It was a short trip with Benjamin J. Fleming Ph.D, cataloger of Indic manuscripts and visiting scholar of religious studies department of Pennsylvania University. We went Cox’s Bazar, purpose is to visit some Buddhist temples and of course we deliberately made the trip to looking for Buddha’s footsteps.
In Cox’s Bazar, I came across a place filled with debris of the past, which later (perhaps) turned out to be a place of great national, archeological and anthropological value.
I was a little sceptic at first about what i had just learnt, however, after speaking with a monk of a local temple regarding the historical aspect of that locality, i begun to fully appreciate the significance of it all. It was a legend that dated thousands of years back and it was backed by the local inhabitants who claimed a similar background.
This claimed ancient historical place is located at Ramu, about 15 kilometers from Cox’s Bazar city, just beside ancient Arakan road. There are many archeological heritages in Ramu, namely Ramkot Buddha Bihar, Lamarpara Buddhist temple and Rajarkul Keyang (shrine).
According to the local people, Ramu is actually mispronounced and misspelled version of Raung U (a boon of Lord Buddha’s chest). That is why the place called Ramu in place of Raung U. Monk claimed that long long ago Buddha spent a night in Ramu during his Burma (Myanmar) visit. It is said that, Lord Buddha once expressed his wish to Ananda, one his close followers who also happened to be his cousin and attendant, “My ribs would rest in future at a place named Raung U”. So the word Raung U means Lord Buddha’s ribs.
Interestingly, it is said that Lord Rama had briefly met with Sita at Ramkot after her abduction by Ravana, and that the stone-grinder used by Sita had once been preserve at Ramkot. Many may be astonished to learn that this ancient place once ruled by by legendary Emperor Ashoka, who reigned the entire South East Asia from 269 BC till 232 BC.
It is also said that, Ashoka established the locality; the monastery had been established in 308BC. Ashoka played a vital part in spreading Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent. He is the protagonist of many Buddhist legends. Ashoka is created for establishing 84 thousands ‘stupas’ all over South East Asia and Ramu’s Ramkot Buddhist Shrine is said to be one of those 84 thousands stupas, claimed a senior Monk of the shrine.
The Monk also claimed that they have the oldest Buddha replica which build in 308BC.
KHAMIN 