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EPPSTEIN, WEST GERMANY, March 7, 2003: HPI’s short piece yesterday on Myanmar lamented the lack of news about that country. Indrajit Ganguli, “source” above, responded with this personal travelogue: “I was born in Myanmar and always wanted to visit the place of my birth, but it was not possible due to restrictions. However, the government of Myanmar relaxed these restrictions and we flew from Kolkata to Yangon (previously Rangoon), the capital city of Myanmar. We visited Shwe dagon pagoda, the biggest Buddhist temple in the world and were very glad to see the devotees there, the discipline, calmness and cleanliness. This pagoda is something worth seeing; the architecture is overwhelming. In the afternoon we visited a Hindu temple run by the local Tamil population. Here also we were glad to see the cleanliness and discipline. From Yangon we went to Mandalay, which is situated about 600 km north of Yangon. Mandalay was once the capital on Myanmar and definitely the cultural capital of Myanmar. Here we visited several Buddhist pagodas and quite a few Hindu temples. There is also a Kali temple run by the local Bengali population. It is of interest to note that the Myanmarese people also visit the Hindu temples and the Hindus visit the pagodas. This is a perfect example of total tolerance and understanding. The nicest thing is to experience the calm and quietness at these temples and pagodas where one really has the complete feeling of peace. Praying in these temples and pagodas is an experience of contemplation. From Mandalay we went to Pagan, the old capital of Myanmar. Once upon a time there were about 5,000 temples here, today around 2,600 temples are still existing. Pagan is an open museum. There are several temples dedicated to Vishnu and Siva and a large number naturally dedicated to Buddha. The architecture of these temples are fascinating — North Indian type, South Indian Chola, Mon Khmer, Thai and several other types — and pujas (Hindu worship) is offered in many of these temples. From Pagan we went to Taunggyi, the place of my birth, up in the Shan mountains. It is here that my father and a few others from the Bengali community started the Durgabari temple in the thirties. It was a temporary wooden structure in those days, but I was proud to see that the Durga temple now is a permanent structure with the permanent Durgadevi murthi with Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Ganesh. A Nepalese brahmin is appointed as a pujari (priest), and daily puja services are conducted. Apart from the Durga temple, there are three other Hindu temples in this town, dedicated to Radha-Krishna, Siva and Vishnu. Also there is a small Arya Samaj prayer hall. The Myanmarese people are very religious, and by that I do not mean that they just go to temple and offer puja etc. Religion can be seen in their everyday life and in every action. As one single group of Indian origin, Tamils are a majority and are very active and dedicated in continuing our Hindu religious tradition in Myanmar. Myanmar is still isolated and perhaps this splendid isolation allowed them to keep their culture.”

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