Buddhist Retreat - Satdhara Unreliable and Sacked from Kedah Exco for Poor Performance

Buddhist Retreat - Satdhara

Arjun Kumar, 16 April 2010, 03:07 PM IST

It is often believed that the path to salvation is a hard one. For those making their way to the stupas at Satdhara for spiritual relief, that would certainly hold true. 5 kms of cattle track bisected by the occasional rivulet of water needs a certain degree of fortitude to get through. And that is what the approach road looks like today. Two millennia earlier, when Buddhist monks first made their journey away from the pleasures of worldly life to an ascetic existence at this place, it would have been far removed from civilization.

Located nearly an hour’s drive from Sanchi and its tourist hordes, on the banks of a green, tree-covered hill overlooking the Halali River; it is easy to understand why the monks came to Satdhara. The place is incredibly stunning, as much for its natural beauty as it is for the calm that pervades in its holy precincts. Though the stupas at Satdhara are a creation of the same thought process that spawned those at Sanchi, Satdhara is significantly different today.

The one similarity between the two spots is that both sets of stupas are located all along a tree covered hill. However, the similarity ends at this point. Sanchi is civilization; Satdhara – to be candid – is in the middle of nowhere. While Sanchi has become a UNESCO World Heritage Site and thus an acknowledged tourist destination, Satdhara has been left to the Archaeological Survey of India to manage. Thus, while Sanchi’s incredible stupas draw in the crowds and thus the chaos, Satdhara is left alone, with only the occasional heritage traveller making the effort to get here.

And Satdhara does not disappoint a traveller seeking untouched heritage. The stupas are spread out over the crest of the hill with the largest one – numbered Stupa 1- a huge 13 meters high, making it almost as large as the Great Stupa at Sanchi. A small chamber – little more than a niche in the otherwise unbroken wall – has been created on the stupa’s outer wall. This niche reveals the original brick work, which has been dated to Ashokan times. There are some ruins near the stupa comprising a monastery and temple remains which are collectively called siddh ka makaan which is indicative of Satdhara’s most enlightened monks once having lived there.

A beaten track parts the thick forest cover at Satdhara and gives access to the eight stupas here that can be viewed. There are more in the forest region but the ASI has not yet given access to that part of the area. Examining one stupa after another, while walking through the forest in the light of the setting sun is a tranquil experience. It is just about the closest a heritage seeker can come to attaining salvation. Almost.

Unreliable and Sacked
from Kedah Exco for Poor Performance

PKR's Bakar Arang (Kedah) assemblyman Tan Wei Shu has quit PKR and he said will remain as an independent assemblyman.

He was dropped in the recent state exco reshuffle. PKR leaders said that the Kedah MB dropped Tan from the state exco as his performance was below par. He was replaced as Kedah exco member by Sidam assemblyman Tan Joon Long @ Tan Chow Kang last month.

“He knows why he was dropped but he is not happy as the party agreed with the state government on the matter,” said a party leader, who added that the party had anticipated Tan's move.

PKR leaders said that Tan's decision to quit the party was due to his unhappiness after being dropped as a state exco member.

Speaking to reporters in Parliament, PKR chief Anwar Ibrahim said he was not surprised by Tan's decision. “He started attacking us a few weeks back and now he has picked the time to coincide with the Hulu Selangor by-election to leave,” he said.

PKR’s Sungai Petani MP Johari Abdul has denied that he was responsible for the abrupt departure of the Bakar Arang state representative from the party.

The parliamentarian also denied he had conspired with state party leaders to oust Tan as Kedah state exco member. Johari said the political decision to drop Tan a month ago was “taken collectively by state and national leaders.”

It is learnt that Tan and Johari had a ugly spat during the state P KR liaison committee meeting a fortnight ago.

Tan is said to have accused Johari of plotting to oust him from the state cabinet in the PAS-led Kedah government helmed by Menteri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak.

Johari cited Tan's ‘poor performance’ as the main reason for his exit from the state administration.

Tan's departure from the party today leaves PKR with only three state representatives, which include S Manikumar (Bukit Selambau) and Lim Soo Nee (Kulim). All PKR assemblypersons are state executive councillors now.