Rahul Sankrityayan and The Buddhism of Nepal PDF
Rahul Sankrityayan and The Buddhism of Nepal PDF
Introductory Remarks
Mahāpaṇḍit Rahul Sankrityayan (1893–1963) is a well-known figure in the
field of Buddhist studies and Hindi literature, and is perhaps best known
for his adventurous journeys to Tibet in search of lost original Buddhist
texts. Born a sanātanī Brahman2, he lived variously the life of a sadhu, an
Arya Samajist, a Buddhist monk, a lay Buddhist, a secularist, a wanderer,
a progressive writer and a scholar who eventually embraced Marxist
socialism. He was also a political activist, and was arrested and even jailed
several times for such activities as delivering anti-British speeches (1922
and 1923–25), participation in the kisān (‘peasant’) satyagraha campaign
in Bihar (1939), and involvement in the banned Communist Party of India
(1940–42).3 Sankrityayan was such a frequent traveller that he came to be
known as ghumakkaṛ-rāj (‘king of wanderers’). His wanderlust never died,
and given his frequent journeys and other pursuits in life, it is amazing
that he found time to write such a large number of books (often at the
same time).
Nepal was Sankrityayan’s second home. Though it was a different
country with a different polity, he never thought of Nepal as a videś
(‘foreign country’). One clear reason for this was that he understood that
the country was an important place on the Indian subcontinent where his
works were being read. These propagated his ideas there with the same
force as they did in India. During his creative period, India was in conflict
with the British over the question of sovereignty, while the Nepalese for
their part were struggling against the Ranas. Every work was censored by
the Rana government, so that there was no question of the legal import of
Sankrityayan’s popular political works in Hindi. His Tibet travelogue, too,
faced censorship. Therefore, he had to tone down the passages relating
5 The temple was abandoned by Buddhists after the eradication of Buddhism under the
Muslim invaders sometime in the 14th century. In 1590 a Hindu Saiva mahant, Gosain
Ghamandi Giri, stumbled upon it and decided that he would make the secluded and
peaceful place his permanent abode. See Ahir 2010: 15–16 for detailed information.
6 Sankrityayan visited Europe as a dhammadūtas of the Maha Bodhi Society in 1932–33.
7 For details on the Maha Bodhi temple see Ahir 2010: 12–21.
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8 Bhikkhu Sri Nivasa (1894–1968) was born in Sri Lanka and went to India at the request
of Anagarika Dharmapala, who later appointed him secretary of the Maha Bodhi
Society Sarnath branch. After residing for about 15 years in Sarnath, Sri Nivasa built a
viśrāmaśālā (‘rest-house’) in Nautanva (on the Nepal-India border) for pilgrims visiting
Lumbini in Nepal, the place of the Buddha’s birth. Called the Lumbini viśrāmaśālā, it
would later, in July 1944, provide shelter for five Buddhist monks exiled by the Rana
government. (The viśrāmaśālā was sold in 1956.) Sri Nivasa visited Nepal many times and
helped to promote Theravada Buddhism there (Śākya 2000).
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his travel plans. Entering Tibet was no easy thing for Indians at that time.
After going over maps, he realized that he could only enter Tibet via Nepal,
and penetrating Nepal up to Kathmandu was only possible for Indians
during the Śivarātri festival. He left Sri Lanka on 1 December 1928 with the
aim of utilizing the three months before Śivarātri by making pilgrimages
in India to a number of historical places associated with the Buddha.
10 The highest lama of the Dukpa sect (ḍukpā sampradāya) MJY-2: 31–32.
11 MJY-2: 32.
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15 Triratnaman Tuladhar was the treasurer of the Nepal Buddhopasak Sangh (‘Nepal
Association of Buddhist Laymen’) (see upcoming Section).
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second and third visits to Tibet. The business houses of Dharmaman Sahu
in Gyantse and Lhasa were home to him, and Sahu’s family provided most
of the help he received during his visits to Tibet (YKP: 11). Sankrityayan
expresses his gratitude to the Newar and his sons in many places in his
Tibet travelogue.
Sankrityayan was not the first person to enter Tibet disguised as
a Nepalese (and later as a Tibetan with the name Khunnū Chevaṅ). A
Japanese Buddhist monk, Ekai Kawaguchi, had easily crossed the border
in the 1890s, since he resembled a Nepalese (Subedi 1999: 6).16 Later, when
Sankrityayan visited Tibet via India as an Indian with a permit, he took an
Indian friend of his named Rajnath disguised as a Nepalese citizen. “Short
in stature, Rajnath wore a Nepalese topi and pyjamas, and that appearance
served instead of a visa” (MJY-2: 151). Sankrityayan wrote: “Rajnath was
going on ahead with the other Nepalese. No one had asked him anything,
but as I passed through, the policeman ran after and shouted at me to
show my pass. Doing so, I asked, ‘Why do you ask only me?’ He replied,
‘We do not ask Nepalese for passes’. I smiled within – Rajnath had become
a perfect Nepalese” (MJY-2: 152).
Although Nepalese law was very strict, then, it was possible for people
to get around it. Many non-Nepalese, such as Kawaguchi,17 Sankrityayan,
and Rajnath, entered Tibet pretending to be Nepalese. Since Nepal is a
land of many ethnic castes and cultures, its people display many different
facial features, whether Mongolian, Dravidian, or Aryan. Śivarātri was a
particularly suitable occasion to enter Kathmandu incognito, not only
for foreigners but also for exiled Nepalese. One exiled Buddhist monk, for
instance, Prem Bahadur Shrestha, later known as Mahāprajñā, visited the
Kathmandu Valley during Śivarātri in 1930 (Śākya 1993: 25).18
16 Sankrityayan had read Kawaguchi’s and Alexandra David-Neel’s accounts of their visits
to Tibet and garnered useful information from them (TMSV: 2–3).
17 Ekai Kawaguchi had left Japan in 1897 in order “… to go in search of the authentic texts
to Nepal and Tibet where they were taken by those fleeing the Muslim invasion in India,
and preserved carefully” (Subedi 1999:15). “Kawaguchi read that manuscripts were
safely preserved in Tibet. He also learned that Brian Hogdson, the British official in
Nepal, had also collected Sanskrit texts in Nepal” (ibid.: 17). Sankrityayan had the same
purpose in mind as these predecessors when he travelled to Nepal and Tibet. He would
later (1935) meet Kawaguchi in Tokyo (MJY-2: 204).
18 Some years later, however, when Shrestha visited Bhojpur, he was arrested while
lecturing (on 14 January 1937) and was imprisoned for four months (three months in
Bhojpur and one month in Dhankuta) and again exiled back to India (Śākya 1993: 35).
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19 He was also known as Dhamma Sahu, Dharmaman Sahu, or Dharma Sahu. Sankrityayan
wrote a short biographical sketch of him under the title “Dharmā sahū” in JMK.
20 The executive committee of the Sangha was as follows:
a) The main propagator and manager: Dharmaditya Dharmacharya
b) Administrator: Khadga Raj Tuladhar
c) Treasurer: Triratna Man Tuladhar (son of Dharmaman Tuladhar)
d) Business co-coordinator: Chittadhar Tuladhar ‘Hridaya’
e) Assistant for other works: Kuldip Upasak
f) Member: Buddhi Ratna
21 Cited in Śākya (1994: 150)
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study Buddhist texts and, upon returning, promote Buddhism met with
a promise to help him on the part of Dharmaman Sahu. Sankrityayan
was grateful to him for his help, since his political activities back home
threatened to undermine his plans:
22 In Nepal, Newars practise both the Newar variant of Vajrayana Buddhism and
Theravada Buddhism. Many Buddhist groups in Nepal are also influenced by Hinduism.
Buddhists have long felt the strong influence of Hinduism owing to their close contacts
with the Hindu castes and because they themselves were integrated into the caste
system. Many of them eventually adopted Hinduism. What is called Newar Buddhism
is the form of Mahayana-Vajrayana Buddhism (mainly) practiced in the Newar ethnic
community of the Kathmandu Valley. The intertwinedness of Hinduism and Buddhism
in Nepal resulted in the Buddha being declared the ninth avatar of Vishnu. As the king
was regarded as an incarnate form of Vishnu, the Nepalese monarchy had the strong
support of Hindus, while the status attributed to the Buddha at least served to keep
Buddhists loyal to it. Nepal’s rulers, in short, treated Buddhists and Hindus, who shared
many festivals and much iconography, largely on equal terms.
Bhattachan (2005) rejects the Hindu appropriation of the Buddha as the ninth avatar
of Vishnu. His article accuses Hindus of annexing Buddhism to Hinduism, mindless of
the fact that Nepalese Buddhists hold many views diametrically opposed to their own.
For example, he criticizes the Hindu worship of a supremely powerful deity while
subordinating others, and their worship of certain animals while at the same time
slaughtering others. For details on Newar Buddhism, see Gellner 1992.
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organizations such as Cwasa Pasa (‘Friends of the pen’)23 and the Nepāl-
bhāṣā Pariṣad (‘Newari language council’).24
The Rana government of Nepal eventually made good on its threat,
arresting a number of Newars who wrote in Newari, Cittadhar “Hridaya”
(born Tuladhar) (1906–1982) being among the most prominent.25 Fatte
Bahadur Singh had compiled and published Nepāli vihāra, a collection of
classical and modern poems in Newari in 1940 and was imprisoned for
doing so. Cittadhar Hridaya was imprisoned alongside him because he had
published a poem (whose title translates as “Mother”) in that collection
(Lewis & Tuladhar 2007: xix). Whilst in prison, Cittadhar Hridaya wrote
his best-known work, Sugata Saurabha, a poetic retelling of the life of
the Buddha. Sankrtiyayan’s books on the Buddha and Buddhism were
consulted as reference sources for it, Sankrityayan having made friends
with the Tuladhar family while in Kathmandu. In the words of Hridaya
(Lewis & Tuladhar 2007: xlv):
Sometime later, everyone had some religious books brought into the
jail for them after we made a plea that we needed them for prayer.
My sister first brought the Dhammapada for me, and this inspired
me to start my own poem, a wish I could not suppress … Later on,
the Buddhacarrya by Mr. Rahul [Sanskrityayan] (sic) also came in
as a prayer book. When this book came in, it helped me a lot. Or
else I would have … been dependent on what I had studied in my
23 Cwasa Pasa was established on Vaiśākh Purṇimā, V.S. 2007 in Calcutta (Śākya 1994:
156). See also Whelpton 2011: 182.
24 The Nepāl Bhāṣā Pariṣad was established on 3 March 1951 (Śākya 1994:156).
25 Sankrityayan describes the imprisonment of Chittadhar Hridaya and Dharmaratna
Yami in his book Dharma Ratna ‘Yami’ (1963).
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wrote that “the two personalities, Ambedkar and Sankrityayan, were the
cynosure in the conference” (Kauśalyāyan 1992: 4).
Thus it is clear that Sankrityayan had close relations with many
members of the Theravada movement in Nepal. He himself, though, was
neither active in it nor did he ever write anything relating to it directly
or on its behalf. Two causes may be supposed for this. The first reason
Sankrityayan did not accept Anagarika Dharmapala’s request to engage in
promoting Theravada Buddhism may have been because his own priorities
lay in researching Buddhist texts and pursuing other scholarly activities.
Secondly, he wanted to keep on good terms with the government of Nepal
lest they stood in his way to visiting Tibet. He had already refused to
propagate Buddhism as a religion in India and other parts of the world,
and he had all the more reason not do so in Nepal, where the Theravada
movement was illegal. The main persons behind the Theravada movement
(Dharmaman Sahu, Bhikkhu Amritananda, Cittadhar Hridaya and Bhikkhu
Dharmalok) were all Sankrityayan’s good friends, and had he written in
support of the movement, it would only have created problems for them.
Furthermore, his own Buddhist writings would have stood no chance of
being sanctioned in Nepal, his political works having already been banned
by the Rana government. Still, even though he kept to the background, he
followed events closely and offered encouragement where he could, for
he realized that Nepal had played a key role in the history of Buddhism:
Nepal: At a very early time Buddhism was introduced into Nepal. When
after the Mohamadan conquest of India, Buddhism disappeared from
there; it still prevailed in that country. Most of the Buddhist canonical
works on philosophy and written in Sanskrit were found there,
though the whole of the last century was a period of slothfulness and
inactivities on the part of the Buddhism there, that state has now
changed and the young Buddhist Nepalese are awakening.
(Sankrityayan 1984: 134)
29 The expression “cultural soul” was used during the ekātmatāyajña (translated by van
der Veer as “sacrifice for unity”), a large-scale ritual procession in 1983 organized by
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the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (‘World Hindu council’), to play up the cultural similarities
shared by Nepal, Bhutan, Burma, and India. For details, see van der Veer 1984: 124–126.
The sentence from the statement issued on that occasion, as quoted by him (Ibid.:126),
reads: “It proved that Nepal, Bhutan and Burma may be politically separate from
Bharat [India] but the cultural soul of all these countries is one within.” From this I
have developed the expression to read “one cultural soul” so as to better convey the
underlying idea.
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[…] his (i.e. Sharma’s) house was in Dhoka Tole − called Bharati Bhavan,
the “House of Learning” − in the heart of Kathmandu […]
In the first quarter of the century, not only Nepal but also Hem
Raj’s house was closed to foreigners. Lévi wrote in 1925 that twice a
week he had an academic meeting with Hem Raj at the Government
Library, but he would have not been allowed to enter the Raj Guru’s
house since people would have been scandalized to see a mleccha
(‘barbarian’) profane the residence of such a sacred person.
(Grazilli 2001: 118–120)
But the door of Bharati Bhavan was always open for Sankrityayan, because
in the eyes of the Nepalese he was either an Indian Hindu or Buddhist and
born into a Brahmin family.
After Sankrityayan had met many European scholars, his interest
in collecting manuscripts and working on them increased. He became
aware that European scholars were also working on them,30 and
that they were keen, in particular, on finding manuscripts of
Dharmakirti’s Pramāṇavārttika.31 During his second visit to Tibet,
then, he tried to locate a copy of it. He had heard that Hemraj
Sharma had an old copy of it in Kathmandu, and so he returned
via Kathmandu to meet him32 to see if he could borrow it.33 This time
30 “There were many educated middle class population in Germany who liked Buddha.
Many great scholars of Sanskrit and Pali were also born in Germany. They edited and
translated thousands of books. ” MJY-2: 113.
31 Sankritayayan says that his interest in the Pramāṇavārttika was sparked after his first
visit to Tibet, presumably first and foremost during his conversations with European
scholars MJY-2:186.
32 Not only Sankrityayan but also many other scholars, including Sylvain Lévi, Giuseppe
Tucci, Jayachandra Vidyalankara, and Kashi Prasad Jayasawal, received help from him
when doing research on manuscripts (Nepāl 2057 V.S.: 2).
33 Sankrityayan received this information from Jayacandra Vidyalankara. Vidyalankara
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had visited Nepal at the beginning of 1932 and met Hemraj Sharma (Nepāl 2057
V.S.: 219).
One may note here that Tibbat mẽ savā varṣ was published by Sharada Mandir, headed by
Jayacandra Vidyalankara. Later Sharma requested Sankrityayan to soften his statements
about the Ranas in the book.
34 A Newar Buddhist chief priest
35 Sankrityayan 1943
36 I was able to meet Chitta Harsha Bajracharya’s son Purna Harsha Bajracharya (82) in
Kathmandu in 2008. He said that his father had been a teacher of children who had
difficulty in getting admission to Darbar High School and that Sankrityayan had visited
their house in the Ghantaghar quarter.
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Concluding Remarks
This article has sought to explore Sankrityayan’s relation with Nepalese
Buddshists and what journeys to Nepal meant for him. Although he was
ordained as a monk in Sri Lanka, his objective in life was not mainly to
propagate and practise Buddhism as the religion leading to nirvana.
Sankrityayan felt Nepal to be his second home, a view grounded in
the notions of “one cultural soul”. He developed intimate ties with Nepal
and the Nepalese through his devotion to Buddhism and Buddhist studies.
In the context of this study’s examination of Sankrityayan’s relationship
with Nepal, his speech at the Fourth World Buddhist Conference held
in Kathmandu in December 1956 is worth quoting. In front of a large
gathering on the parade grounds of Tundikhel, where all the guests and
King Mahendra Shah were assembled, he gave a spontaneous response in
Hindi to the welcoming speech:
37 Not all the diaries of Sharma are available. Those that are have been edited and
published by Jñānmaṇi Nepāl (2057 V.S.). Prakash A. Raj, the grandson of Sharma, kindly
provided me copies of the original diaries along with a diary of his own written when he
was nine years old, in which he tells of Sankrityayan’s visit to his home. This entry latter
shows that by that time Sankrityayan was a household name in Nepal. Similarly, I have
come across another diary entry − made by Rocak Ghimire on 13 March 1958, during
Sankrityayan’s visit to Nepal with his family.
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38 “[…] He felt at home here. The love he received from friends and acquaintances remained
valuable throughout his life.”
Kamala Sankrityayan (JY-6: 412)
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References
1. Rahul Sankrityayan’s Works
In Hindi
JMK 1957. Jinkā maĩ kṛtajñ. Allahabad : Kitab Mahal.
TMSV 1990 (V.S.). Tibbat mẽ savā varṣ. New Delhi: Sharada Mandir.
YKP 1995. Yātrā ke panne. New Delhi: Bharatiya Prakashan
Sansthan,
MJY-1, MJY-2,
MJY-3, MJY-4
MJY-5 & JY-6 Rāhul vāṅmaya: Jīvan yātrā, vols. 1–4, ed. Kamala
Sankrityayan. Delhi: Radhakrishna Prakashan, 1998.
1946(V.S.) Merī Jīvan Yātrā, Allahabad: Kitab Mahal.
1963 Dharmaratna ‘Yami’. Kathmandu: Shankar Bahadur K.C.
2007 Eśiyā ke durgam bhūkhaṇḍõ mẽ. Delhi: Bharatiya Prakashan
Sansthan.
In English
1970 “Buddhist Dialectics.” Buddhism: The Marxist Approach. Delhi:
People’s Publishing House.
Grant, P. 2009. Buddhism and Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka. Albany: State
University of New York Press.
Jayasawal, K.P.1984. ‘Lost Sanskrit Works Recovered from Tibet.’ In Selected
essays of Rahul Sankrityayan (By Rahul Sankrityayan), pp. ix–xix. New
Delhi: People’s Publ. House.
Levine, S. and D. N. Gellner. 2008. Rebuilding Buddhism: The Theravada
Movement in Twentieth–Century Nepal. Delhi: Orient Blackswan Private
Limited.
Lewis, T. T. and S. M. Tuladhar.2007. Sugata saurabha : An Epic Poem from
Nepal on the Life of the Buddha by Chitadhar Hṛdaya. Harward University:
The department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies.
Machwe, P. 1978. Rahul Sankrityayan. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi.
Pathak. S.K. 1994. ‘Rahul Sankrityayan: A Tibetan Lexicographer.’ Mahapandit
Rahula Sankrityayana Birth Centenary Volume. Edited by Hemendu Bikash
Chowdhory, pp. 27–30. Calcutta: Buddha Dharmankur Sabha.
Raj, P. A. 1994. Portraits & Photographs from Nepal. Kathmandu: Nabeen
Publications.
____. 1996. Brahmins of Nepal. Kathmandu: Nabeen Publications.
____. 2003 Profile of a Nepalese Writer: Life and Work of Prakash A. Raj.
Kathmandu: Nabeen Publication.
Sharma, R.S. 2009. Rethinking India’s Past. New Delhi: Oxford University
Press.
Subedi, A. 1999. Ekai Kawaguchi: The trespassing Insider. Kathmandu:
Mandala Book Point.
Tewari, R. C. 1983. ‘Socio-Cultural Aspects of Theravaada Buddhism in
Nepal.’ The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 6 (2):
67–93.
Van der Veer, P. 1994. Religious Nationalism. Berkeley: University of
California Press.
Whelpton, J. 2011. A History of Nepal. Delhi: Cambridge University Press.