Retracing the paths forged by great Buddhist monks over the centuries, she negotiated scorching deserts, lush meadows, dry steppe lands, snow-capped mountains and gushing river valleys to chronicle the life and times of the many Budh viharas in which these statues had been instated. Drawing upon her extensive sojourns, Sunita recreates in this volume the bygone eras in which these shrines were once great centres of learning and devotion. And, juxtaposing past grandeur with the dereliction of the present, Sunita brings back to vivid life the holy path of dharma these viharas once espoused.
Embellished by compelling photographs that the author herself took, Buddha in Central Asia is as much a rousing narration of an adventure as it is a chronicle of an enduring search for spirituality. This book will interest both students of history and those interested in the evolution of Buddhism.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sunita Dwivedi
Sunita Dwivedi, born in Kushinagar where the great Buddha attained Mahaparinirvana, is a keen photographer, avid traveler and a journalist by profession, having worked for over fifteen years in several dailies including The Time of India, The Hindustan Times, The Pioneer, Northern Indian Patrika amongst other. She left a full time job in 1997 to pursue her passion for traveling and photography. Her dream of following the Buddha has taken her to China, Japan, Taiwan and other places. A post-graduate in English from Lucknow University, she completed her schooling from St Mary's Convent, Allahabad and graduation and Masters from the Allahabad University. Since early childhood she was inspired by the Dying Buddha in the Mahaparinirvana temple and the giant mound of the enigmatic Ramabhar stupa that lay just behind her house, to learn about the great Sage and his Path to Salvation. The lonely, long, arduous and at time hazardous, journey to the Buddhist heritage sites in India took two years to complete. From Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh in the north to Andhra Pradesh in the south and from Maharashtra in the west to UP and Bihar in the east and Sikkim and Arunachal in the northeast, she has journeyed alone, with no luggage except two cameras and a heavy tripod on foot, in rickshaw, trolley, bus, rail, chopper and plane. This is her first book.
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