Vishva Shanti Stupa at Rajgir
(Continued from)
Day 4
Rajgir lives in two time zones. The south Rajgir, where most of the sites visited by pilgrims are located, lives in a kind of time warp, taking visitors back by 2500 years to a period when Buddha walked there. North Rajgir is very much like an ordinary town of twenty-first century Bihar with narrow unplanned roads and crowded. The southern part of the town has quiet and picturesque roads. It lies amongst hills and is dotted with dense vegetation. Compared to that, northern part is located on flat land that is almost barren. It is no wonder therefore that South Rajgir appears flooded with visitors, whereas north Rajgir appears like any other normal town from Bihar.
As suggested by our tour operator Jackie, we come down to hotel lobby by 8 AM to have our breakfast. The first sight, where Jackie wants us to take is the “Vishva Shanti Stupa” on the “Ratnagiri” Mountain. Interestingly, Bihar Tourism has provided a ‘chair lift’ system for climbing this mountain, which makes life easy for the tourists. By late morning however, a large queue forms usually to avail of the “Chair lift” facility. That is the reason why Jackie wants us to start early. We leave hotel by 9 AM and start towards southern part of the town. Today, weather Gods seem rather pleased with us because the sky is cloudy and day temperature very moderate. We soon reach the parking lot at the base of Ratnagiri Mountain. I look up, the clouds are so low that they are almost touching the mountain top, making it almost hidden in the clouds.
Drive wheel of Chair lift cable
The “Chair lift” system appears to be an interesting contraption. A steel cable continuously runs along the slope of the mountain, supported by two large wheels at top and bottom. The Bottom wheel is rotated by means of an electrical motor, making the whole system run continuously. Steel chairs are attached to the cable, so that they also climb and come down along the mountain slope again in a continuous way. Chairs can swing to front and rear, making it possible to stop them for a few seconds, for people to quickly sit in or get out of them. An iron rod in the front is locked in position to prevent the forward movement of the chair rider and provide safety to him. Mounting a chair is little tricky but not difficult at all.
Chair lift system
There are only a few people waiting in the queue ahead of us, to ride the chairs. When my turn comes, I quickly manage to sit in the chair. Expert attendants stand by my side to easily put me in a chair in about a couple of seconds and lock the safety bar in position in case of any difficulty. Mercifully, I do not require their help. Attendant also instructs me to lift my feet so that they would not hit the land below, which immediately starts rising up. There are foot rests provided, attached to the chair, to keep my feet rested during the climb. Slowly I start climbing the mountain. The ground below my feet rises with the climb or drops deep, whenever my chair crosses a deep forested valley. The drops could easily measure to 50 or 60 feet deep. The view around is really spectacular with tall mountains and heavy vegetation on the slopes everywhere. I find the ride truly exhilarating and enjoyable. After I reach the top I quickly dismount and we are on our way to a small but steep climb before we can reach the “Vishva Shanti Stupa” located at the highest point of “Ratnagiri” mountain at a height of roughly 1200 feet or so.
After little huffing and puffing, we manage to reach the gates of the Stupa. However a surprise waits for us here as we find the gates locked. We make a few enquiries with the road side vendors, who tell us that the way is closed because the road on which we climbed just now is under repairs. We have no way but to go down to the chair car station again and take an alternative road on the right side that is longer. This road is much easier to climb, with steps cut in rocks. We do the climb quite easily and finally reach the Stu...
