Message hidden in caves waits for PM

Nearly 2,000 ago, the first Indian pilgrims carried Lord Buddha8217;s message across the high mountains in the north and into the vast expa...

Nearly 2,000 ago, the first Indian pilgrims carried Lord Buddha8217;s message across the high mountains in the north and into the vast expanse of the Middle Kingdom, or China as it8217;s now called, in the east. There they spread His word, a philosophy that has since survived numerous dynasties, Confucius as well as Communism.

So when Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee travels to China later this month, his whistle-stop tour from June 22-26 will take him to the ancient capital of Beijing, the new high-tech boomtown of Shanghai that could hold her own with any city in the world, as well as to8230; Luoyang.

The last is a jewel in a nation where wonders hardly cease. This is the home of the Longmen Grottoes, a collection of caves in which the seated Sakyamuni occupies the limelight alongside the Ten Thousand Buddha Cave, the White Horse Buddhist temple, the Ancient Tomb museum as well as the Temple of Shaolin, the home of the kung-fu martial arts.

The last, legend has it, was an inheritance from the kalaripayattu of Kerala, brought by Bodhidharma all the way from the southernmost tip of India, during those selfsame early centuries after Christ.

The Grottoes, a collection of caves built over 500 years from the late Northern Wei dynasty to the Tang period, are the creme de la creme of China8217;s Buddhist culture. Familiarly, the lotus proliferates on the ceiling of the Lianhua cave, while flying apsaras do their number on its southern walls. In all, there are 100,000 stone Buddhist statues, 2300 carved stone niches and 70 Buddhist pagodas in the area.

The importance of Luoyang on the PM8217;s itinerary, analysts here cautiously admit, is the extremely subtle message that ancient civilisations send to each other. In this case, the barely spoken, shadow rivalry between India and China that has continued into the 21st century, in which Beijing wins hands down on every indicator and count. Except one.

And that is Buddhism. China hands who have spent time in Beijing and watched the slow rise of the dragon in recent decades, point out that the Chinese 8212; off the record and when their guard is down 8212; will admit that it is this religion from India that they have turned to, again and again, in times of trouble.

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Of course, the Prime Minister will say none of this during his trip. Both he and Chinese president Hu Jintao emphasised during their encounter in St. Petersburg barely ten days ago that they were still developing nations, and as such had much in common. They spoke of the need to resolve the border issue, implying that they couldn8217;t let it become a thorn in the relationship between Asia8217;s largest powers.

And so, the high point of Vajpayee8217;s journey will revolve around the couple of days he spends in Beijing, where a joint statement on the big issues is likely to be signed. In Shanghai too, the PM will likely speak of the need to economically transform the relationship. But an agreement on giving India property in place of the one that was wrongfully appropriated during the Cultural Revolution in this city is unlikely to come about.

Which brings us back to Luoyang. An industrialised township in central China8217;s Henan province 8212; 7 of the 156 key projects in China8217;s first five-year plan took place here 8212; it lies sandwiched between the south and north banks of the Yellow river. Chinese websites pay it due homage. It contains the historical relics of 5 ancient capitals. In modern-day China, where religion has made a big comeback, it lies at the heart of the Big Buddha Trail.

It8217;s also the city P.V. Narasimha Rao visited in 1993, the last time an Indian prime minister went to China. Like much else the two men have in common, Vajpayee is also following the same itinerary.