On the Way to Vulture’s Peak
The bus is gone. We’ve shifted to three Tatas, the Indian mini Land Rovers. The next places can’t be reached by bus.
Today, we’re headed to Vulture’s Peak (VP) the site of Buddha,s greatest teaching and Nalanda., the site of India’s greatest educational institution. At VP, Buddha delivered a short talk called the “Heart Sutra” thst summarizes the very essence of Buddhism. Nalanda was a sprawling university, 750 years BCE.
Mind you, we’re still in the state of Bihar and the energy outside of Bodhgaya is high. We take the Tatas to a place where the bridge has been broken, veer left and drive across the river bed. Everyone is excited about the prospects of seeing VP.
I get my first real surprise in the Tata.
As you might guess, I am very interested in the demographics of the place. We are at ground zero for what is left of the population explosion. The area is very rural and very poor. The families are huge.
In this part of the world, female infanticide is a real problem. Even though dowries have been outlawed for some years, the practice of giving away enough to get your daughter a good husband continues. That means that girls are expensive, very expensive and produce nothing but cost for the family. Boys, on the other hand, are obligated <–Previous – Next–>
