Buddhist tourism: Looking for the middle path

Buddha, tears pouring down his cheeks. He takes out his phone and captures the massive sculpture, the Bodhisattvas flanking it and the small cells carved into the cave where his religious forbears must have lived. This is sanctum and sanctuary for him.

About 100 km away, a group of Japanese tourists are gingerly making their way through a narrow, semi-circular path that is cut into the middle of a rocky cliff in Aurangabad, Maharashtra. They gaze—in the light of a torch and the night settings of their phone—at the eloquent arch of Bodhisattva Padmapani’s torso and his halfclosed eyes painted on Cave No. 1 of Ajanta.
People who follow the Buddha’s Middle Path, or those who are enamoured of this apostle of compassion, or are simply enchanted by the historical spots, some of them dating back to before the Common Era, travel to the places that dot what is called the Buddhist circuit. It stretches from Bodh Gaya in Bihar to Nagarjunakonda in Andhra Pradesh.

Buddhism, which radiated to the south, north and east, is one of ancient India’s greatest cultural exports. Now, India wants to reclaim that glory and reassert its ownership. In her February 1 budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman pledged a renewed focus on destinations linked to the life and legacy of Lord Buddha. At first glance, it might appear to be a tourism push— to lure global travellers at a time when foreign tourist arrivals have yet to rebound to pre-Covid levels.

But the government’s push extends beyond global tourists and foreign exchange,