Nara

It was a hurried visit – I had rushed from OSIC to Ibaraki, and Osaka to Tsuruhashi, from where I changed from the Loop-line to Kintetsu Line to Nara. It was a lovely ride. The train at first sped past the suburbs until it reached the surrounding hills. From here, as the gradient increased the train slowed down and paused to reveal a Osaka city lighting up for the evening. Across the hills it was a plateau all the way to Nara.

Nara seemed to be everything that Osaka wasn’t. It was a beautiful little town nestling amidst ancient pine forests and cedar groves. There were fewer people here and nobody seemed to be in a tearing hurry. After all, how fast can you go when you're surrounded by a world heritage site?

It felt good to feel the gravel under your feet, in an area that is often described as the fountainhead of Japanese art & architecture.

I walked into what looked like a forest and found myself standing in a large open space dominated by a 50m high, five-storied pagoda. This was Goju-no-to built in 725AD by the Empress Komyoh, and last restored in 1426. This lovely wooden structure housed four Buddha tirads around the central pillar Yakushi (Healing Buddha) eastwards; Shaka (Historical Buddha) facing south; Amida (Buddha of the Western Paradise and Infinite Life) westwards; and Miroku (Buddha of the Future) to the north. The curving, layered roofs, this pagoda looked like a flock of giant birds poised to fly away beyond the sunset in the surrounding hills.

The important structure in the area was not the towering pagoda but the more modest Kofuku-ji shrine revered by the Hosso (“mind only”) sect of Buddhism. One of the shrines here was dedicated to Binzuru, aka Pindola Bharadwaja, one of the 16 disciples of Buddha who had excelled in occult powers.

A flight of steps from Kofuku-ji takes you to a neat little pond. As you walk along the wooden houses that line the streets, you see get a feeling that you’re being watched. You look carefully into the woods and realize that there are deer everywhere! They roam freely in the forest-town, hanging about ancient shrines, vending machines and food stalls. Notice boards warn visitors and children to be careful.

The Nara museum is located within the forest area. Actually there are two buildings – an old European style one and another larger one of “modern” Japanese design. Both seemed puny – even pathetic – compared to the magnificent Todaiji Temple nearby.

Todaiji Temple is said to be largest wooden building in the world. The 15m high bronze Buddha statue inside is believed to have been consecrated by an Indian priest, Bodhisena, in 752 AD. Over the millennium this place has seen umpteen earthquakes, wars, political upheavals , and yet, after each disruption, the temple has been restored time and again.

Nara with its perfectly preserved temples and long geometric walkways, gates held up by massive wooden pillars and giant statues; herds of deer treading softly on the snow; the large paper lanterns; the silence and the cold pine-scented breeze...it makes you wonder at the effort that has gone into creating all this .

It is also strange feeling for an Indian visiting Nara. To stand on a volcanic island thousands of miles away from home, reading of names of people who came here from India 1246 years ago; people whose thoughts and ideas hold little meaning or inspiration in their own birthplace.