastery, including the casket, were removed. Modi now plans to build a majestic Buddhist temple around the relics of Devnimori to draw South-east Asian Buddhist tourists.

Vadnagar has a huge, exquisitely carved “Kirti Toran”, a gateway believed to be part of a great temple complex built during the Solanki era (also known as the Gujarat’s golden age) before it was destroyed by Muslim rulers of the Sultanate period. A similar gateway was recently resurrected by the Archaeological Survey of India. The two victory towers located near the main lake now make a splendid picture. With the latest discovery, Vadnagar’s golden age may have just returned.

''' The lost world '''

1. It’s the first time that a Buddhist monastery has been found in Vadnagar, establishing it as an ancient Buddhist settlement

2. The excavations also establish Vadnagar as one of the few towns in India which has remained continuously inhabited over the past 2,200 years

3. The discovery bolsters Vadnagar's age-old claim to be listed as a world heritage site

4. Discovery of artifacts, coins and pottery provides proof of ancient trade links with the Greeks and Romans

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 State government funded Gujarat Medical Education Research Society is the nodal agency for the medical college and the hospital and it has already spent over Rs 350 crore of the allocated fund of Rs 600 crore. A science college and polytechnic have also been set up recently in Vadnagar, other than renovation of several lakes in the town and covered drainage. There are over 360 lakes in the town and many of them have been developed as tourist spots.
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← Older revision		Revision as of 02:59, 14 July 2025
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	A bronze statue of Lord Buddha, with inscription stating it as a gift from a Buddhist nun, is preserved in Kutch. Daddadevi, sister of Valabhi ruler Dhruvsen, had also made a number of donations specifically for nunneries in the 5th century. It is also believed that Therigatha, a collection of verses in Pali talking about the life and times of Gautam Buddha, is the world's first collection of writings by Buddhist nuns, some of whom belonged to coastal Gujarat.		A bronze statue of Lord Buddha, with inscription stating it as a gift from a Buddhist nun, is preserved in Kutch. Daddadevi, sister of Valabhi ruler Dhruvsen, had also made a number of donations specifically for nunneries in the 5th century. It is also believed that Therigatha, a collection of verses in Pali talking about the life and times of Gautam Buddha, is the world's first collection of writings by Buddhist nuns, some of whom belonged to coastal Gujarat.
		+
		+	=Excavations=
		+	==2025: minting coins for the Greeks==
		+	[https://epaper.indiatimes.com/article-share?article=30_06_2025_001_006_cap_TOI Parth Shastri, June 30, 2025: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+	The unearthing of 37 terracotta coin moulds at Vadnagar excavation site has surprised archaeologists, reports Parth Shastri. These were not of local powers; instead, they were for the coins of Indo-Greek monarch Apollodotus II. What surprised experts was the fact that the period it corresponds to in Vadnagar’s 2,500-year-long continuous history was 5th to 10th centuries CE, whereas the coins in their original form were minted in the 1st-2nd centuries CE. Dr Abhijit Ambekar, superintending archaeologist with ASI, said, “Compared to original die-struck coins, moulds indicate a cast method of minting.”
		+
		+	===B===
		+	[https://epaper.indiatimes.com/article-share?article=30_06_2025_012_002_cap_TOI Parth Shastri, June 30, 2025: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+	[[File: Indo-Greek coins- Drachma in Vadnagar.jpg\|Indo-Greek coins: Drachma in Vadnagar <br/> From: [https://epaper.indiatimes.com/article-share?article=30_06_2025_012_002_cap_TOI Parth Shastri, June 30, 2025: ''The Times of India'']\|frame\|500px]]
		+
		+	Ahmedabad : During a decade-long excavation at Vadnagar, beginning in 2014, one of the finds that surprised archaeologists was 37 terracotta coin moulds. These were not of local powers; instead, they were for the coins of Indo-Greek monarch Apollodotus II. What surprised the experts was the fact that the period it corresponds to in Vadnagar’s 2,500-year-long continuous history was the 5th to 10th centuries CE, whereas the coins in their original form were minted in the 1st–2nd centuries CE.
		+
		+	Abhijit Ambekar, superintending archaeologist with ASI, who worked on the site for a decade, said that Gujarat, being an important trade hub for Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean, has yielded a good number of silver Indo-Greek coins, identified as Drachma.
		+
		+	“But it is a rare instance of finding moulds. Compared to original die-struck coins, the moulds indicate a cast method of minting. One theory of the find nearly three centuries after the demise of Apollodotus II is that Drachma remained a power currency in trade both through land and sea and remained in demand, prompting its production. Bharuch was a major port of that era,” said Ambekar, adding that production of coinage continued even after the end of the Indo-Greek kingdoms. “The discovery establishes Vadnagar as an important hub of trade.”
		+	The study was carried out with Abhijit Dandekar of Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute.
		+
		+	It was one of the four studies related to Vadnagar presented at the tenth edition of the prestigious World Archaeological Congress in Darwin, Australia, that concluded on Saturday. What connected these studies was the north Gujarat town’s antiquity and its interconnectedness with other parts of India and the world.
		+
		+	Some other presentations included the continuity of the ancient town over 2,500 years, an elliptical structure found in the town which is reminiscent of similar structures in the Gangetic plains, and timber bonding techniques in architecture for earthquake resistance by Ambekar, Ananya Chakraborty, assistant archaeologist at ASI, and others.  Experts said that the common thread connecting the papers was how the ancient town remained relevant for over two millennia. “For example, in the case of timber bonding, a technique where timber or wood is inserted at regular intervals between stones as a cushion against quakes, is seen in some parts of West Asia,” said a researcher.
		+
		+	The ancient town has yielded artifacts such as IndoPacific beads and shell bangles, establishing it as a production centre, along with hordes of coins, cowries, and artifacts such as torpedo jars, underlining its place as a sthalpattan or land port.  The presentations also focused on the town planning of Vadnagar, its different development phases from the Kshatrapa period to the British period, and how the town overcame intense periods of drought with water body interlinking, even changing its diet completely for decades.
		+
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	=PART B=		=PART B=

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 The city of Vadnagar was believed to have been built around Sharmishtha Lake. The ASI is now trying to bring out the ancient city out of the accounts of Hiuen Tsang and medieval writers.
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+==Prehistory: 800BC through archaeological discoveries==
-VADNAGAR]]
+[Parth Shastri, From the archives, Dec 25, 2023: ''The Times of India'']
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+''' C Asia invasions linked to climate, finds Vadnagar dig '''
-VADNAGAR]]
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+The past two millennia recorded seven invasions from Central Asia into India, aphenomenon attributed in part to climatic conditions. Central Asia was reeling from a long dry spell, while India was a fertile land with a flourishing economy sustained by a good monsoon, reports Parth Shastri. A recent study by researchers from IIT-Kgp, ASI, Physical Research Lab, JNU and Deccan College delved into the influence of climate on these invasions. The study uncovered insights from archaeological excavations at Vadnagar in Mehsana, the hometown of PM Modi. The team identified an unbroken climatic record spanning 2,800 years.
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 =Vadnagar in history=
 ==More details==
 [http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/vadnagar-narendra-modi-gujarat-hiuen-tsang-xi-jinping-xian/1/1064142.html    Prabhash K Dutta | Story of Vadnagar that PM Narendra Modi talked about at his birthplace in Gujarat | October 8, 2017 | ''India Today'']
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 =Vadnagar in history=
 [http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/vadnagar-narendra-modi-gujarat-hiuen-tsang-xi-jinping-xian/1/1064142.html    Prabhash K Dutta | Story of Vadnagar that PM Narendra Modi talked about at his birthplace in Gujarat | October 8, 2017 | ''India Today'']
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 The city of Vadnagar was believed to have been built around Sharmishtha Lake. The ASI is now trying to bring out the ancient city out of the accounts of Hiuen Tsang and medieval writers.
 =Connections with Buddhism=

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 A bronze statue of Lord Buddha, with inscription stating it as a gift from a Buddhist nun, is preserved in Kutch. Daddadevi, sister of Valabhi ruler Dhruvsen, had also made a number of donations specifically for nunneries in the 5th century. It is also believed that Therigatha, a collection of verses in Pali talking about the life and times of Gautam Buddha, is the world's first collection of writings by Buddhist nuns, some of whom belonged to coastal Gujarat.

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+==Buddhist vihara (monastery)==
 Uday Mahurkar
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 Archaeologists have excavated a Buddhist vihara (monastery) in Vadnagar, considered the crown jewel among historical sites in Gujarat. A votive stupa has also been discovered.
 They were built by devotees to pay their gratitude to Lord Buddha on fulfilment of their desires. Over the past five decades, many historical sites have been excavated in this area but this is the first time that a Buddhist vihara has been unearthed. Gujarat director of archaeology Y.S. Rawat says, “In archaeological terms, we have discovered a gold mine since it proves what Hieun Tsang had written.”
 Tsang was the famous Chinese traveller and historian who in his travels in India from 629 to 645 A.D had described many towns that he visited. One of them was Vadnagar, which archaeologists regard as one of the few Indian towns to have remained continuously inhabited for the past 2,200 years.
@@ Line 34: / Line 36: @@
 Excavations by the team at two other spots have also confirmed Vadnagar’s historicity. The findings show successive phases of occupation and construction over the past 2,200 years. The artifacts also reflect the socio-economic condition of different periods. These include coins of different dynasties and are of copper, silver, lead and potin (an alloy).
 The most famous Buddhist settlement in Gujarat is at the foot of the Girnar Hills on Junagadh’s outskirts in the form of inscriptions, caves and a water system built by Emperor Ashoka who spread Buddhism after embracing it following the Battle of Kalinga. The rock edict of Ashoka near Junagadh has 14 inscriptions describing the Buddhist edifice on which his empire was shaped. There are other Buddhist caves in Sana near Una and at Prabhas Patan, both in Junagadh district. Then there are two Buddhist caves in Talaja near Bhavnagar and Khambalida near Rajkot. The one at Khambalida has two large sized sculpted stone figures of Bodhisattavas— Padmapani and Vajrapani.
@@ Line 50: / Line 53: @@
 . Discovery of artifacts, coins and pottery provides proof of ancient trade links with the Greeks and Romans