Chapter 85 Iron Forged Enlightenment

The place where I wandered the longest in New Delhi is not well-known. Fourteen kilometers south of the city, there is a tower named after the thirteenth-century emperor Kudub. Unfortunately, two floors have been broken.There is a mosque next to the tower, but unfortunately it has collapsed. Why do you linger there for a long time?Because I see the three major religions in serious confrontation in India, where there is a secret and interesting intermingling relationship. Look at the tower first.Judging from the dynasty it was built in, it is of course Islamic architecture, there is no doubt about it, and the basic style is indeed Islamic.However, the entrance on the first floor faces north, which is a requirement of Hinduism; if viewed from the plane, its cross-section is sunflower-shaped, which is a symbol of Hinduism.There are two possibilities. One is that the Islamic rulers were friendly and specially incorporated local culture into the design; the other is that the local builders took advantage of the ruler's inexperience to quietly plant a signal.However, I haven't read any information about the rulers trying to implement religious integration at that time, so I hope it is the second situation.For whatever reason, it stayed, and despite the perennial religious conflicts beneath the tower, the tower itself spoke of the possibility of integration.

Look at the mosque again.This is the earliest mosque in India, and it has lost its function as a religious place, leaving only a few tall stone gates and countless exquisite stone pillars.All coatings have been peeled off, and once the artistic construction without coating collapses, it will definitely become an existence between natural and artificial, with a special strength.According to reports, this mosque was built by demolishing many Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain temples, among which there are more than 20 Hindu temples alone.This is of course a brutal religious invasion, but after a long time, the intrusion and the intruded have become indistinguishable, whose language has been wiped out, and whose code has been stored.

Take a closer look at the stone pillars of the Shimen. Those depictions and textures are already too old to talk about who wins and who loses. It just shows that manpower and civilization have reached it, and they have been soothed by the hand of time. Standing here, I think, if the cannibalism between civilizations and civilizations can be foreseen, maybe we can become more polite to each other?It's like two opponents who have been fighting for a lifetime are already old, and they meet each other in the setting sun with difficulty. Should there be some regrets?What would happen if they were allowed to start over and live another life?

At the turn of the century, it was like reincarnating each civilization, and they should all become a little more sober than their previous lives. In this courtyard, the place where the crowd gathers the most is neither the tower nor the mosque, but an iron pillar inserted near them.It is more than six meters high and half a meter in diameter. It is black and does not have too much momentum, but it emits a calm and distant metallic light. It was moved from eastern India when the Islamic Dynasty established its capital in Delhi, and people here call it Ashoka Pillar.In fact, I have seen another stone pillar in Delhi, also known as the Ashoka Pillar, standing tall on top of an old castle. From the information, it seems to be more accurate than the iron pillar.Of course, Ashoka was enthusiastic about Buddhism, and he built pillars and pagodas everywhere during his reign. It is not surprising that there are more Ashoka pillars, but according to scientific measurements, the iron pillars were cast 1,600 years ago, which is 600 years later than Ashoka. Year.It should be the era of the Gupta Dynasty.The Gupta Dynasty also promoted Buddhism, and it is very possible to cast an iron pillar to commemorate Ashoka.

Ashoka was originally a rather savage monarch. After listening to the Buddhist teachings, he suddenly realized that he became a Buddha immediately. He made an epoch-making contribution to the development of Buddhism in India.Even in Ningbo, Zhejiang, my hometown, so far away from India, there is actually an Ashoka Temple with towering pagodas, deep courtyards, and ancient trees. I stayed there in the late period of the Cultural Revolution to avoid disasters, and I am very grateful.No matter who erected it or for whom it was erected, there should be no doubt that this iron pillar belongs to Buddhism.

But thinking about it carefully, it still retains too many doubts.I walked around it again and again, wondering why it has been exposed to the sun and rain for more than a thousand years without a single rust spot?Perhaps India had developed cast iron technology in ancient times, but it is hard to imagine that the alloy structure at that time had reached the level of stainless steel for thousands of years.Also, which Islamic dynasty moved it here?It obviously retains its own religious signal, why is it enshrined by the ruler of another religion? When I asked Indian friends these questions, most of them laughed and did not answer.The Indian friends I met all had a legendary attitude towards history and were unwilling to make any confirmation. This is very different from the historical concept we are used to.If they are asked to explain the credibility of a legend, the material used to explain it is still a legend.Therefore, traveling among the ancient monuments in India often has a sense of drift.

There is only one thing that can be left in doubt: in this huge courtyard, there are so many ancient monuments to see, so high that it reaches the sky, and its shape is the smallest, the thinnest, and the most inconspicuous.But it is the only one that shines without rust.Without it, the entire site of the ruins would appear too desolate and desolate; but with it, everything is lifted up, firmly tied in a knot on the thousand-year-old metal, and will never fall apart again.Therefore, it has become the finishing touch on the ruins of Indian religious culture. It is the one that is wronged, it is the one that is moved around, it is the one that is overlooked by the other buildings that are arrogant for a while, and it is the only one that is unpainted when the surrounding giant buildings and towers are all colorful.Unexpectedly, the world is impermanent, everything has changed, only it seems to have understood everything early, does not compete, does not argue, does not rush, but does not feel inferior, standing still, not only does not have a decadent appearance, but also It is getting smoother and cleaner, and there is no doubt that it will stand still without age.

After all, it is an enlightened person. December 17, 1999, New Delhi, overnight at Surya Hotel