The Lost Land of Buddha( Dharmashetra )
Though it is believed that the traces of Buddha’s footprints are in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, recent study revealed that Haryana also hosts many Buddhist heritage sites.
One such city is Kurukshetra where upholder of peace Lord Buddha himself came and preached peace and compassion to people in past. Archaeological site of Buddhist stupa is situated on the western bank of holy Brahamsarovar. Buddhist stupa and 1300 year monastery relics on the eastern boundary wall of Kurukshetra campus provide the city a distinct Buddhist character. Very few know that Kurukshetra has had it brushes with Budddhism. The stupa is believed to date back to the 7th century A.D. It was Buddha himself who brought the faith to Kurukshetra where he delivered his discourses in Thullakotthita and Kamasadamma identified by historians as Thanesar and Kaithal. The remains of Buddhist stupa have been written by Huien Tsang, the Chinese traveller.
Buddhism has always been a part of Indian culture and religion. It gained great importance during the reign of king Harshavardhana. The presence of Buddhist stupa peels of the layer off its grimy urbanity to show it has been confluence of divergent faith. Lord Buddha appeared to stop the nonsense activity of animal sacrifice of people of demonic tendency and established non vedic principles of non-violence. It is surprising that local people are unaware of the fact of presence of Buddha stupa.
The stupa is in ruined state and has not been maintained for a long time. Bushes and shrubs have grown all around stupa and it is used as open area by locals. Bricks from this stupa are getting lost day by day.
The dome has also been half destroyed due to lack of proper security and maintenance. It has been damaged due to ongoing renovation work. Only beautification department was to be carried by tourism department. Currently it is under the protection of department of archaeological and museums, Haryana.
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