Vikramshila (How Had It Been Vikramshila, I Think!) Poem by Bijay Kant Dubey

Vikramshila in its heyday,
I think
Would have been grand
And gorgeous
With the students
Coming from
Distant lands,
Tibet and beyond,
Bengal, Bihar and Orissa!

Vikramshila,
One of the seats of learning,
One of the varsities
Ancient and famous for,
A citadel of learning
With the bhikkus and acharyas
Dwelling in
And meditating,
Think I, imagine I!

A mahavihara
Of the Pala period,
Established by Dharampal,
It was a Buddhist monastery
Well-famed for
Education and learning,
Gnan and dhamma,
A meditational centre,
A place residential
For the learners and the teachers.

Together with others
Forming a circuit of education,
A centre of learning,
Vikramshila,
A Buddhist monastery
Storied and housing
Teachers and students alike,
Those seeker after knowledge
And wisdom.

Against the backdrop and scenery
Of the hills green,
The Ganges flowing by,
Vikramshila stood by
The banks
At a distance
With the bhikkus and acharyas
Taking and giving education.

The brick-built structure
So huge and gigantic,
Spreading over a stretch of land,
With the stupa
And the stories around
Opening to the terrace
As for meeting
And the cells around
The square.

The sideways decorated
With the terracotta plates
With figurines and sculptures
Of Hindu gods and Buddhas,
All made form brick and clay,
Mud mortar
And the stairs
Leading unto the stupa.

Around the stupa
A little far from
There lie in a few scattered structures
Supposed to be
Tibetan and Hindu temples
And the stone pillars
At the entrance.

On seeing the site of excavation,
The mahavihara
In ruins
With the stupa and the stairs
Leading unto
With all around structures
With the cells and rooms
For housing,
There grows a desire to learn from.

Vikramshila,
How would it have been
During its heyday,
I think,
Think about
Vikramshila
And the ruins of it,
The citadel of learning
Once had been in its heyday.

Who the artisans
At work,
Working at the sire,
Who the sculptors sculpting
And decorating
That built they the varsity
Forting it
From all around?

Who the builders,
What the date,
Who the witness,
How the evidence,
None knows it,
None knows it,
Everyone but guesses at,
Presumes to be?

Under the earth
Lay it
Unearthed
Vikramshila,
As a mouldering heap,
A mound of earth
And ruins,
Emerging from
The excavation done.


The terraces with the wall carvings
And terracotta work
And the plaques
Plastered with lime,
Depicting Buddha, Avalokiteshvara, Manjusri
And others,
The mahavihara standing
With the adhyaksha and dwarpalas,
Upadhyayas and bhikkus.

Where the texts, how the references,
How the connections,
Going beyond,
Linking far,
How the scholars coming to,
Through the paths unknown,
Domains unchartered and impregnable,
Conversing in which language?

Vikramshila,
Vikramshila, talk I, dream I
The historical site
And its reference,
The residential complex
For the students and the monks,
The antechambers to meditate,
The stupa at the centre
Of the square complex
With the fort-like projections.