In Quest of The Buddha: A Journey on The Silk Road

$77.40

$86.00

In stock

Free & Quick Delivery Worldwide

The book is a unique account of a journey undertaken by the writer along the oldest and the greatest international route, the famous silk Road that connected the continents of Asia and Europe, from China Sea to the Mediterranean.

The contact between the East and the Weat catalysed the co-existence of various religions on the Silk Road and the earliest to make its presence felt was Buddhism. Around the first century AD it had travelled from India to several parts of Central Asia and China spreading the words of the Buddha.

The Book covering a vast region of China takes the reader through the dreadful deserts of the Gobi and the Taklamakan, over the snowy range of the Pamir, meandering through innumerable oases dotting the foot of the Tienshan and Kunlun range and traces beautiful river valleys. It takes a peep into the splendid grottoes and cliff theatres of the Silk Road where the Great Buddha still lives and breathes. The book offers an unforgettable train of awe-inspiring stupas, monasteries, paintings and sculptures even as it traces the complex and curious past of an immense heritage.

The exciting journey along the ancient route begins from Xian, the eastern terminus of the Silk Road and traverse the provinces of Gansu, Xinjiang, Sichuan and Tibet and traces, through maps, the several branch roads that were a conduit for trade, commerce, art and religion between the two Asian giants-India and China.

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.