Day 8

13 Nov 2009 (Patna – Rajgir)

This morning, we went to Hajipur and visited Ananda Stupa. We had to ride on a Tutut and it took us about 15 minutes to reach the site, because the road to the site is too narrow and unreachable by coach. Initially, there were 2 Ananda Stupa, but as the times goes by the river had changed it course and washed away one of the Stupa.

The Hindu temple was built on top of the Ananda Stupa. As we arrived, there were a lot of local people surrounded us and made us quite uncomfortable. Then we went into the Hindu temple and chanted the triple gem’s virtue. This is the place where the treasurer of Dhamma – Bhante Ananda, passed into nibanna.

After that, we stopped aside at Asokarama, where the 3rd Sangha was held. There is an Asoka Pillar in the garden.

In the afternoon, we went to visit the ruins of Nalanda. Nala means lotus or wisdom, da means knowledge. It was founded by Kumara Gupta at the 5th century, and it was renovated and upgraded in the 7th century and finally destroy at the 12th Century.

The Sariputta Stupa.

Later that, we went to Nava Nalanda and do dana.

Evening, we arrived at Rajgir and we stayed there overnight.