The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| How a hunch led to stunning claim on Buddha birth date Posted: 05 Jan 2014 03:15 AM PST Their pursuit would eventually see them excavate the sacred site of Lumbini as monks prayed nearby, leading to the stunning claim that the Buddha was born in the sixth century BC, two centuries earlier than thought. Veteran Nepalese archaeologist Kosh Prasad Acharya had carried out excavations in Lumbini before in the early 1990s, when Nepal was still ruled by a king and a Maoist insurgency had yet to kick off. The project ended in 1996 but Acharya remained unsatisfied with the results. "My belief was that there was another cultural deposit below, which we had not uncovered," the 62-year-old told AFP. He headed back to his government job in the capital Kathmandu and waited to retire, restless to return to Lumbini. The Buddha's birthplace was lost and overgrown by jungle before its rediscovery in 1896, when the presence of a third century BC pillar bearing inscriptions allowed historians to identify it as Lumbini. Since then, it has been designated a UNESCO world heritage site, visited by millions of Buddhists every year, with numbers expected to rise exponentially in the following decades. Acharya had just retired from his last job, as the director general of the department of archaeology, when UNESCO asked him to co-direct an investigation of Lumbini's foundations. The cultural organisation asked Acharya and his longtime collaborator, Robin Coningham, Britain's leading South Asian archaeologist, to head a team that would examine the site so conservators could develop it for growing numbers of visitors. Eureka moment "In 2010, our first year there, we were pretty much the handmaidens to the conservators," Coningham told AFP in a phone interview from his office at Britain's Durham University, which helped fund the UNESCO project. "The Eureka moment came in 2011, when we came across a brick temple located below the existing Asokan temple, and below that a sort of void. "It became clear then that there was much more to this excavation." Over the next two years, archaeologists, geophysicists and hired workmen from Nepal and Britain worked on the site, digging in the presence of meditating monks and nuns. "It was a very moving, very special experience to dig for traces while pilgrims prayed and paid homage," Acharya said. They dug for a few weeks each year and sent the samples to laboratories for analysis. Radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence techniques were used to date fragments of charcoal and grains of sand found at the site. The archaeologists also found holes, apparently meant to secure posts, in the open void below the brick temple. "The intact holes suggested that whoever had built the brick temple had taken care not to damage the ancient structure below, suggesting the site was always considered holy," Coningham said. Lab tests confirmed the existence of roots within the void below the brick structure, suggesting it may have been a shrine where a tree once grew, possibly the hardwood sal tree under which many believe the Buddha was born. The discovery, revealed in November, sparked huge excitement, but some historians have urged caution, saying the ancient tree shrine could have been built by pre-Buddhist believers. Tree worship "The worship of trees, often at simple altars, was a ubiquitous feature of ancient Indian religions," Julia Shaw, a lecturer in South Asian archaeology at University College London told National Geographic's online edition. "It is also possible that what is being described represents an older tree shrine quite disconnected from the worship of the historical Buddha," Shaw added. According to Coningham, however, if the Buddhists had appropriated the tree shrine from non-Buddhists, the site would not have survived relatively unscathed. "Also, the inscriptions at Bodhgaya (where the Buddha achieved enlightenment) reveal a thriving culture of tree worship, which suggests continuity," he added. Much of what is known about the Buddha's life has its origins in oral tradition. The earliest decipherable written records in the region, the inscriptions of India's Buddhist emperor Asoka, are dated about 250 BC. Prior to this discovery, most scholars said that the Buddha -- who renounced material wealth to embrace and preach a life of non-attachment -- lived during the fourth century BC, founding a religion that now counts 500 million followers. Buddhists in Nepal and Sri Lanka, however, have always believed that the sage was born around 623 BC, a date that now seems more accurate. "It's one of the great puzzles, this discovery reveals the endurance of oral traditions," Coningham said. "This is one of those very rare times when tradition, belief and archaeology all come together." – AFP, January 5, 2014. |
| ‘Battling Begums’ bring Bangladesh to brink Posted: 04 Jan 2014 04:15 PM PST But now the toxic rivalry between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and opposition leader Khaleda Zia is threatening to bring the country to the brink once more. As Bangladesh goes to the polls today, Hasina is guaranteed to be re-elected in what is effectively a one-party contest. But while voters prepare to cast their ballot, Zia is under de facto house arrest after her party decided to boycott an election it says would be rigged. Until this week, there had been hopes the two women would be able to put aside their differences and come to some kind of compromise after the deadliest year of political violence in Bangladesh's short history. But mediation efforts failed to persuade either woman to back down and analysts say the situation is only likely to worsen. "Sunday's election is a warm-up match before a more deadly battle between the Begums. It could bring the country to the brink," said Ataur Rahman, a Dhaka-based political analyst. "Begum" is an honorific used for respected Muslim women. Ever since the elections were called in October, Zia has been demanding that Hasina stand aside and let a neutral caretaker government organise the contest. But Hasina has refused to bend and accused Zia of holding the country hostage after her Bangladesh Nationalist Party organised a series of blockades. The extent of their enmity was laid bare in October when transcripts were leaked of their first phone conversation in 15 years. Slanging match After some initial pleasantries, the conversation soon developed into a mutual slanging match with Hasina accusing Zia of attempting to kill her. The premier even accused Zia of falsifying her birth certificate so she could celebrate her birthday on the anniversary of the 1975 assassination of Hasina's father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. "Why did you cut cake on August 15?" Hasina, 66, asked. "Can't anyone be born on that day?" the 69-year-old Zia responded. An invitation to dinner at the prime minister's residence was turned down by Zia. The ramifications of their mutual dislike was seen in January 2007 when their failure to agree on an electoral framework prompted the military to step in, impose emergency rule and set up a caretaker government. Both women were jailed for a year on corruption charges before later striking deals that allowed them to take part in a December 2008 election which Hasina won by a landslide. Early years In the early years of their political life, the two women worked together, combining to help topple another military regime in 1990. But the allies become rivals in elections the following year, trading often personal insults at rallies. Hasina first came to power in 1996 after she led mass protests against Zia's re-election in a contest that was riddled with irregularities. Zia was forced to stand aside only 43 days after being declared the winner, reluctantly agreeing to a re-run organised by a neutral caretaker administration -- Zia's demand of Hasina this time round. After Hasina's first premiership was blighted by corruption allegations, Zia then bounced back and defeated her nemesis in a 2001 election. Relations hit their nadir in August 2004 when Hasina survived an assassination attempt at a rally where 20 of her supporters were killed in a grenade attack. Having suffered permanent damage to her hearing, Hasina has consistently maintained the attack was orchestrated by Zia's son. Despite their mutual accusations of power-grabbing, both women were initially reluctant politicians and were catapulted into the limelight by tragedy. Zia was a 35-year-old housewife and mother of two young sons when her husband, general-turned-president Ziaur Rahman was killed in an attempted coup in 1981. Hasina took on the mantle as leader of the Awami League after her father, Bangladesh's founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was gunned down by renegade army officers in 1975. The future premier also lost a mother and three brothers in the massacre at their family home. Hasina was in Germany at the time but later returned to take the Awami League, while she was also aged in her early 30s. Despite being accorded the respectful honorific "begum", many observers say the pair deserve opprobrium rather than respect for poisoning the political climate. "Now is the time that both the leaders in question should stop and look for an honourable exit," said an editorial in Saturday's Daily Star. "Enough is enough." - AFP, January 5, 2014. |
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