The haggling in the bus had resulted in the group splitting into two. One group opted to spend more time in Taj Mahal and the Red Fort; which were must see spots in Agra. As I had been to both places in a previous visit, I opted to join the group to Mathura in search of King Asoka's teacher who was believed to be an arahant. Of course, since some members in this group were first timer to India and had never yet set sight on the famous tomb, Taj Mahal, we decided to visit that place first thing after lunch for a quickie. Then, it was off to Mathura in a van. Mathura, which I often confused with Madurai in Tamil Nadu. Mathura is approximataely 50 km north of Agra but it seems such a long journey. We reached there a little bit over five and the museum which we intended to visit was closed. It is a shame though because the Mathura Museum has the largest collection of Redstone sculptures in Asia, depicting many famous Buddha figurines. Fa Hien had mentioned the city, as a centre of Buddhism about A.D. 400; while his successor Hsuan Tsang, who visited the city in 634 AD wrote that it contained twenty Buddhist monasteries. Today, the ancient city is more re known as a birthplace for Lord Krishna, a Hindu deity and as such there were a few interesting Hindu temples here which unfortunately, we did not get to visit because of the approaching darkness. On the way back to Agra though, a nun in our group pointed to us a little Hindu temple which she said, in ancient time could be a Buddhist temple. We stopped the van to have a quick look at the archway to the temple. The nun said its design was typical of that from King Asoka's era...
At Mathura...
At the museum...
An archway from King Asoka's time...
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