It is not so well known that, Gujarat was once thriving center of
Buddhism and has many relics to prove it , including caves and Ashokan edicts.
As the state gets ready to showcase it's Buddhist heritage next week , I
recollected my visit to Buddhist relics in Vadnagar, Vadnagar, famously known
as home town of Prime Minister Modi, has recently again come into limelight
with excavation of Buddhist monastery.
In
7 th century AD, Hiuen Tsang mentioned about Vadnagar ( or Anandpura as it was
known at the time )as being one of the most important monastery.of the period.
7 Monastic cells have been excavated by 2016. Unfortunately locals have built
houses on the adjacent land making it impossible to excavate it further
Buddhism
flourished in Vadnagar between 3 rd and 9th century AD. As per ASI, it was
built in three phases and they found remains from 1st and 2nd century AD too.
In their excavation of 2015 , they found excellent water management system with
well laid out canal system. Large number of coins and artifacts were also found
establishing close connection with the silk route.
Vadnagar
is 100 kms from Ahmedabad and can be reached by state highway 71. This
more than 2000 years old town was fortified by Solanki dynasty and few relics
of the era can also be visited
