| The Vanished Path: A Graphic Travelogue | |
|---|---|
 cover of 2015 edition | |
| Date | March 2015 |
| Page count | 218 pages |
| Publisher | HarperCollins Publishers, India |
| Creative team | |
| Writers | Bharath Murthy |
| Original publication | |
| Language | English |
| ISBN | 978-93-5177-019-0 |
The Vanished Path: A Graphic Travelogue is an Indian graphic novel written and illustrated by Bharath Murthy, and published in March, 2015, by HarperCollins Publishers India. It is Bharath's first book-length comic.[ citation needed ]
There were two trips to the sites, one lasting a week and the other three weeks. Alka Singh, a filmmaker and photographer, visually documented the journey, while Bharath made notes. The longer trip was funded by the Tamil language Dinamalar newspaper. The plan was to publish a weekly short comic based on the journey in their weekly children's supplement Siruvarmalar . Two issues were published, dated 4 and 11 February 2011, before the series was cancelled. Each issue carried a 10-page episode. Translations of the text were done in-house. Other excerpts were published in Himal Southasian , [1] Fountain Ink , [2] magazine, Live Mint [3] and the self-published Comix.India anthologies.
The black & white artwork and panel layouts invoke narrative techniques characteristic of Japanese manga, as noted by Divya Trivedi in a review in Frontline magazine. [4] Bharath speaks about his interest and conscious borrowing from Japanese manga in an interview in The Comics Journal . [5] The Buddha is represented as a Dharma Wheel, one of the aniconic symbols used to represent the Buddha in Early Buddhist art. Another feature is the use of black & white photographs, some taken by Alka during the journey and others being historical photos of the locations. The final panel image in the book is a close-up photo taken by Alka of the foot of the Bodhi Tree.
In September 2010, Bharath Murthy and his wife Alka Singh, recent converts to Buddhism, decide to go a pilgrimage to the historical sites related to the life of Siddhartha Gautama, the historical Buddha. Travelling through the archaeological ruins strewn across the Gangetic plains, they rediscover the lost and forgotten Buddhist past of India. The book is divided into six chapters wherein they visit Bodhgaya, Nalanda, Rajgir, Kushinagar, Lumbini, Sarnath and Shravasti. Interspersed between their tour are episodes of the Buddha's life that take place in that location. The author has used the recorded discourses of the Buddha in the Pali Tipitaka as the basis for illustrating these episodes. The book tries to understand the history of Buddhism in India while at the same time taking note of its current status in a country dominated by Hinduism. The protagonists maintain scepticism at some cult-like features they come across as part of the pilgrimage tourism industry. They also encounter ignorance of Buddhist teachings among Indian followers of Buddhism. The topical news events surrounding the Ayodhya dispute forms an important sub-plot as the verdict is announced while they are on the journey. The book ends with the couple reaching Bodhgaya and witnessing the Bodhi Tree.
The book received broadly favourable reviews. It was nominated for the 2015 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize, the first comic to receive that honour in the award's history. Prajna Desai, reviewing it for the Caravan magazine said,
"... the virtue of The Vanished Path consists in mobilising the dregs of history, that is, archaeology and little-read texts, to tell a witty and rounded story of the Buddha’s teachings. [6] "
The Outlook Traveller criticised its narrative style as 'bland'. [7] Rakesh Khanna, writing in the Deccan Chronicle , found the narrative 'not carefully planned', yet 'refreshing'. [8] Striptease, an online magazine devoted to comics called it 'a spiritual journey littered with discoveries and evolutions.' [9] In an interview in The Hindu , [10] Bharath says that he wanted to reach out to readers who never read comics, and to those Indians who may not be so aware of their Buddhist past.
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia, during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was born in Lumbini, in what is now Nepal, to royal parents of the Shakya clan, but renounced his home life to live as a wandering ascetic. After leading a life of mendicancy, asceticism, and meditation, he attained nirvana at Bodh Gaya in what is now India. The Buddha then wandered through the lower Indo-Gangetic Plain, teaching and building a monastic order. Buddhist tradition holds he died in Kushinagar and reached parinirvana.
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood.
In Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths are "the truths of the noble one ," a statement of how things really are when they are seen correctly. The four truths are
The Noble Eightfold Path or Eight Right Paths is an early summary of the path of Buddhist practices leading to liberation from samsara, the painful cycle of rebirth, in the form of nirvana.
Pāramitā or pāramī is a Buddhist term often translated as "perfection". It is described in Buddhist commentaries as a noble character quality generally associated with enlightened beings. Pāramī and pāramitā are both terms in Pali but Pali literature makes greater reference to pāramī, while Mahayana texts generally use the Sanskrit pāramitā.
Bodh Gayā is a religious site and place of pilgrimage associated with the Mahabodhi Temple complex, situated in the Gaya district in the Indian state of Bihar. It is famous for being the place where Gautama Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment under what became known as the Bodhi Tree. Since antiquity, Bodh Gayā has remained the object of pilgrimage and veneration, for both Hindus and Buddhists. In particular, archaeological finds, including sculptures, show that the site was in use by Buddhists since the Mauryan period. Bodh Gayā and the nearby regions were invaded and destroyed in the 12th century CE by Muslim Turk armies, led by Delhi Sultanate's Qutb al-Din Aibak and Bakhtiyar Khilji.
The Mahabodhi Temple or the Mahābodhi Mahāvihāra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is an ancient, but restored Buddhist temple in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India, marking the location where the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment. Bodh Gaya is 15 km from Gaya and is about 96 km (60 mi) from Patna. The site contains a descendant of the Bodhi Tree under which the Buddha gained enlightenment and has been a major pilgrimage destination of Buddhists for over two thousand years.
The Bodhi Tree, also called the Mahabodhi Tree or Bo Tree, is a large sacred fig tree located in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India. Siddhartha Gautama, the spiritual teacher who became known as the Buddha, is said to have attained enlightenment or buddhahood circa 500 BCE under this tree. In religious iconography, the Bodhi Tree is recognizable by its heart-shaped leaves, which are usually prominently displayed.
The English term enlightenment is the Western translation of various Buddhist terms, most notably bodhi and vimutti. The abstract noun bodhi means the knowledge or wisdom, or awakened intellect, of a Buddha. The verbal root budh- means "to awaken", and its literal meaning is closer to awakening. Although the term buddhi is also used in other Indian philosophies and traditions, its most common usage is in the context of Buddhism. Vimutti is the freedom from or release of the fetters and hindrances.
Karuṇā is generally translated as compassion or mercy and sometimes as self-compassion or spiritual longing. It is a significant spiritual concept in the Indic religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism.
In Mahayana Buddhism, bodhicitta is the mind (citta) that is aimed at awakening (bodhi), with wisdom and compassion for the benefit of all sentient beings.
A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in Buddhism represent the pure land or pure environment of a Buddha. Traditional Buddhist temples are designed to inspire inner and outer peace.
Prajñā or paññā is a Buddhist term often translated as "wisdom", "insight", "intelligence", or "understanding". It is described in Buddhist texts as the understanding of the true nature of phenomena. In the context of Buddhist meditation, it is the ability to understand the three characteristics of all things: anicca ("impermanence"), dukkha, and anattā. Mahāyāna texts describe it as the understanding of śūnyatā ("emptiness"). It is part of the Threefold Training in Buddhism, and is one of the ten pāramīs of Theravāda Buddhism and one of the six Mahāyāna pāramitās.
Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi Tree is a historical sacred bo tree in the Mahamewuna Garden in historical city of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. This is believed to be a tree grown from a cutting of the southern branch from the historical sacred bo tree, Sri Maha Bodhi, which was destroyed during the time of Emperor Ashoka the Great, at Buddha Gaya in India, under which Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) attained Enlightenment. In 236 BC, the Buddhist nun Sangamitta Maha Theri, a daughter of Indian Emperor Ashoka, brought the tree cutting to Sri Lanka during the reign of Sinhalese King Devanampiya Tissa.[1] At more than 2,300 years old, it is the oldest living human-planted tree in the world with a known planting date. The Mahavamsa, or the great chronicle of the Sinhalese, provides an elaborate account of the establishment of the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi on the Island and the subsequent development of the site as a major Buddhist pilgrimage site.
Buddhism, also known as Buddha Dharma, is an Indian religion and philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or 5th century BCE. It is the world's fourth-largest religion, with over 520 million followers, known as Buddhists, who comprise seven percent of the global population. It arose in the eastern Gangetic plain as a śramaṇa movement in the 5th century BCE, and gradually spread throughout much of Asia. Buddhism has subsequently played a major role in Asian culture and spirituality, eventually spreading to the West in the 20th century.
The Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta is a Buddhist scripture that is considered by Buddhists to be a record of the first sermon given by Gautama Buddha, the Sermon in the Deer Park at Sarnath. The main topic of this sutta is the Four Noble Truths, which refer to and express the basic orientation of Buddhism in a formulaic expression. This sutta also refers to the Buddhist concepts of the Middle Way, impermanence, and dependent origination.
Women in Buddhism is a topic that can be approached from varied perspectives including those of theology, history, anthropology, and feminism. Topical interests include the theological status of women, the treatment of women in Buddhist societies at home and in public, the history of women in Buddhism, and a comparison of the experiences of women across different forms of Buddhism. As in other religions, the experiences of Buddhist women have varied considerably.
The Ādittapariyāya Sutta, is a discourse from the Pali Canon, popularly known as the Fire Sermon. In this discourse, the Buddha preaches about achieving liberation from suffering through detachment from the five senses and mind.
In Buddhism, the bodhipakkhiyā dhammā are qualities conducive or related to awakening/understanding, i.e. the factors and wholesome qualities which are developed when the mind is trained.
Comix India was an Indian comics anthology magazine, dedicated to alternative Indian comics for adults. It was begun in 2010 by comics artist Bharath Murthy in collaboration with Kailash Iyer. It was self-published, black & white and followed a print-on-demand, profit-sharing publishing model. The magazine focused on long-form stories. It is now a comics publishing label. Vérité, a comics anthology magazine for adults is currently published under the Comix India label. Bharath Murthy is the Editor and Mitsuhiro Asakawa is the Editorial Adviser. Asakawa is a former editor of cult Japanese alternative manga magazines Garo and Ax and gekiga researcher for more than two decades. Alternative Japanese manga features in Vérité alongside Indian comics.