Figure of the Buddha Amida seated on a lotus pedestal, made of lacquered and gilded wood. From Dairenji Temple, Osaka, Japan, mid 18th century.
3 April 2011
Free
Room 91
Through sacred texts, painted scrolls and sculptures from Sri Lanka to Japan, discover the shared traditions of Buddhism – the ‘three gems’.
The exhibition features depictions of the ‘three gems’ from across Asia. The ‘three gems’ consist of the Buddha himself, his teachings (dharma), and the Buddhist community (sangha). Despite regional variations, the ‘three gems’ show remarkable similarities, sometimes across hundreds of years.
Objects featured in the exhibition include exquisite gold sculptures and paintings of the Buddha, beautiful Buddhist texts on palm leaf and paper, and a selection of images of Buddhist monks.
The objects come from across the whole of Asia, including India, China, Mongolia, Tibet, Thailand, Cambodia, Korea and Japan. The earliest objects are from the 1st–2nd century AD, and the latest date to the 20th century.
Many of these objects have never been on display before, making this is a unique opportunity to view rarely-seen items from the British Museum’s collection. Due to the fragility of the paintings and texts, some items in the display will be changed after three months, halfway through the exhibition run.
This exhibition provides an insight into the key elements which hold the Buddhist world together in Asia and, now that Buddhism is a worldwide faith, across the world as a whole. Read the rest of this entry »
१२ फागुन, राजविराज । त्रियुगा नदीमा लगाइएको बाँध नखोल्दा सप्तरीको रम्पुरा मल्हनीया गाविसका साथै अन्य गाविसमा लगाइएको गहुँबालीमा पानी पसेको छ ।
रम्पुरा मल्हनीया हुँदै बग्ने नदीको पानीको बहावलाई दुई दिनअघि भारतीय पक्षले थुनेपछि सप्तरीको दुई गाविसका तीन दर्जन कृषकको ५० विघाभन्दा बढी जग्गामा लगाइएको गहुँबालीमा पानी जमेको हो । त्रियुगा नदीको पानी रम्पुरा मल्हनीया गाविस-५ र ६ तथा तिलाठी गाविस-८ मा लगाइएको गहुँबालीमा पानी पसेपछि बाली नष्ट हुने सम्भावना बढेको किसानहरूले बताएका छन् ।
भारतको कुनौली बजारमा बन्न लागेको पुलमा पानीले नछोओस् भनेर पुलका ठेकेदारहरूले नदीको पानी थुनेपछि यसको प्रत्यक्ष असर नेपाली किसानलाई परेको छ । कोसी ब्यारेज हुँदै बग्ने उक्त नदीको सतहमा बालुवा भरिएका कारण पानी किसानको खेतमा पसेको हो ।
The Rt Hon David Cameron MP
Prime Minister
10 Downing Street
London
SW1A 2AA
Date: 21st February 2011
Dear Prime Minister
Mr Gerald Howarth MP and Minister for International Security Strategy – his recent letter to the Prime Minister regarding the increasing Gurkha immigrants in Rushmoor
Mr Gerald Howarth, Conservative MP for Aldershot and Minister for International Security Strategy within the Ministry of Defence, has recently written a letter to you and subsequently had a meeting with you regarding increasing Nepali migration to Rushmoor.
He stated in his letter that “this issue is of deep concerned to the local authority and its leader as their services are in danger of being overwhelmed by this ‘influx’ of Gurkhas (Nepalis) in the area”. He also pointed to the 2009 High Court ruling, which gave the British Gurkhas retired before 1997 and their dependants the right to settle in the United Kingdom (UK), as the main cause behind the recent ‘influx’. The local newspapers have reported that Mr Gerald Howarth has asked the Prime Minister to ‘deal’ with it. Read the rest of this entry »
गुलरिया, फाल्गुन १० – चोरीसिकारी आरोपमा पक्राउ गरिएका नेपाली नागरिकलाई भारतीय सीमा सुरक्षा बल (एसएसबी) ले बेपत्ता पारेको छ ।
पाँच दिनअघि पक्राउ बर्दिया जमुनी ९, शान्तिपुर बस्ने ५० वर्षीय हर्कबहादुर शाहीलाई बेपत्ता पारेको परिवारले बताएका छन् । उनलाई भारतको सीमावर्ती लम्बीकुवुस्थित एसएसबी सुरक्षाकर्मीले पक्राउ गरेका थिए । भारतीय सीमावर्ती जंगलमा चोरी सिकारी गर्न उनीसहित ६ जना गएका थिए । अन्य सिकारी भागेर बँचेका थिए ।
सिकारीले गोली चलाउँदा एसएसबीका एक सुरक्षाकर्मी घाइते भएको जिल्ला प्रहरी कार्यालयका प्रहरी उपरीक्षक सूर्य उपाध्यायले बताए । चोरी सिकारीको आरोप लागेका शाहीलाई जिल्लाको जमुनी ७, डाँफेबाट कुटपिट गर्दै एसएसबीले भारत लगेको स्थानीय बासिन्दाले बताएका छन् । ‘एसएसबीको पिटाइबाट बेहोस शाहीलाई अचेत अवस्थामा लगिएको हो’, एक जना प्रत्यक्षदर्शीले बताए ।
भारतीय सुरक्षा बल एसएसबीका अधिकारीले शाहीलाई पक्राउ नगरेको दाबी गरेका छन् । घटनाबारे नेपाल प्रहरी तथा सशस्त्र प्रहरी टोलीले एसएसबीसँग सम्पर्क राखेको उपरीक्षक उपाध्यायले बताए । ‘शाही भन्ने कुनै पनि व्यक्ति पक्राउ नपरेको एसएबीले बताए पनि भारतीय सञ्चार माध्यमले चोरीसिकारी पक्राउ गरिएको समाचार टिभी च्यानलहरूबाट प्रसारण गरेका थिए । Read the rest of this entry »
To answer this question I’ll have to tell you a little about Darjeeling’s history and its inhabitants who are essentially an indigenous people called the Gorkhas or Gurkhas as the Brits would like to spell it. In the beginning, they happened to be the most formidable adversary for the British during their campaign to conquer the world as it were, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. After having taken much of India, now their eyes fell upon a smallish hill kingdom known as Nepal which had a record of not having been under foreign rule ever and it is still true today as it had been then. This makes the Nepalese a proud people. During one of the British campaigns to subdue the Nepalese, the latter with a force of just two hundred soldiers and their families, are known to have held the fort of Nala Pani, near today’s Dehradun in India, for two years. It was during this siege, the British General Gillespie was killed. After cutting off the fort’s water supply, the British waited some more time for the Nepalese to surrender. When no such thing happened, they stormed the fort to find everyone had disappeared without a trace. It was a moral victory for the Nepalese. There were no more wars between the British and the Nepalese but only truces during which Nepal had to concede much of its territories to the British Empire. The British Raj in turn left them at peace and being impressed by their fighting skills, they began to induct able bodied men into their army. Thus was born the British Gurkha Regiment. Read the rest of this entry »
चोरी सिकारमा संलग्न भएको आरोपमा भारतीय सीमा सुरक्षाबल एसएसबीले जमुनी गाविस-९ शान्तिपुरका हर्क बहादुर शाहीलाई पक्राउ गरेको छ । स्थानीयले भने शाही चोरी शिकारी नभएको र सामान किन्न गएको बताएको छ ।
सीमावर्ती भारतीय जंगलमा चोरी सिकार गर्न जाँदा विहान करिब ११ बजे ५ जनाको समूहमा गएका शाहीलाई पक्राउ गरिएको जिल्ला प्रहरी कार्यालयका प्रहरी उपरिक्षक सुर्य उपाध्यायले जानकारी गराए ।
एसएसबीले नेपाल प्रहरीलाई दिएको जानकारी अनुसार चोरी सिकारीको गोलीबाट एसएसबीका एक जवानको हातमा गोली लागी घाईते भएको उपाध्यायले जनाएका छन् ।
भारतीय जंगलमा गएका ४ जना भने फरार रहेका छन् । स्रोतका अनुसार एसएसबीको यातनाका कारण शाही बेहोस भएका छन् । उनको अवस्था चिन्ताजनक रहेको स्रोतले बतायो । उक्त घटना भारतीय गाउँ बलैगाउ नजिक नेपाल भारत सीमाको सीमास्तम्भ नम्बर ४३/४४ बीचमा घटेको हो ।
सदरमुकाम देखि करिब ३० किमी पुर्व दक्षिणमा उक्त घटना भएपछि एसएसबीले सीमा बन्द गरि चोरी सिकारीमा संलग्नको खोजी गरि रहेको जनाएको छ । स्थानीयले शाही चोरी सिकारी नभई सामान खरिद गर्न भारत जाँदा कुटपीट गरेको आरोप लगाउदै पक्राउ गरेको जनाएका छन् । एसएसबीले सीमामा सुरक्षा व्यवस्था कडा पारेको छ ।
Have you got six months off? Do you fancy a long walk? If so, World Expeditions may have just the holiday for you.
The full traverse … the newly mapped route through the remotest peaks of the Great Himalaya Range joins all the major trekking regions in Nepal. Photograph: Ed Douglas
They have become the only trekking outfit to offer a guided trip along the first completed section of the Great Himalayan Trail (GHT). Read the rest of this entry »
[So I had asked the government of India what it would officially say about the controversy. They sent an email reply tome, posted as titled Reply From Government of India on Buddha Birth Place saying that “the desired information is not available in the record holdings of National Archives of India”. Then on February 14, 2010 I wrote a paper on the Buddha birth place and posted offering a title as Nepal’s Lumbini: Where The Buddha Was Born. Then followed a series of debates particularly on Kapilvastu. In the meantime Kapilvastu Forum came forward from India to debate Kapilvastu.]
By B. K. Rana
Up till now Indian scholars, journalists and writers claim Buddha was born in India which virtually is a claim that can’tbe archaeologically evidenced to be true. But on the other hand the people of Nepal tell all that the Buddha was born at Lumbini in Nepal. The Himalayan Voice had published last year a series of discussions in which scholars from around the world took part. The fact is that the debate was earlier initiated with a title Where Was Buddha Born?at Indo_Eyrasia_ Research Yahoogroups on August 1, 2009, without any knowledge of on going ‘book controversy’. The Buddha birth place controversy again brought recently out by a writer had prompted a series of national and international fury over a book ‘The Post American World‘ published in 2008. Read the rest of this entry »
The world’s highest mountain – Mount Everest, known in Nepal as “Sagarmatha”
Nepal - the country of Mt. Everest and Buddha 