Bhopal is probably best known for being the site of the world’s worst industrial accident when in 1984, a leak of toxic gas escaped from a fertilizer plant run by Union Carbide, killing tens of thousands of people.
The capital of Madhya Pradesh, however, today offers much for the visitor, even though it is not on the main tourist circuit.
After arriving and checking into my hotel near the railway station, I walked to the bus stand to get a bus for Sanchi, one of India’s major Buddhist sites.
Sanchi differs from other Buddhist sites in India in that the Buddha himself had no connection with it. Other sites such as Bodh Gaya are where he received enlightenment and Sarnath where he began teaching.
Sanchi’s main attraction is a major stupa built by the Emperor Ashoka, who converted to Buddhism around 263 BC after having remorse about the ruthless killing he had done. There are, however, several smaller stupas, monasteries and other structures at Sanchi.
A stupa is basically a dome. Allegedly when the Buddha was asked by what symbol they could use to represent him, he turned his begging bowl upside down and that is the origin of the stupa.
Stupa 1, the main one, had four elaborate gates with a series of lintels above them. The columns and lintels of stone were all carved with stories representing episodes involving the Buddha, but in those days the Buddha could not be portrayed directly, so various symbols represented him – a bodhi tree to represent the enlightened Buddha or a riderless horse to represent Buddha when he first set out on his quest.
After the congested craziness of Varanasi, Sanchi was a peaceful spot above a rural community. Unlike the flat Ganges Plain, there were some rocky hills in the area. Trees blew in the breeze and the air was clear.
I knew there was a train going back to Bhopal at 4:30 p.m. and it supposedly took about an hour, so I headed there a little ahead of time and bought a ticket, not wanting to endure another bus ride. Bad mistake. The train was more than an hour late arriving and it kept being held up on sidings waiting for other trains to pass. Four hours later, I finally arrived back in Bhopal.
I rode second class unreserved, which meant people squished in and sitting on luggage racks and wherever else they would fit. One man found a spot for me on a bench where four of his friends were also riding, but he was disappointed that I didn’t speak enough Hindi that we could converse. Fortunately, a man who spoke pretty good English – he’d gone to school in English – was able to translate, and the men asked me questions through this interpreter. By the end of the long ride, we were all buddies, but the English-speaking guy was totally baffled when they asked my religion and I said I didn’t actually practice an organized religion. I acknowledged that in India religion is extremely important and said I hope to learn something from all religions, which I respect.
The next day I was catching an afternoon train to Ujjain, a Hindu holy city also in Madhya Pradesh. I checked my bags at the station, and then set out to see a bit of Bhopal before my train left.
The north part of Bhopal is mainly Muslim, in fact it’s one of the highest concentrations of Muslims in India. I visited several mosques as well as walking through the fascinating bazaars. Most impressive was Taj-ul-Masjid, which although built in a Mughal-influenced design, was actually constructed in the 19th century. Claims that it was built to be the third largest mosque in the world are exaggerated, but it has a large courtyard, making it one of the largest mosque complexes in India.
My train ride to Ujjain was in a chair car, which is like airplane seating and there is very little space to put luggage. Fortunately both seats beside me were empty so I was able to do the trip of several hours without having to hold my bags on my lap.
Unfortunately I have no pictures of Sanchi or Bhopal to show with this post and few of Ujjain as well. When I went to an internet cafe to copy my files, I seemed to be successful, but when I put the USB stick on my own computer, it detected two viruses. I’m hopeful I can recover those photos when I return home, but after cleaning the viruses, the stick shows that it contains nothing, even though a scan shows the files are there. Relying on unreliable internet cafes to upload my photos is indeed frustrating.
(Update: When I got the USB stick home to Canada, I was able to use software to recover the lost photos, which are posted here and above and are also added to the next post on Ujjain)
