A PILGRIM'S PROGRESS

THROUGH CRUMBLING STUPAS AND SILENT SHRINES, A SOLITARY SEEKER RETRACES THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE LEGENDARY CHINESE MONK XUANZANG—BRINGING LONG-FORGOTTEN HISTORIES OF BUDDHIST SITES IN INDIA BACK INTO PUBLIC CONSCIOUSNESS

- PRATUL SHARMA PHOTOS BY SANJAY AHLAWAT

The once tree-lined avenues of the Grand Trunk Road in Haryana are now flanked by sprawling dhabas, forever teeming with visitors. Not all of them are travellers—many drive over a hundred kilometres on a Sunday, lured by what is now termed as 'highway tourism'.

But our destination was of a more contemplative kind. Past Karnal, we exited National Highway 44. Before us, the wheat fields stretched out—recently harvested, their golden stubble shimmering under the April sun.

This fertile Yamuna basin, renowned for its high-grade basmati rice, is now home to one of India’s most celebrated single malts: Indri. But we were headed 40 kilometres further, in search of something deeper for the spirit.

Our first stop was Topra Kalan, a quiet village in Yamunanagar district. Tranquil and unassuming today, it once stood near Sugh—the ancient city of Shrughna—chronicled in the seventh century by the Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang.

In his travelogue, Xuanzang described Shrughna, then part of the Kuru kingdom, as a thriving spiritual centre with five monasteries housing a thousand monks: “They deliberate and discuss in appropriate language, and their clear discourses embody profound truth. Men of different regions of eminent skill discuss with them to satisfy their doubts. There are a hundred Deva temples.... Outside the east gate, towards the river and to the southeast of the city, there was a stupa built by Ashoka on the spot where Buddha had preached his doctrine. Beside it stood another stupa containing hair and nails of the Buddha; and all around, to the right and to the left, there were many dozens of stupas containing relics of holy men, such as Sariputra and Moggalayan, the Buddha's key disciples.”