The Buddhist stupas at Satdhara are tucked away on the edge of a forest and only a few know that they exist. By Kushan Mitra
Satdhara is quite literally off the beaten path. Trying to find our way to these Stupas on the hills that are a part of the Betwa river valley before entry to the site closed at sunset was quite an adventure. We had finished visiting Heliodorus’ pillar at the town of Vidisha and the road to Satdhara was marked on Google Maps on the Hyundai i20’s large 10.26-inch infotainment system screen. There were multiple small village roads and the shortest route said it would bring us to the site in around 25 minutes giving us about half an hour to spend at the place. Little did I know that I would be taking the hatchback through roads that could double up as a World Rally Championship (WRC) course where, incidentally, Hyundai are currently manufacturing champions.
The roads were brilliant, initially, with wide sweeping turns but quickly gave way to loose gravel with the occasional concrete slab. The varying surfaces gave the traction control system on the car a proper workout as I tried to rush through to the site. But then, I was surprised, the road quite literally ended and I found myself driving down a rutted tract through the middle of wheat fields. Treading carefully, I was worried about whether the i20 could make it as this was a normal hatchback without any pretensions of being a SUV. And genuinely, I kid you not, these were some rough, rough roads. But this little baby made it through without any problems whatsoever and we found ourselves back on the normal road to Satdhara, which was still a small, narrow track, but at least it was paved.
We reached a small barrier where a signboard that read ‘Boudh Stupa’ in Hindi and we had no idea about what we were going to see. As the sun was gently setting over the hills, we saw the brilliant site with a stunning view of the valley below. It is not surprising that monks want to meditate in such a beautiful place among the hills, far from civilisation even today. While the main Stupa 1 dates back to the reign of Ashoka, the way we see it today is more from the Shunga period. The other Stupas at the site, which are far better preserved than the Stupas at Sanchi, are believed to contain the relics, according to inscriptions found here during a recent Archeological Survey of India (ASI) excavation, of some of the Buddha’s biggest disciples such as Sariputra.
The site was locally known as ‘Siddh Ka Makaan’ that is the houses of monks and must have been a place where most of the scholars lived. There are the clear remains of a monastery, a school at the site and evidence of kitchens and living quarters. Some of the other small Stupas are believed to contain the remains of famous monks years after Mauryan times. That said, while the ASI has done a great job preserving the site, information is not easy to come by as there are only a few guides and no text or audio information. While very few people visit the site, it could be made much more popular with easier access to information. In this regard, Goodearth Publications’ book Buddhist Circuit in Central India was a great help and provides a lot of useful information.
