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Archaeologists in the eastern India state of Bihar have discovered the remains of an 11th- or 12th-century Mahayana Buddhist monastery that was headed by a woman.
As Reena Sopam reports for the Hindustan Times, the structure is the first of its kind found at a high elevation in the region.
“Monasteries have been discovered at many locations in this area, but this is the first setup located at the top of a hill,” lead researcher Anil Kumar, an archaeologist at Visva Bharati University, tells the Hindustan Times. “Seems the Mahayani Buddhists set up the monastery far from the hustle and bustle of the human population to practice Mahayana rituals in isolation.”
Per the Times of India’s Jai Narain Pandey, the monastery’s leader was a woman monk named Vijayashree Bhadra. Unlike in most historical Buddhist monasteries, all the cells had doors, suggesting that its monks were either all women or both women and men. Two burnt clay seals with Sanskrit writing and eighth- or ninth-century script indicate that the monastery’s name was “the council of monks of Śrīmaddhama vihāra.”
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www.smithsonianmag.com
I think it would be really interesting if they could figure out if there were both women and men housed there. That would be pretty progressive.
As Reena Sopam reports for the Hindustan Times, the structure is the first of its kind found at a high elevation in the region.
“Monasteries have been discovered at many locations in this area, but this is the first setup located at the top of a hill,” lead researcher Anil Kumar, an archaeologist at Visva Bharati University, tells the Hindustan Times. “Seems the Mahayani Buddhists set up the monastery far from the hustle and bustle of the human population to practice Mahayana rituals in isolation.”
Per the Times of India’s Jai Narain Pandey, the monastery’s leader was a woman monk named Vijayashree Bhadra. Unlike in most historical Buddhist monasteries, all the cells had doors, suggesting that its monks were either all women or both women and men. Two burnt clay seals with Sanskrit writing and eighth- or ninth-century script indicate that the monastery’s name was “the council of monks of Śrīmaddhama vihāra.”
A Medieval Nun Led This Newly Unearthed Buddhist Monastery in Eastern India
The religious center, located on a hillside away from densely populated areas, may have had all-female or mixed-gender renunciates
www.smithsonianmag.com
I think it would be really interesting if they could figure out if there were both women and men housed there. That would be pretty progressive.
