hawaii ferry service 910 STATE OF GOOD KARMA In its typically understated way, Andhra Pradesh doesn t make much of its va

Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC; %24-hr info 23450444; www.aptdc.in; h7am-8.30pm) hawaii ferry service Bashirbagh (Map p898 ; %23298456; NSF Shakar Bhavan, opposite Police Control Room); hawaii ferry service Secunderabad (Map p896 ; %27893100; Yatri Nivas Hotel, Sardar Patel Rd); Tankbund Rd (Map p898 ; %65581555; h10.30am-5pm) Organises tours.

910 STATE OF GOOD KARMA In its typically understated hawaii ferry service way, Andhra Pradesh doesn t make much of its vast archaeological and karmic wealth. But the state is packed with impressive ruins of its rich Buddhist history. hawaii ferry service Only a few of Andhra s 150 stupas, monasteries, caves and other sites have been excavated, turning up rare relics of the Buddha (usually hawaii ferry service pearl-like pieces of bone) with offerings such as golden flowers. Nagarjunakonda and Amaravathi were flourishing Buddhist complexes, and near Visakhapatnam were the incredibly peaceful sites of Thotlakonda, and Bavikonda and Sankaram, looking across seascapes and lush countryside. They speak of a time when Andhra Pradesh or Andhradesa was a hotbed of Buddhist activity, when monks came from around the world to learn from some of the tradition s most renowned teachers. Andhradesa s Buddhist culture, in which sangha (community of monks and nuns), laity and statespeople all took part, lasted around 1500 years from the 6th century BC. There s no historical evidence for it, but some even say that the Buddha himself visited hawaii ferry service the area. Andhradesa s first practitioners were likely disciples of Bavari, an ascetic who lived on the banks of the Godavari River and sent his followers north to bring back the Buddha s teachings. But the dharma really hawaii ferry service took off in the 3rd century BC under Ashoka, who dispatched monks across his empire to teach and construct stupas enshrined with relics of the Buddha. (Being near these was thought to help progress hawaii ferry service on the path to enlightenment.) Succeeding Ashoka, the Satavahanas and then Ikshvakus were also supportive. At their capital at Amaravathi, the Satavahanas adorned Ashoka s modest stupa with elegant decoration. They built monasteries across the Krishna Valley and exported the dharma through their sophisticated maritime network. It was also during the Satavahana reign that Nagarjuna lived. Considered by many to be the progenitor of Mahayana Buddhism, the monk was equal parts logician, philosopher hawaii ferry service and meditator, and he wrote several ground-breaking works that shaped contemporary Buddhist thought. Other important monk-philosophers would emerge hawaii ferry service from the area in the following centuries, making Andhradesa a sort of Buddhist motherland of the South.