The temple built by Emperor Ashoka on the top of the mountain has the bust of Gautama Buddha
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A few kilometers south from Ramur Choumuhani in Cox’s Bazar is the Shikolghata Bailey bridge built on Bankkhali river. A little before that, the huge gate of Rangkoot Banashram can be seen on the left side of the road. Above is written in golden color ‘Historical Rangkoot Banashram Mahatirtha Vihar’. Founded by Emperor Ashoka, established in 268 BC.’
Ashoka, the third Maurya emperor of the Indian subcontinent, was initiated into Buddhism and spread the message of non-violence throughout India. According to inscriptions and documents kept at Rangkoot Vihara, the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka founded the Vihara around 268 BC. According to legend, one of the 84,000 chaityas or stupas built by Emperor Ashoka to spread the message of Buddha is located in this Rangkoot Vihar.
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Rangkoot Banashram has to be entered by ticket. As soon as you enter the main gate, you will see 84 rows of bronze Buddha statues placed on the side of the mountain hill road. This quiet meditative street is named ‘Buddhanagar’. Next is a museum and a temple. A huge banyan tree passes the museum. Below it are statues of Emperor Ashoka and Hiuen Tsang. After crossing the dragon gate and climbing the stairs, there is a thousand-year-old Buddhist monastery at the top of the hill.
Various documents, books, inscriptions, statues from 600 to 1600 centuries are preserved in Rangkoot Bihar museum. There is a huge banyan tree. At the base of the tree is placed a sculpture depicting Buddha’s first preaching scene ‘Pratiki Sarnath’. On its eastern side is the ‘symbolic Lumbini’ sculpture of Buddha Siddhartha’s birth scene. On the south side of the banyan tree, a two-storied jadi ‘Marbijoyi Arhat Upagupta Bhander Chaitya’ is built in open ground. There is a big Buddha statue inside. On the eastern side of the Banyan tree is the attractive Dragon Gate with stairs leading up to the temple. The staircase has 67 steps. On the eastern side of the gate is an 18 feet tall Vandana statue of Gautama Buddha.
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When the dragon stepped on the stairs and climbed to the top of the hill, the original temple fell in front. Inside it is the Great Buddha image with the bust of Gautama Buddha. Outside the room is written ‘World Historic Rang-wu Rangkut Riddhimoya Buddha image’. The bust of Gautama Buddha is placed on the head of this precious stone statue.
Bihar has high hills on three sides. Rangkoot Miracle Garden is built around the hill. To facilitate the movement of visitors from one hill to another, a spectacular suspension bridge ‘Prajnavansh Flyover’, Eco Meditation Park, sea cucumber, watermelon, dab, elephant sculptures and other entertainments were constructed.
It is known that 700-900 people visit Bihar every day. Most tourists. The director and principal of the Vihar, K Sri Jytisen Ther told Prothom Alo, even a hundred and fifty years ago, the boundary of Rangkoot Mahavihar was spread over 100 acres of hilly land. Now there are only 12 acres. Other lands are unprotected, some left vacant. There are 12 bhikkhus and 43 monks along with him in the Mahavihara. There is no government allocation. The renovation, development and maintenance of the Mahavihar is done with the money donated by the people of the country and abroad. Mahavihara tours are available daily from 7 am to 6 pm. 20 rupees is charged against the ticket, which is spent on the suspension bridge and renovation of Bihar.
When asked how the bust of Gautama Buddha came to be in the statue of Bihar, Jyotisen Ther told Prothom Alo that the Maharaja considered the 84,000 sermons preached by Emperor Ashoka over 45 years as a symbol of wisdom. With those words, he set up 84 thousand Chaityas with Buddha’s bones. One of which is Ramu’s Chaitya. Arakanese king Chandrajyoti added the Buddha’s bust to the head of a 6-feet tall stone Buddha image around 308 BC.
Citing documents, Jyotisen Ther said that in 1930, a Brahmin native monk named Jagatchandra Mahather rediscovered the site on the basis of ancient statues and information from Sri Lanka. Along with this, a large Abhayamudra carved Buddha image was discovered, apart from that there are ruins of a large building on the hill to the east of the Vihar. Various fragments of sandstone sculptures are scattered around it. Metal bowls, lamps and censers are also found there.
According to the monks, in the sixth century BC Gautama Buddha rested on this hill with his chief disciple Ananda and prophesied that a stupa would be built here in the future. Then in the course of time, this place became a sacred pilgrimage site for Buddhists.
It has been seen from the visitation book of Bihar that in the last few years several hundreds of people from different countries including Russia, China, France, European Union, Korea, Italy, Denmark, Kosovo, Pakistan, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Vatican, Bhutan, Spain, Argentina, Libya, Singapore, Australia, Egypt have visited Mahavihar. Among them are ambassadors of various countries, heads of international organizations and heads of missions in Bangladesh. A group of researchers and tourists from Brazil and Russia visited Rangkut Mahavihar on November 22 last year.
Every year in the month of May, the ‘Buddha Varsha Baran’ festival is organized in Mahavihar. Lakhs of pilgrims flocked to the festival from different parts of the country besides the hill districts of Rangamati, Khagrachari, Bandarban.
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