After
you arrive in Delhi, find yourself accommodation and have
a look around. Apart from the many tourist sights in the
city there are two places that will be of interest to the
Buddhist pilgrim. The National Museum on Janpath houses
perhaps the finest collection of Indian art to be seen anywhere.
The
exhibits are intelligently arranged, clearly labelled and
well lit. Galleries 6, 7 and 11 on the ground floor are
of particular interest to Buddhists. This last gallery displays
the caskets from the Kapilavatthu (Piprahwa) stupa and the
relics found in them. These burned bones, along with those
from the Vesali stupa, are almost certainly the only genuine
relics of the historical Buddha. The museum is open from
10 am to 5 pm and closed on Monday.
Tibet
House, the Dalai Lama's unofficial embassy in Delhi, has
a small but interesting collection of Tibetan religious
art and artefacts. It is in the Institutional Area, Lodi
Rd and is open from 10 am to 1pm and 2 to 5 pm, and closed
on Sunday. If you are going to Mathura you can take a bus.
If you are going to Allahabad for Kosambi or Varanasi for
Sarnath you'll have to take the train.
Statue
of Avalokitesvara: One of the principal Bodhisattvas in
the Mahayana Buddhist tradition; personifies boundless compassion.
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